O free up Warriors bench spot
The Raiders will be hell-bent on claiming their first win of the season and looking to improve their goal-line defence after leaking five tries in consecutive 30-28 defeats to the Titans and Knights.
Canberra boast one of the biggest forward rotations in the NRL featuring the likes of Shannon Boyd, Iosia Soliola, Josh Papalii and Junior Paulo, but Kearney says the Warriors know the size of the task awaiting them as they hunt a third straight victory.
“We know we’re coming up against a tough side,” Kearney said.
“Canberra are a big and physical side that’s been beaten in the last couple of minutes by a couple of teams, so they’ll be very desperate.”
The Warriors forwards are growing in confidence after containing the highly-rated Rabbitohs pack and absorbing plenty of pressure against a committed Titans side.
The Warriors big men didn’t have it all their own way in either match, but Luke is pleased their strong middle defence has forced their opposition to go searching for try-scoring chances elsewhere.
Three of Souths’ four tries were scored out wide before Cody Walker got his second with a jinking run near the line in the final minutes, while the Titans had to resort to a kick for wing Anthony Don to claim their lone four-pointer at the death last week.
“We had a big pack two weeks ago in South Sydney and we’ve got a new challenge now and they’ll be eager to get the win at home,” Luke said.
“It’s going to be a good challenge, we know that, but the boys are looking forward to it. We’re preparing really well for it.” Warriors centre Solomone Kata enjoyed plenty of banter with his close friend and former teammate Konrad Hurrell before and after last week’s win over the Titans. The match was Hurrell’s first at Mt Smart since leaving the Warriors for the Gold Coast midway through the 2016 season.
“We speak all the time and he messaged me after the Souths match saying ‘good game, bro’,” said Kata. “I messaged him this week as well and after the game we were talking and joking with each other again. It’s good to see him back playing here.” Melbourne won last night’s replay of last season’s grand final, beating North Queensland 30-14. The Cowboys at least proved more competitive than they did in losing the 2017 decider 34-6 but Melbourne led this latest encounter 18-6 at halftime, with Christian Welch scoring his first NRL try, and got two more in the last eight minutes to clinch the two points. Big Kiwis prop Nelson AsofaSolomona scored the Storm’s fourth and final try in the 77th minute to ensure Melbourne bounced back from last week’s shock loss to the Wests Tigers.