KEY POINTS:
Avoiding distractions is the key for the New Zealand Warriors as their battle to make the National Rugby League playoffs reaches a climax this weekend.
The build-up to their must-win clash with Parramatta in Sydney on Saturday night has been overshadowed by fullback Wade McKinnon's bid to beat a spitting charge.
There is also the uncertainty that victory over the Eels, while imperative to keep their campaign alive, won't necessarily guarantee them finals football.
To claim the last spot on offer, they also need one of the two teams sitting immediately above them - Newcastle or Canberra - to lose.
The Knights are away to Brisbane tomorrow night, while the Raiders host the bottom-of-the-table Bulldogs on Sunday.
On paper, the Warriors' hopes lie more realistically with a win for the Broncos, who have the added spur of pressing for a top-four finish and with it home advantage in the first weekend of playoffs.
However, hooker Ian Henderson said while other people might be talking about the permutations, he and his teammates were concentrating only on beating Parramatta.
"It's something we don't control," he said of other results.
"Regardless of whether we make the playoffs, we want to win this game."
While Parramatta's defeat to St George Illawarra last weekend killed off their post-season ambitions, Henderson believed pride would be a dangerous motivator for the opposition.
The Eels would be in front of their home fans for the final time this year and no-one liked to carry a loss through to the off-season.
Henderson has been almost a fixture for the Warriors in his first season at the club, missing just one of 23 matches.
His snipes around the ruck area and his ability to chime in with tries from dummy-half have been features of his performances, especially in the latter half of the season.
The former Sydney Rooster, Parramatta and Bradford rake said it was a case of getting more comfortable in his role as the weeks wore on.
"I came into a new team and I needed to learn things like who's going to give me off-loads and where the space is going to be," he said.
"It just takes time and it's all sort of turned out pretty well."
Henderson, 25, credited his 2-1/2 seasons in the English Super League with improving his attacking skills.
He said he had seen himself as a defensive hooker before he went to Bradford.
"Going over there opened up my game in terms of attacking ability and that's the big thing for me - metre gains up the middle of the field and getting those sloppy markers," he said.
"I don't have heaps of finesse when I run. I just rely on my power game and that's what does it for me."
Coach Ivan Cleary also said the Newcastle and Canberra fixtures, and McKinnon's battle with the judiciary, had been blocked out of the team's build-up.
"If we spend the week worrying about other games, that means we won't be prepared," he said.
"And if we don't perform on Saturday night, we won't be going anywhere anyway."
With the Warriors' record of three wins from 11 previous trips across the Tasman in 2008, Cleary said the main focus for his players was putting on a good performance on the road.
"I think for the majority of the year we've probably fallen short of that," he said.
As for the McKinnon saga, "it's out of our hands".
- NZPA
