KEY POINTS:
The Warriors' momentum in beating champions Melbourne last Sunday will be lost unless they carry it on to roll Souths at the Sydney Olympic Stadium this weekend.
If they go down to the lowly placed Rabbitohs it will be this game and Souths' 35-28 victory at Mt Smart in June that will stand out as the horrors that cost them a shot at the play-offs.
The Warriors have stuck with the same team that ground out a defence-oriented victory over the Storm in Auckland, a stability they have enjoyed four games in a row.
Souths have Isaac Luke back after a one-week suspension kept him out of the 39-12 loss to the Knights.
They have listed Kiwis second rower David Fa'alogo but he must beat a grade-one striking charge before the NRL judiciary tonight. Unless he gets off, Fa'alogo will be out for two weeks whether he pleads guilty or defends the charge and is found guilty, so the club is trying to raise evidence to refute the accusation that he lifted his elbow into a tackler.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary admitted it was disappointing the way they lost to Souths in Round 13 after leading 16-0. "We've made a lot of progress since that night and we needed to but the Rabbitohs are still a side that can expose you. We saw that in the way they played in the weeks after beating us," Cleary said.
The halfback Chris Sandow has been the main architect of Souths' revival to win five games and his work since elevation from under-20s has been helped by five-eighth Craig Wing after his return from injury.
It is those two plus Luke who pose most danger to the Warriors on Saturday as all can cut through traffic and put runners away and all can kick.
Souths coach Jason Taylor said he and the team were disappointed in the way they had gone down late in their last two matches against the Tigers and Knights and felt they had let themselves down. "On Saturday night you'll see a team that's going to fight to the death," Taylor said. They haven't given up on the playoffs despite their slim mathematical chance of making it."
Warriors
Lance Hohaia, Malo Solomona, Brent Tate, Sonny Fai, Aidan Kirk, Nathan Fien, Grant Rovelli, Ruben Wiki, Ian Henderson, Steve Price (captain), Simon Mannering, Logan Swann, Micheal Luck.
Interchange: Jerome Ropati, Evarn Tuimavave, Sam Rapira, Ben Matulino.
