Improved Warriors eye spot in top four

THE Warriors need two wins from their remaining three games to record their secondbest regular season.

It’s been a stunning transformation for a team that hasn’t featured in finals since losing the 2011 NRL grand final to Manly.

Stephen Kearney’s side can bring up their 14th win of the season with victory over an improving Canterbury at ANZ Stadium today.

Despite sitting in eighth, they’re only one game off Penrith in fourth.

The Warriors won’t top their best finish, which came when they secured the minor premiership with 17 victories in 2001, but could go past their 2002 total of 15. After playing the Bulldogs in Sydney, they have home games against the Panthers and Canberra before heading into finals.

Even when they made the grand final seven years ago from sixth, the Warriors won 14 games.

They’ve had problems with consistency in the second half of the season, but Kearney believes the Warriors are past that.

“We’ve had issues with that over the course of the year but you deal with that by making sure that you’re messaging, and the way that you train is consistent,” Kearney said.

“Defensively over the last couple of weeks, that’s been a pretty good sign for us.

“It’s what worked for us earlier in the year and obviously we’ve got some guys who carry the ball really strongly.”

While the Warriors have a top-four spot to play for, the Bulldogs are desperately trying to avoid the wooden spoon for the first time since 2008.

Dean Pay’s men will be buoyed by the return of fiveeighth Lachlan Lewis, who will go up against the in-form halves pair of Blake Green and Shaun Johnson.