KEY POINTS:
Coach Tony Iro rates his Junior Warriors as a good chance to go all the way in rugby league's National Youth Competition playoffs.
"Like all the eight sides, we give ourselves a better than even chance of winning it," Iro said today.
"If you don't, you're probably wasting
your time. Certainly, inside the team, there's a belief that, if we work hard and do our jobs, and a little luck goes out way, anything is possible."
The Junior Warriors head into the inaugural NYC finals series having finished third in the minor premiership, and will face the sixth-ranked St George Illawarra Dragons on Sunday.
The clash at Melbourne's Olympic Park will be the curtain-raiser to the National Rugby League qualifying final between the Melbourne Storm and the New Zealand Warriors.
Although expressing confidence in his charges' prospects, Iro was also expecting a tough playoff series under the same McIntyre system that is used for the NRL.
While Canberra finished the regular season of the under-20 competition five points clear of the rest of the 16-team field, the next four clubs were separated only by points difference.
The Juniors Warriors won their round-robin fixture with the Dragons 32-8 and Iro said his players would gain confidence from result three weeks ago.
But he was guarding against reading too much into the scoreline, saying it flattered the Warriors, who got a couple of late tries.
"It was probably our most physical game of the year and we're not expecting anything less this weekend," he said.
"The competition is so tight, we just have to go out there with the mindset that it's sudden death."
The Junior Warriors will have three players with NRL experience in their line-up - centre Patrick Ah Van, second rower/centre Sonny Fai and 18-year-old prop Russell Packer.
Ah Van has had 39 first-grade appearances since 2006, while Fai and Packer made their top-flight debuts this year.
Iro said the key area of the contest would be the same as for every rugby league encounter - the battle among the forwards.
"All the games in the finals series, whether it be NRL or NYC, will be won up front," he said.
"League's a very simple game; it's just hard to play, that's all."
- NZPA
