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AUCKLAND - The Warriors have achieved a major goal in making the playoffs, but their National Rugby League aspirations are far from over, skipper Steve Price says.
The Warriors confirmed a place in the NRL semifinals for the first time since 2003 thanks to a scratchy but ultimately convincing 36-14 win over an understrength Manly in Auckland yesterday.
"It's something we've worked very hard to achieve," Price said.
"Certainly, having achieved that goal, it's not over. We're not going to go out there to make up the numbers."
With one round to go, the result against Manly also kept alive the Warriors' hopes of a top-four finish, which will give them home advantage in the first week of the finals.
Price, who was part of two premiership-winning campaigns with the Bulldogs, will be making his first appearance in the playoffs with the Warriors.
The prop again led from the front as the home side made hard work of downing the Sea Eagles, who were missing five key players and had a couple of debutants in their 17.
The 162 metres he gained took his season's tally of running metres to over 4000, giving him an average of 200m a game, by far the best in the NRL this year.
There were also milestones for interchange forwards Wairangi Koopu and Epalahame Lauaki, who brought up 150 and 50 NRL appearances respectively.
Both marked their achievement by getting in among the Warriors' six tries.
Koopu, who slotted in at centre when Jerome Ropati went off with an early shoulder injury, grabbed two, while Lauaki's touchdown began a Warrior comeback from 10-2 down.
While the margin of victory ended up being comfortable, Manly kept the big crowd of 25,070 at Mt Smart Stadium on the edge of their seats for a large part of the match.
The Sea Eagles were still in the hunt with half an hour to go, when they trailed by just 12-10.
With the contest in the balance, they looked to have got back in front when centre Michael Robertson crossed.
But in what appeared to be a harsh call by video referee Chris Ward, Robertson had the try disallowed for obstruction by a decoy runner.
While the Warriors might have been below par, there were no complaints from coach Ivan Cleary.
Winning ugly was part of the learning curve and being able to do that regularly would take the Warriors up another step.
"It's grinding out wins when we're not at our absolute best, and we get a bit of that because of our travel schedule," Cleary said.
"Some days, particularly away from home, you're not right at the top your game and we've struggled to win those games."
So he was encouraged by how the Warriors were able to overcome a nervous start that had Manly calling most of the shots.
"It was pretty obvious from early on that we were not playing great but you've still got to win it," he said.
"If there was any game we had to win, that was it, and to get through was great."
Victory over the Sea Eagles, who were guaranteed to finish runners-up to Melbourne for the minor premiership no matter what happened, lifted the Warriors to fourth on the ladder.
However, Parramatta will go back above them if they beat St George Illawarra tonight.
The Warriors' final-round match is away to Penrith, who are down in 14th spot but have had a recent resurgence in form, with three wins in their last four matches.
The Panthers will also be farewelling Craig Gower, who is leaving after 12 seasons to switch codes and join French rugby club Bayonne.
- NZPA
