Warriors should cement place in top eight

With the Warriors sitting two points ahead of the ninth-placed Raiders, a home fixture against the Knights on Sunday is a chance to cement their place in the top eight.

Wins in Sydney against the Sharks and Eels before the bye moved the Warriors into the top half of a congested ladder, but captain Simon Mannering wants this to be a season where they’re not having to scrap it out to make the eight on order to reach the playoffs with a fair degree of comfort.

‘‘You don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself, but you definitely need to string performances together,’’ Mannering said.

‘‘With the closeness of the competition, if you’re not winning back-toback games, you’re going down the ladder.

‘‘For us, it’s important to string a few wins together, and that starts on Sunday. There are challenges ahead, but we need to back up those performances away from home, with one here.’’

If the Warriors are to be a top four

It’s important to string a few wins together. Simon Mannering

team this year, sides such asthe Knights should be easy fodder for them.

Rick Stone’s team started off the season with four wins, but have lost five of their past six games and it’s unlikely their inspirational former Kiwis lock Jeremy Smith will play as he recoversfrom a sternum injury.

The key for the Warriors for this game is defence – after letting in 32 points against the Titans in round nine, it’s an area that’s needed plenty of improvement.

‘‘Earlier in the season we were leaking far too many,’’ Mannering said.

‘‘If you look at the teams at the top, they’re all the best defensive teams in the comp.

‘‘That’s what we want to be, we want to be known for our defence.

‘‘We’re heading in the right direction, but we’re not there yet.

‘‘Also we’ve been having little lapses in the middle of games.

‘‘We’re working hard to put ourselves in a good position and then we’re letting the opposition right back in the game.

‘‘For us, it’s about having more consistency through our performance, not having massive highs followed by massive lows in the way we perform.’’

Boosting the Warriors’ chances of success is the return of fullback Sam Tomkins, who has been out since round three with a knee injury.

The Englishman has only played against the Raiders and Eels this season – two of the Warriors’ better wins.

‘‘He’s a real key for us and in those two games he was outstanding,’’ Mannering said.

‘‘So it will be good to have him back in the side, but in saying that I think Tui [Lolohea] did a great job for us at fullback.

‘‘You can’t fault what he did in a position he hadn’t spent much time in.

‘‘Sam will bring a lot, but Tui will be in the centres and it’s going to be exciting to have them both in the team at the same time.’’