League: Warriors win sets new benchmark

Konrad Hurrell celebrates the New Zealand Warriors' win over the Gold Coast Titans. Photo / Getty Images

The Warriors set a new performance bench mark with improved ball security and composure providing the cornerstones for last night's 36-14 victory over the Gold Coast Titans.

Despite trailing 10-6 at the break the Warriors controlled the second-half by completing 18 of 20 sets and committing just two errors as they ran in five tries to overwhelm the home team.

Coach Andrew McFadden said his side were focused on controlling the football and knew they could finish the match strongly if they could limit the opposition's time in possession.

"We've put a lot of focus on that [set completions] in the last few weeks," said McFadden.

"Generally we've been in most games and what's brought us undone has been our own errors so securing the ball has been a real focus because when we hold on to the ball we get the results like we did tonight.

"We had a fair bit of possession [in the first half] and we spoke about it at halftime if we could go out and win the possession battle again it would probably take its toll and it probably did in the end."

The ground work for the win was laid by starting prop Ben Matulino and Queensland State of Origin front-rower, Jacob Lillyman, who came off the bench, with both players running for more than 200m to provide halves Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend with time and space to run, kick, and organise to keep the Titans under immense pressure.

After looking lost at sea in the heavy defeat to South Sydney a fortnight ago, and letting slip at the death last weekend's game against the Sydney Roosters, McFadden was pleased with the patience and composure of his side to come back from 10-0 down.

"In the Rabbitohs game we showed no control or composure and didn't put any pressure on the opposition and really lacked patience in that game.

"We were much better last week against the Roosters but didn't get the points but there was a lot to like and we just built on that performance.

"Tonight we got the balance right and what was most pleasing was that we obviously put the Titans under a fair bit of pressure but when we didn't score we didn't just throw it out, we got repeat sets. And even when we didn't get repeat sets we backed it up with some quality defence."

Captain Simon Mannering lauded the efforts of the halves and paid tribute to Lilllyman's role in helping the playmakers to put their stamp on the game.

"We controlled that [momentum] pretty well with our sets out of yardage and then our set finishes with our kicks from our halves, I thought were really good tonight and definitely what set up the win," said Mannering.

"That's what you want from your halves. It's not just coming from Shaun but Chad also and on the back of that our front-rowers did a really good job tonight. Especially Jake, backing up from Origin and laying that platform and making it easy for our halves to get in position to get a good kick away.

"Once you get that sort of rhythm going it makes it a lot easier out there especially in the middle."

The Warriors will look to consolidate their seventh position on the NRL ladder when they host the Canberra Raiders at Mt Smart Stadium next Saturday.