NRL: Warriors miss out on home finals start

Jerome Ropati of the Warriors in action. Photo / Getty Images

The Warriors head into tonight's match against the Eels knowing they won't be playing next week's opening finals match at home.

The Titans' narrow victory last night over the Tigers means the Warriors can finish no higher than fifth.

Win or lose tonight, the Warriors will head to either Sydney or the Gold Coast, but their destination won't be known until late tonight at the earliest - and possibly not until the Sea Eagles have played the Bulldogs tomorrow.

Key strike weapons Manu Vatuvei and Jerome Ropati will both be deployed against the Eels tonight as the Warriors look for the highest possible ladder finish.

Vatuvei has been experiencing pain from a chronic knee injury but coach Ivan Cleary dismissed suggestions his star winger would be rested ahead of next week's finals match.

"He took a bit of a knock and there is a bit of fluid there but he is fine," Cleary said.

Ropati was subdued in his return from an abdominal injury last week. He admitted he was still "feeling his way back" but with finals football around the corner he won't be holding anything back against the Eels.

"This week I am going to go a lot harder and test it a lot more than I have in the past," he said.

"I don't want to be sitting on the sideline. I want some game time."

The retirement of Nathan Cayless has added layers of hype and intensity to a match that would otherwise project as a routine victory for the finals-bound Warriors over an Eels side that will struggle to finish any higher than 11th regardless of the result.

The Eels will also be keen to farewell Warriors-bound pair Feleti Mateo and Krisnan Inu, players who graduated through the club's junior ranks. However whether that enhanced motivation will be enough to spark a team that has struggled mightily after entering the season as title favourites remains to be seen.

"I think they'll be up for the game, no risk," Cleary said. "But ... by the end of the year the habits you have formed all season and in pre-season end up coming out."

For the Eels, those habits have included playing well in bursts but more often struggling to maintain an offensive threat. Only the Sharks have scored fewer tries than them.

The Warriors rediscovered their offensive mojo in last week's demolition of the Broncos but defence has been the key to much of their success this season.

In the last month they have conceded just 43 points, the fewest of any team in the competition.

An outstanding kicking game paved the way for the victory over the Broncos. With mercurial fullback Jarryd Hayne on kick return duty for the Eels, James Maloney and Brett Seymour know they will have to be on their game again tonight.

"The plan is to put it high and make him wait under it so you can get as many blokes around him as possible and stop him getting too far," Maloney said.

With the Roosters to face the defensively frail Cowboys later in the evening, the Warriors know they likely require a sizeable victory to prevent being overtaken by a side that entered the final round with an identical record.

That knowledge, however, won't change the way they play.

"We'll try and score as many points as we can and try to concede as few as we can," Cleary said.

EELS v WARRIORS
Sydney, 7.30 tonight

EELS
Jarryd Hayne
Luke Burt
Joel Reddy
Timana Tahu
Krisnan Inu
Kris Keating
Jeff Robson
N. Cayless (c)
Matthew Keating
Fuifui Moimoi
N. Hindmarsh (c)
Ben Smith
Feleti Mateo
Interchange: Daniel Mortimer, Tim Mannah, Justin Horo, Justin Poore

WARRIORS
Lance Hohaia
Kevin Locke
Brent Tate
Jerome Ropati
Manu Vatuvei
James Maloney
Brett Seymour
Sam Rapira
Aaron Heremaia
Russell Packer
S. Mannering (c)
Lewis Brown
Jacob Lillyman
Interchange: Alehana Mara, Ben Matulino, Ukuma Ta'ai, Jesse Royal, Joel Moon