NRL: Demolition derby does the job

Lewis Brown celebrates his try. Photo / Richard Robinson

They were supposed to finish stone cold motherless last, but the Warriors last night stormed into the NRL finals with a clinical demolition of the Brisbane Broncos.

The home win at Mt Smart lifted the Warriors above the Roosters and Manly into fifth place and put a huge dent in the Broncos' hopes of extending their 18-season unbroken stretch as a finals team.

They now have to regroup before a must-win clash against Canberra next weekend.

But the Warriors will be eyeing their final-round trip to Parramatta with some enthusiasm.

A win in that contest probably won't be enough to push them into the top four, but it would give them some serious momentum for the finals.

On last night's evidence, not many teams will be queuing up for a week-one finals match against the Warriors side that pundit Phil Gould tipped to come "last, last, last".

Coach Ivan Cleary, who came into the season as the bookies' favourite for the chop, is now turning his thoughts to an extended run through September.

"I guess now we have to have a look at where we are in the top eight and how we go about trying to win it," Cleary said. "That is obviously a long way off, but half the teams have gone and we are still there."

Bouncing back from last year's disappointing campaign was particularly satisfying, Cleary said.

"We didn't really talk about finals. It was just about playing well and building confidence again. We have been able to do that.

"To know that a lot of hard work has now given you the chance to play for the ultimate crown is good."

With Darren Lockyer no closer to a return and halfback Peter Wallace forced off at halftime by an injury that will rule him out of next weekend's match against Canberra, the Broncos departed Mt Smart in disarray.

"We were totally outplayed," coach Ivan Henjak said. "We are just off the pace at the moment."

It may not have been the perfect half of football but last night's opening salvo from the Warriors was pretty darn close.

After 30 minutes, they had scored four tries.

The Broncos were forced to make 170 tackles in the half as the Warriors dominated through props Sam Rapira and Russell Packer.

With halves James Maloney and Brett Seymour putting the ball on a platter with their boots, all the ingredients for a successful night were there.

In a week when he recommitted to the club for at least three more seasons, there seemed an element of the pre-ordained in Manu Vatuvei's try that opened the scoring.

Lewis Brown then struck twice and Lance Hohaia added a classy double as the tries came freely.

"All we felt we were doing was tackling and they were hard to stop," said a dejected Broncos captain, Corey Parker. "Momentum is a big thing in footy and we just couldn't turn it around."

The Warriors couldn't always be accused of being great entertainers this season, but last night's bumper crowd of more than 21,000 could have had no complaints.

The try of the night came shortly after the break.

Replacement hooker Alehana Mara pinballed his way down the field to set the Broncos on their heels. Hohaia needed no second invitation to cut them apart, carving his way out of dummy half then chipping over fullback Josh Hoffman and regathering to cross for a 60m special.

Warriors - 36
Broncos - 4