Rugby league: Snowball effect? Warrior hopes to carry consistency into crunch NRL clashes

Aaron Pene in action during a Warriors training session. Photo / Photosport

The Warriors are coming together nicely.

Through injuries and acquisitions, New Zealand's NRL team have been trying to find some consistency in their gameday squad and, subsequently, in the quality of football they are producing.

Now five rounds into the competition, prop Aaron Pene believes the team are starting to enjoy some of the fruits of their labour.

The 26-year-old was one of several new recruits to join the club in the off-season, and says in most cases it can take both the player and the team to adjust to the other's respective needs – which showed in the side's opening two games of the season.

"In the first two games, I feel like it just wasn't consistent enough," Pene said.

"There are a lot of new boys in the side and there are a lot of new personalities, so I think it's taken a couple of games to gel together, but as we play more together and keep talking to each other post-game in reviews and stuff, those things will all be on the same page and we'll just keep working on those little things.

"We can only get better, so it's been a good start."

After starting the season with back-to-back losses against the St George Illawarra Dragons and Gold Coast Titans – both games in which the Warriors led at one point – the club have bounced back with three wins in a row.

It's no coincidence that those wins have come as coach Nathan Brown has been able to rely on largely unchanged squads.

Pene says it has allowed the squad to continue to build upon their work in the preseason, which is now starting to show.

"It's just the simple things: holding the ball, kicking to the corners, building pressure – those sorts of things," he said.

"I feel like it's slowly coming together, which is a good sign. Hopefully we can just snowball the effect over the next couple of games."

Now, with some confidence in their play, the Warriors will soon find out exactly where they sit in comparison to the competition's elite, with matches against perennial contenders in the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm in the next fortnight.

The side will travel to meet the Roosters at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, and Pene says the Warriors know what sort of a match they are in for.

"We know what kind of club (the Roosters) are," he said. "They've had a long, long string of success with the club and we just have to focus on what we can do well, and that's run hard, tackle hard and build pressure. I think we're not really fazed on what they can do; it's more about what we can do as a team. I feel like if we do that really well, we give ourselves the best chance to beat them.

"We've got a few hard games coming up in a row. We just need to keep building on that camaraderie between each other and that next-man-up mentality – so whoever comes in or comes out, they know what their job is and what they have to do. Building on those consistencies we know work for us and we know wins footy games, it'll be really good for us going forward."