Warriors flourish this season under radar

For the best part of the past two decades, Warriors fans have thrived on three words: Keep the faith.

Supporters of the team hold strong to that motto 17 years after it came to our screens by way of a gospel choir marching through Auckland’s Myers Park, but in the media, it had grown stale.

This year, it seemed enough was enough. No longer would this franchise, who hadn’t made the playoffs since 2011, be talked up as a top tier contender.

Phil “Buzz” Rothfield of the Daily Telegraph tipped the Kiwi side to collect the wooden spoon. Parramatta Eels legend Peter Sterling had them finishing towards the bottom of the ladder. Closer to home, three Herald writers gave their tips for the top eight at the start of the season — only one featured the Warriors, who would “sneak into the eight“.

Going into the season under the radar for the first season in a long time, the Warriors have flourished. The faith remained high in the squad, with new recruits Tohu Harris, Blake Green and Adam Blair instrumental in steering the ship.

With three games remaining in their regular season, there’s a good chance finals footy could return to Mt Smart Stadium this year.

The Warriors are two points outside the top four, with two of their final three games against bottom eight teams.

There’s been no talk of “broculture” and no one has been reaching for excuses to justify or explain why the team haven’t been able to reach their potential.

In their win over the Newcastle Knights on Friday night, the Warriors lifted themselves off the bubble in eighth place. Now, having hit the magic 28-point mark that historically sees a team progress to the postseason, they still have room to move.

The deciding fixture in their bid for a top four spot could be their clash against the Penrith Panthers at home in two weeks.

The Panthers are fourth but have been lacking in form recently with the club in disarray following the lateseason release of coach Anthony Griffin.

The Panthers have been getting the results but in the past two weeks have taken on bottom eight teams and both times needed to produce some late magic to get the result. The Warriors, on the other hand, have been rolling in the past fortnight. They’ve taken an 18-12 win over the fifth-placed Dragons and comfortably handled the 11th-placed Knights.

Mt Smart hasn’t hosted an NRL finals game since 2007, when the Warriors were beaten 12-10 by the Parramatta Eels. Winger Todd Byrne scored the opening try that day — remember him? — and Michael Witt was awarded a penalty try, but they were negated by tries to Jarryd Hayne and Feleti Mateo — who would later front for the Warriors in the 2011 grand final — but one more successful nudge from the boot of Krisnan Inu got the Eels home.

Could Auckland finally see the return of finals footy this year? Keep the faith.