Warriors showed some complaceny

Shaun Johnson has admitted the Warriors were guilty of complacency over the last two weeks but that was well and truly belted out of them by Penrith.

The Warriors went into last Friday’s game in Sydney looking to return to the top four but instead the 36-4 rout has seen them fall to eighth place, albeit only two points behind the fourth-placed Panthers.

It was the first time Stephen Kearney’s side had suffered consecutive losses all season and they face a huge challenge avoiding a third-straight defeat against an in-form Broncos outfit at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.

Johnson insisted they did not go into the match against the understrength Panthers, who were missing three players to State of Origin as well as several other regular firstgraders, expecting to win.

But the star halfback said there were a "few little alarms" throughout the performance that showed they had taken their eye off the ball around some of the finer details of the game.

"There was probably a little bit of that," Johnson said.

"There shouldn’t be any reason for there to be any complacency. But we have had a good start to the year. We probably surprised a lot of people with how well we’ve done so far.

"It’s the little things behind the scenes that we haven’t quite nailed over the last two weeks, and in particular last week.

"It’s discipline-type stuff that we were doing well in the first part of the season. That’s where we’ve slipped off."

Johnson produced arguably his worst game of the year against the Panthers as he struggled to work his way into the contest.

The Kiwis playmaker allowed his frustrations to get the better of him by trying to force a big play when it wasn’t on, particularly early in the second half, which only let the Panthers off the hook.

With five-eighth Blake Green the chief organiser in attack, having Johnson pick his moments to chime in has worked well for the Warriors for most of the season.

But Johnson said he needs to come up with an alternative way of injecting himself into the game when the ball is not coming his way.

"Obviously I had a few plays there that didn’t come and that might have been me forcing it a bit too hard - trying to come up with a play where if I’d stuck in our system and executed what we spoke about during the week, it might have been a different story," he said.

Johnson did not play in the heavy losses to the Storm, Roosters and Rabbitohs earlier this year due to injury and admitted the disappointment of last week’s result has been difficult to get over.

But he knows he can ill-afford to dwell on it any longer with the Broncos on the horizon, who have won their last three games and five of the last six.

● Warriors winger Ken Maumalo has been ruled out of Sunday’s clash against the Broncos with a knee injury but coach Stephen Kearney has refrained from making wholesale changes after last week’s horror show in Penrith.

Maumalo suffered the injury, which is still being assessed, during the 36-4 rout to a depleted Panthers side, which has seen the Warriors fall to eighth place.

Gerard Beale has taken his spot on the left wing, while Joe Vuna and Anthony Gelling have been brought onto the bench in the only other changes for the trip to Brisbane.

Peta Hiku has been retained at right centre despite being pulled from the field in the second half against the Panthers after a particularly poor defensive display.

The Warriors head into the clash against the seventh-placed Broncos with identical 10-6 records, although the Wayne Bennett-coached side are riding a three-game winning streak.

The last 10 encounters between the clubs have been split 5-5 but the Broncos hold a 14-5 head-to-head advantage in Brisbane with the Warriors’ last win at Suncorp Stadium back in 2013.