NRL: Maloney hoping to inflict more pain on former club

James Maloney spent last year with the Storm before moving across the Tasman to join the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand Warrior James Maloney is out to try to inflict further pain on his former National Rugby League (NRL) club Melbourne on Sunday.

Maloney played a handful of games for Melbourne last year before moving across the Tasman and he has a reasonable idea of what the present mood in the Storm camp might be.

"No doubt there will be some blokes there absolutely filthy," he said.

"They won't be happy. They will be up for a big game."

The cause is a rare second successive defeat for the defending premiers, who were pipped by Manly on Monday night, a week after suffering another narrow loss, to Gold Coast.

But while Melbourne might be hurting, so too were the Warriors, Maloney said, after they succumbed 12-40 to Penrith in front of their own fans last weekend."We're not happy with our performance last week and we are ready for a big one too," he said.

"It would be nice to make it three losses on the trot for them."

However, Maloney acknowledged that wouldn't be easy.

Facing Melbourne in Melbourne would probably be the Warriors' toughest match of the season, he said.

He rated the Storm as the competition's benchmark, and pointed to how Manly only just scraped through against them 18-16 despite dominating much of the match.

"You have to play the 80 minutes," he said.

"We know it's going to be tough, but it will give us a bit of a yard stick of where we're at and help us going forward."

For Maloney, a key lesson from the Sea Eagles' victory was the way they did the basics well.

It was a case of playing simple football, players getting go-forward and everyone knowing his role.

"I don't think you have to go and do anything complicated against them," he said.

"It's doing the little things correctly and that's pretty much the way they play their game."

Given his limited NRL experience, Maloney, 23, flew in a little under the radar when he arrived in Auckland to join the Warriors, but he has since attracted attention with some strong performances.

After initially operating at five-eighth as part of a new halves combination with fellow off-season recruit Brett Seymour, he has taken over the No 7 jersey since Seymour suffered a thumb injury in the opening round defeat to the Titans.

Maloney's own assessment of his form so far was a mirror of the Warriors' 3-3 win-loss record - a bit up and down.

"At the moment, I think I'm a bit inconsistent," he said.

"I've had some games I've been happy with, and I've had some I haven't, so that's obviously an area I want to improve this weekend."

Sporting half a dozen stitches to his forehead after collecting a stray boot from Penrith fullback Lachlan Coote, Maloney said returning to Melbourne did provide an added spur to try to put on a top show.

"But first things first, I have to play my role for the side," he said.

"It would be pleasing from my perspective to put in a good performance against my old club, but we'll worry about that after it happens."

- NZPA