Big Knight as players vow to maintain their focus on pitch

The Warriors won’t let the buzz surrounding the club take their mind off the task at hand.

The club found itself under the microscope of Australian and New Zealand media this week after being linked to, and eventually signing, Brisbane Broncos half Kodi Nikorima until the end of 2021.

Once the dust settles, Nikorima is expected to take up residence in the starting line-up. But that won’t be tomorrow when the side take on the charging Newcastle Knights at Mt Smart Stadium.

Like the Warriors, the Knights have had an inconsistent start to the season which has seen players in key roles move around the starting lineup or miss time through injury.

However, they looked to have turned a corner in their most recent match with a dominant win over the Paramatta Eels — with the final 28-14 scoreline against one of the competition’s fast starters a possible sign of things to come.

“They’re a good footy team,” said Warriors assistant coach Tony Iro.

“They were predicted at the start of the year to make the top eight and they’ll get some confidence out of their win last week.”

The Warriors bring plenty of confidence of their own into the match after pushing the high-flying Storm in Melbourne, with many of their star players unavailable for the match.

However, the side was expecting to welcome back injured trio Blake Green, David Fusitu’a and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for the clash, but Iro said a final decision wouldn’t be made until after the captain’s run today.

Young half Chanel Harris-Tavita will remain in the starting side alongside Green for the week, but is expected to lose his role to Nikorima.

The Knights and Warriors have shared similar starts to their campaigns. Both were thought to be good enough to feature in the postseason by many pundits, they’ve missed vital points in close games and dropped fixtures that could come back to haunt them.

The Warriors have lost their last three fixtures but have been outscored by a combined total of only 12 points.

The Knights on the other hand showed they’re beginning to find their way against Parramatta with a performance that came on the back of two losses.

“They’ve had some close games but just haven’t been able to ice some results. So they’ll come to play and they’ve got some pretty handy footballers. It will be a great contest. We’re going to have to be good, but in the NRL, you have to be good every week to give yourself an opportunity.”