NRL: Warriors 'not as good as we think,' says Cleary

If there were any positives to emerge from the New Zealand Warriors' 12-38 National Rugby League hiding yesterday, coach Ivan Cleary found one.

"Maybe we're just a lot happier playing without pressure, and I don't think there will be any on us any more. We're maybe just not as good as we think we are," he said.

Tipped as premiership contenders pre-season, the Warriors imploded to a seven tries-to-two defeat to the Raiders, who stormed back from their own four-match losing streak at Canberra Stadium.

Worryingly, it was a second poor defensive display from the Warriors in as many weeks, after their 12-34 loss to North Queensland.

In their past seven matches there has been a solitary win -- the golden pointer against the struggling Sydney Roosters on April 19.

After a poor start, the Warriors were in the game at 12-16 down at halftime, but offered little in the second half as handling errors and a poor completion rate hurt them.

Goal line defence was also weak as the Raiders helped themselves to four second-half tries and kept the Warriors scoreless.

"We were just beaten everywhere today, they ran harder, they ran faster, just did everything better," Cleary said.

The good news, if there was any, is that Cleary has been there before.

Mid-season slumps are now becoming as much a Warriors trademark as their sluggish opening quarter, which saw them trail 0-10 after as many minutes today.

Next up is Benji Marshall's Wests Tigers in Auckland on Sunday, with captain Steve Price likely to be absent on State of Origin duty.

Cleary is desperate for a Warriors hero to stand up.

"We've done this for the last three seasons to be honest. It's a trend I'm not really too happy to follow," Cleary said.

"In the past we've never imploded on ourselves and that's something that's been really important.

"It's something we have to manage well over this week, starting now, that we don't start turning on each other. I'm sure we won't.

"We really need a lift from somewhere, from someone, to give us that spark to get that confidence back."

The Warriors have not won in Canberra since 1997, their solitary victory from eight previous visits.

On a fine, mild afternoon, the Raiders flew into their work as offloads caused the Warriors' defence endless pain.

With New South Wales five-eighth contender Terry Campese directing traffic and big second rower Tom Learoyd-Lahrs producing a man-of-the-match performance, the Warriors had little answer.

There was a brief fightback, with tries to Price and Simon Mannering seeing them snatch the lead in the 28th minute but Campese put the hosts back in front soon afterwards.

When Denan Kemp scored but was called back for a forward pass from a slick set move just before halftime, it was the Warriors' final throw of the dice before a horror second 40 minutes.

Cleary said his players' confidence was battered from conceding 72 points in two weeks, but he was baffled why that occurred after a good buildup.

Having axed five-eighth Nathan Fien midweek and reshuffled his pack on match eve, he admitted more tweaking was needed.

"I hope we've hit the bottom because I feel like the only way is up.

"But obviously we need to have a look at how we're doing things and make a couple of changes. It certainly wasn't working out there today."

- NZPA