Sixes or sevens

I think it’s fantastic we’ve got this nice challenge for ourselves. Warriors coach Brian Mcclennan.

IN any season, there will be a patch of games that will ultimately define what that year meant for that particular team.

In the 2011 NRL season, that spell came between round 18 and 24 for the Warriors. Between those dates, the Warriors won six from seven, dropping points only to the Broncos, who beat them in an extra-time golden point heartbreaker at Suncorp Stadium.

Memories of a mixed start to the season went out the window with the run, and set up a sixth place finish, and, ultimately, a spot in the grand final.

Warriors coach Brian McClennan believes his side is about to enter that season-defining spell.

Following today’s clash with the table-topping Storm, the Warriors will have to play the Panthers, the Sharks, the Cowboys, the Titans and the Broncos in their next five encounters.

Only one of those match-ups is at home, against the Titans, while three of their opponents currently sit in the NRL’s top six.

It’s a gruelling stretch by anyone’s definition, but McClennan is looking forward to the challenge.

‘‘It’s a really important six games, this. Not only have we got four away, four of them are arguably the top four teams,’’ McClennan said.

‘‘You’ve got Melbourne, you’ve got Brisbane and Cronulla who are going well, and North Queensland thrown in there as well.

‘‘That’s great. I think it’s fantastic we’ve got this nice challenge for ourselves. We’ve had a meeting about it all and we’ve set some goals for ourselves and I think it’s an exciting group of games.

‘‘This could be the group of games where we start to get some real traction.’’

The Warriors missed their opportunity to string a third straight victory together against the Tigers last week, with a poor second half belying their dominance in the first stanza.

McClennan acknowledges it was an opportunity lost and promised that his men would concentrate on keeping the foot on the throat, when they have it there, in the future.

‘‘If we’d turned around and beaten Wests Tigers, we’d all be going ‘hey, the team’s tracking along really great’,’’ he said.

‘‘We lost to that side [when] they completed 20 out of 20 sets. We were naive in that we didn’t put the sword to them early in the first half.’’

The Warriors head into today’s clash with the Storm with an aura of dominance beginning to develop at Mt Smart Stadium. Bluey’s Boys have won four straight at their home park, while their round three loss to the Bulldogs is their only loss in their last eleven encounters at Penrose.

The Warriors record against the Storm at Mt Smart Stadium is 50-50, with seven victories over the Victorian side, as well as seven losses.