Payten warns season will only get tougher for Warriors

As challenging as 2020 has already been for the Warriors, interim head coach Todd Payten has warned things are only going to get tougher in the coming week.

The team has gone from temporarily moving themselves to Australia, to observing lockdown in New Zealand before committing to set up base in Australia for the remaining 20 rounds once the season resumed.

Now, the team is losing four players who are returning home to be with their families, with starting wing duo Ken Maumalo and David Fusitu’a, and forwards Agnatius Paasi and King Vuniyayawa boarding a plane home today.

The club is seeking loan players to cover the holes in the squad left by departures and injuries, securing the services of wing George Jennings and prop Daniel Alvaro from the Parramatta Eels, effective immediately.

While the two new additions are proven performers in first-grade, they have to get familiar with their new surroundings in rapid fashion before Friday’s game against Wests Tigers.

“As challenging as the last 15 weeks have been, it’s about to get a bit more challenging,” Payten said.

“[Jennings and Alvaro] are excited, and there’s some quality there, too, which will help, but they need to learn pretty quickly.

“They need to know our calls, understand our structures a little bit and find themselves within the group. That’s another challenge for them and for us.”

As well as signing Alvaro and Jennings, the Warriors have extended their loan of Penrith Panthers forward Jack Hetherington for another month, with the 24-year-old making an impact since joining the club late last month.

The Warriors will go into this week buoyed by their efforts against the two-time defending champion Roosters at the weekend, leading 10-6 at halftime before going down 18-10.

The Warriors were stoic in defence on their own line, something that has been lacking throughout their 2020 campaign.

The attack was stagnant but holding the Roosters to their lowest score since the competition got back under way is a step in the right direction.

“I don’t want to say I’m proud of them, but that’s the minimum requirement for us. We need that effort and intent for another 10 weeks,” said Payten.

“We’ve got to shift our mindset. We can’t be happy with pushing the two-time defending champions.

“I spoke to the gentlemen after the game. I was firm, and so were the other coaches, about not being happy with that.

“We showed some defensive resilience, we turned them away time and time again on our own tryline.

“They scored two tries from kicks and we had a play where we should have shut it down.

“We probably proved to ourselves that we’re a decent team, but we’re still a way away from being a tough, consistent team.”