Warriors ‘must trust their style’

The Warriors’ defence has led the way the last couple of weeks but the two men responsible for directing the team around the field are confident it won’t be long before the attack is firing.

There were glimpses during the back-toback wins over the Dragons and Knights but the Warriors have not fully clicked with a ball since last month’s 26-6 victory in Brisbane.

Last week in particular the Auckland outfit had several opportunities to add to the three tries they scored against Newcastle, only to let them off the hook with an error or poor fifth-tackle option.

Cleaning up the finish to their sets has been a main focus for halves Shaun Johnson and Blake Green, while across the board the Warriors need to be more clinical.

At a time of the season where teams have had more than enough time to do their homework, it can be more difficult to break down defences.

But Johnson says it’s important the Warriors continue to trust their instinctive style.

‘‘It’s fine, they can know it but you’ve got to stop it. And we’re confident that if we execute it’s still hard for teams [to defend],’’ Johnson said.

‘‘There are teams right across the comp that run the same sort of shape. Our point of difference is that reactive, instinctive [style], the ‘click’ moments that we talk about.

‘‘It feels good when you come up with those sorts of plays as well and you get the crowd into it and get a bit of energy as well. It’s just about finding that balance.’’

Given the weapons they possess in the backline, it is scary to think what the Warriors’ attack is capable of if they can come together over the next three weeks before the finals.

Green does feel they are on the right track. But he pointed to areas such as gameawareness and support that can have a big difference to the outcome.

‘‘You’ve just got to get people in the picture,’’ Green said. ‘‘When you make halfbreaks, a lot of things are all instinct and reaction. It’s hard to train for some of that stuff but the more people you can get in the picture more than likely things are going to go your way.’’

One way Green has been trying to keep defences guessing is building his running game.

It paid off last week when he split the Knights through the middle and ran 30m to score.

‘‘I’ve got some really good threats on either side of the field when I carry the ball in Roger [Tuivasa-Sheck] and Shaun,’’ Green added. ‘‘So I need to make sure I keep them honest in the middle, make sure they don’t slide off and I can preserve the space for them.’’

The Warriors meet the 14th-placed Bulldogs in Sydney and given their lowly position on the table, there could be a temptation to try and chase points to boost their points differential.

But Johnson knows that is a dangerous mentality to have.

From his experiences against Canterbury nothing will come easy on Sunday, regardless of where they are placed. ‘‘One thing that never changes with the Dogs is their scrap mentality,’’ the halfback said. ‘‘Every time I’ve played them you’re in for a tough a day. It’s going to be no different this Sunday.’’