Manu Vatuvei carries Storm prop Brett White on his back during the Warriors' upset win. Photo / Getty Images
"They are a team that usually does to us what we did to them."
With those words, Warriors captain Steve Price marked what many hope will be the end of the mental frailty that has for so long handicapped the side and had opponents believing they'd win if
they hung in.
The Warriors ground down the champion grinders at Olympic Park in Melbourne yesterday, responding every time the 2007 title holders and 2008 minor premiers lifted to try and put them away.
Twice they came from behind. And in their last set of six produced a 70-metre break-out try of the sort that has so often killed them.
"We were fairly confident we would play well, that was our biggest focus," said coach Ivan Cleary. The Warriors took form into the game and right throughout Cleary felt they were a chance to score.
They got over the line several times in both halves but tries were disallowed for various reasons. Skipper Price said they were not once deflated, rather exhilarated and encouraged to do better. "It was self-belief," he said.
They had handled the Storm's unsettling tactics. "I had had tackles done to me that I didn't think were right," Price said.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy felt his side never got into the game, which was disrupted by penalties. But he didn't offer excuses.
"They didn't do anything we didn't expect," Bellamy said, the Warriors obviously exploiting the 112kg-82kg size differential between wing Manu Vatuvei and the Storm's Steve Turner.
