NRL: Coach optimistic of win over Tigers

A short turnaround between National Rugby League games may work in favour of the New Zealand Warriors this week, coach Ivan Cleary says.

The Warriors will take to Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney on Friday night against the Wests Tigers, just five days after Sunday's victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Auckland.

Given that they needed to use Monday for recovery from a game where they only had two bench players for much of the time, and tomorrow for travel, it is potentially a tough ask given that the Tigers last played on Friday and are at home.

But Cleary said the short turnaround may not be a bad thing given that the Rabbitohs game was the first time this year the Warriors have scored consecutive victories.

"It's a hard ask actually but we're actually pretty excited to get a Friday night game. Everyone likes to play Friday night," Cleary said.

"I guess one thing out of the short turnaround is that if you've had a couple of wins you quickly get back into it while everybody's feeling confident.

"We've done it before so you've just got to cope in the best way you can. We've focused really hard on recovery and all the boys are feeling okay."

The Warriors have been hard-hit by injuries this year, particularly to key players such as Steve Price, Simon Mannering and Manu Vatuvei, but their record of five wins from their first 10 matches is actually one of their better starts to a season in recent years.

"It's certainly the highest injury toll that I've ever been associated with here, particularly with the calibre of players injured. I haven't done the stats but we haven't put anywhere near the same team together each week," Cleary said.

"I guess if you put all that into perspective it's been fair."

The latest key man to be sidelined is prop Sam Rapira after a knee injury in the Rabbitohs match. Though his expected period of six weeks out is not as bad as first thought, it still puts pressure on the relatively inexperienced props Jesse Royal and Russell Packer.

Royal, though he just turned 30 last weekend, didn't play NRL football until he was 27, while the highly-rated Packer has just turned 20. Both put in top efforts against South Sydney and Cleary was particularly pleased with Packer, whose last two games Cleary said were his best this season.

Cleary said second rower Ben Matulino was likely to spend more time in the prop's position in the middle of the park this week, but he said all the players needed to take more responsibility following the injuries.

"The good sign last week when we didn't have Sam for the second half was that we handled it," he said.

"I guess the trick now is to handle it from the start of the game and just get that little bit more from everyone. I think we're in a position where that can happen because a lot of the players, even the guys that come back in, have been playing well."

The only change to the listed team this week is that Royal will start at prop in place of Rapira, with Jeremy Latimore coming on to the bench.

Cleary has named James Maloney at stand-off despite him being under an injury cloud.

He said the team needed to be sure of their kicking game and win the battle up front if they were to beat the Tigers, who like the Warriors have 12 competition points.

The Tigers have scored 10 tries from inside their own half this season, more than most, and can be a brilliant team when mercurial stars such as Benji Marshall are given freedom.

"Stopping their forwards gives you the opportunity to shut down their playmakers," Cleary said.

"It's also important that your kicking game's good because you really want to give them the ball in areas that it's not as easy to attack from because they're happy to throw the ball around in their own end and they've got guys that have got real gas on the outside.

"A lot of it comes down to how you control the ball and where you give it to them."

- NZPA