KEY POINTS:
The Warriors will head into their latest NRL assignment in Auckland on Sunday in an unfamiliar and intriguing position.
In their 21 previous meetings with perennial competition heavyweights the Brisbane Broncos, the Warriors have never gone in as favourites.
The closest they came was during their grand final
of season in 2002, when bookmakers couldn't split the sides ahead of a late-season encounter.
But favourites are what the Warriors will be when they run on to Mt Smart Stadium, a status all the more notable given that their opponents are the defending champions.
The shift in expectation comes via a combination of the Warriors' impressive season-opening win over Parramatta last weekend and Brisbane's injury woes.
The Broncos are looking to bounce back from a first-up loss to North Queensland, but will have to do so without talismanic playmaker Darren Lockyer, who is out with a ankle injury.
With the five-eighth sidelined, Brisbane will rely on a new halves pairing of Shane Perry and fullback-cum-halfback Karmichael Hunt.
Coach Ivan Cleary said the Warriors' game plan would have been the same whether or not Lockyer made it on to the park.
However, the Australian skipper's unavailability was bound to have an effect on proceedings.
"You can't just take a great player like that out and not have it affect a team," he said.
"But what it might do is galvanise the team and everyone else just steps up.
"They have such good players that a lot of them are capable of stepping up. They'll certainly be delivering plenty for us to worry about."
For the Warriors, who travel to Melbourne next week, the home match is the first of back-to-back clashes with last year's two grand finalists.
Cleary said he hadn't looked as far ahead as the trip to Olympic Park, but beating the Broncos would certainly boost team confidence and build momentum.
"We managed to do it a couple of times towards the end of last year," he said of stringing victories together.
"It's also important not to get too carried away or too down in the dumps either. You have to try to focus on each game, because each game is a tough one."
Taking in the end of 2006, the Warriors have now won four of their last five fixtures, the only defeat being to the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in the final round last year.
Cleary has been able to select a largely unchanged 17 from the one that downed the Eels 34-18, with the only switch being Evarn Tuimavave's elevation to the bench for the injured Louis Anderson.
Included again in the starting 13 are the new Australian recruits who all caught the eye last weekend -- fullback Wade McKinnon, winger Michael Crockett and five-eighth Michael Witt.
Cleary was delighted with how the trio had gone in their first appearance for the Warriors.
"It's hard for new guys to fit in sometimes, but our new guys have fitted in real well," he said.
"It's a good sign, that they've been able to form combinations quickly."
Brisbane were the Warriors' first NRL opponents, back in 1995.
That occasion was recalled this week with the announcement that inaugural skipper Dean Bell would return to the Warriors in August to take up the job of community and development manager.
The Broncos prevailed that night in Auckland 12 years ago and since then have built a 14-7 win-loss advantage over the Warriors.
But they are at $2.50 with New South Wales TAB Sportsbet to extend that margin this weekend, while the Warriors are at $1.50 to beat Brisbane for the first time since 2005.
- NZPA
