KEY POINTS:
Written on the whiteboard in the Warriors gym this week, just below the bit listing player exercise routines, were the words: "Believe we can win, prepare to win, we will win."
If only it were that simple.
This is not a simple nor an easy competition. There are no teams so short of strength they are easy-beats, as are the bottom half of the table in Super League.
Certainly the sentiments of those words are correct. Unfortunately, it's clear that what has been happening when the team travel to play in Australia is that they do not believe they will win - they fail at post one.
And of course, the 5-0 result away, where they have conceded an average 43 and scored 18 plus the competition's worst points conceded (310) record, has the Aussie teams absolutely confident. They believe the Warriors will fold, all it takes is sustained pressure.
It is a mountain the Warriors have put in front of themselves and it will continue to grow until they climb it. There is a chance to do so tonight against the Knights in Newcastle.
Captain Steve Price said the big thing they learned from the loss to the Roosters was intensity. "Our effort was good but their attitude set a benchmark. From the start they were flying on to the ball. Their dummy-half runs were good, their kicks were good and all we were doing was tackling.
"It's very hard to defend against. Then you think: `If we do that to other teams, how will they like it?' We need to make them [Newcastle] feel that."
So again the promise of a hard-and-fast start.
The game Nathan Fien plays at five-eighth may be critical. He is tough both on attack and defence, not afraid to run with the ball and he has a reasonable kicking game, an advantage over Jerome Ropati who played there last weekend.
Coach Ivan Cleary said Ropati needed more match fitness on his return from injury.
Ian Henderson will play more than the usual half-game he brings off the bench.
Expect to see Lance Hohaia play out of dummy-half more too. He has been good at it and will have to take some load while Henderson is interchanged.
Cleary said there were some positives from the statistics in the review of the Roosters loss - the completion rate was good, discipline was good, the Roosters missed more tackles than did the Warriors.
The scoreline of 38-12 did not reflect the run of the game, he said, the Roosters points coming in bunches.
The Knights come off the bye. Cleary has no opinion on whether that's good or bad. "You get to work on some things so that's a positive. Sometimes you can get a bit rusty. Sometimes you try new things and you don't get a chance to try them in a game."
So far 14 teams have had a bye, eight of them winning the next weekend and six losing.
The Knights beat the Gold Coast at Newcastle in round eight after taking round seven off.
Michael Witt said he hoped to be available for selection for next Friday's game against Souths at Mt Smart, his upper-left leg still heavily strapped.
Wing Manu Vatuvei's spiral fracture of the lower leg has healed well and he hopes to be ready in two to three weeks.
The Bulldogs have lost Sonny Bill Williams, with a knee muscle tear, for two weeks and when he and a host of others were ruled out it prompted a betting plunge on the Storm.
Daniel Holdsworth is in doubt with a thigh strain, and Matt Utai, Kane Cleal and Luke Patten won't play.
NZ WARRIORS
Lance Hohaia
Aidan Kirk
Brent Tate
Jerome Ropati
Patrick Ah Van
Michael Witt
Grant Rovelli
Sam Rapira
Nathan Fien
Evarn Tuimavave
Simon Mannering
Epalahame Lauaki
Micheal Luck (c)
KNIGHTS
Wes Naiqama
James McManus
Keith Lulia
Adam Macdougall
Cooper Vuna
Jarrod Mullen
Scott Dureau
Jesse Royal
Danny Buderus (c)
Steve Simpson
Chris Houston
Cory Paterson
Zeb Taia
Warriors: Ian Henderson, Ruben Wiki, Logan Swann, Sonny Fai, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino, Malo Solomona.
Newcastle: Chris Bailey, Cameron Ciraldo, Richard Fa'aoso, Danny Wicks, Mitchell Sargent.
