Hurrell: Warriors need the points at Cronulla
This NRL season has not reached the halfway point but New Zealand Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell has described his team’s next two fixtures as the most important of the entire campaign.
The Warriors play the Sharks in Cronulla on Saturday night, then face another trip across the Tasman to play the Eels the following week before their first bye of the year.
If the Warriors are victorious in these two tricky but winnable games, it should shoot them into the top eight.
Then, if the Warriors get their usual mid-season boost during State of Origin, they could further cement their chances of making the playoffs.
However, if the Warriors were to lose both these games, then they could be in a situation of playing catch-up again over the back end of the season.
‘‘These two games are the most important two of the year,’’ Hurrell said.
‘‘We’re down the bottom of the table, that’s why we need these points before the bye to get us back towards the top.
‘‘The Sharks have been beating us for the last few years but the boys have trained well this week and we’re looking forward to it.
‘‘Obviously we’re looking for two wins in the games before the bye.’’ Hurrell returns to the firstgrade side after being relegated to the NSW Cup in the last round.
It has been a slow start to the season for Hurrell, who was the club’s best attacking threat in 2014.
Hurrell has scored one try in his four games for the Warriors this season and he paid the price for poor form.
‘‘When I got the news I was pretty angry and disappointed with myself,’’ Hurrell said.
‘‘But I guess the coach picked the right players for the team.
‘‘I needed to work that week playing in the reserves to get back into it.
‘‘The coach makes what he thinks is the best decision and he didn’t want me to play against Gold Coast; he didn’t think I was performing at my best.’’
But Hurrell was back to his best form for Tonga in their test against Samoa last Saturday and he feels that earned him the recall for the Sharks game. ‘‘I went all right,’’ Hurrell said. ‘‘I didn’t get much ball but I guess it was that game which got me back into the NRL.’’
After the 2013 World Cup, Hurrell said that would be the last time he played for Tonga and he wanted to represent New Zealand at test level in the future.
However, he has yet to play in the black and white jersey, and made himself unavailable for last November’s Four Nations to recover from a wrist injury.
He was not selected by Stephen Kearney for the recent Anzac test and chose to line up for Tonga again. Players are allowed to make one nationality change in each World Cup cycle, so he can still play for New Zealand, but said he might throw his lot in with his country of birth permanently.
‘‘I’m not too sure. At the last game I enjoyed playing for Tonga again; they’re trying to build a good team and we’ll see what happens there. I’m still eligible for the Kiwis,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t know when Tonga will play again but hopefully it will be this year. We need a couple of games each year to help the boys stay together.’’