Warriors gain rare road win

The Warriors’ 34-12 win over the Titans on Saturday doesn’t completely turn their season around, but it showed they’re not out of the hunt.

The convincing win was the type of victory the Warriors are always capable of, but haven’t produced enough times this season. However halfback Shaun Johnson says it will give the team a lift as they head into their bye week.

It’s important that we enjoy the performance we put in against the Titans because it’s been a tough period for us, because what’s been said about us and what we’ve had to cop,’’ Johnson said.

‘‘We understand that one game isn’t going to change people’s opinions but internally it’s important that we enjoy these wins, especially when we’re on the road.

‘‘This will do a lot of good for the team’s morale and it’s important now that we enjoy the break and come back refreshed and looking to go well next time at home.’’

Their next game is at home to the struggling Bulldogs on June 23 and a win would make it six points in three weeks for the Warriors,

putting them right back in the fight for a top eight spot.

The Titans victory was a memorable one for second rower Ryan Hoffman, who reached the mark of 300 NRL games.

The 33-year-old scored the Warriors opening try and was giving the honour of kicking the final conversion in the last minute.

But it was towards the end of the first half where the Warriors were at their very best, as Blake Ayshford, Ken Maumalo and Roger Tuivasasheck all scored tries in a sixminute blitz.

It was breathtaking footy, but Johnson said it happened because they’d set themselves a good platform.

‘‘That was the result of a lot of hard work put in over the first 20 minutes,’’ he said.

‘‘We spoke about earning the right, building the pressure and getting in an arm wrestle with them.

‘‘We did exactly that, it wasn’t pretty at times but we were just playing footy, playing fast through the middle and we scored some tries at the back end of the first half.’’

Up by 20 points at the break, the Warriors were in a comfortable position, but that was also the case when they played the Panthers a few weeks ago and then suffered a second-half capitulation.

No doubt there would have been worries from Warriors fans that this may be on the cards again when Jarryd Hayne scored for the Titans in the 45th minute. But Johnson says there was a stronger resolve from the Warriors players this time to keep their grip on the game.

‘‘There was a different feel out there, the Jarryd Hayne try was a poor read from myself and it was that simple,’’ he said.

‘‘The boys worked really hard to control the ruck, so there wasn’t signs that it was going to happen again, the feel of that wasn’t there.

‘‘We were really confident in what we were doing and what we needed to do to close out the game and we were able to do that after Hayne’s try.’’