SOME MIND GAMES
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Warriors to get physical against Cronulla
NZPA | Friday, 15 June 2007
The New Zealand Warriors will look to match Cronulla's physical approach without getting offside with the referee in their National Rugby League match in Sydney on Saturday night.
The last time the teams met, in Auckland early last month, six players were put on report, five of them Warriors.
Only two of the six ended up facing charges, Warriors Tony Martin and Michael Witt, who were suspended for a week for a dangerous throw.
Coach Ivan Cleary doesn't expect a repeat situation at Toyota Park, where the same referee, Gavin Badger, will be in charge.
"I hope not, I don't want five of our guys on report," he said yesterday.
"You have to be physical against Cronulla, that's how they play, but I'm certainly not expecting that."
The Sharks' 22-20 victory marked the start of the Warriors' present losing streak, which at six is just one short of the club record.
Cleary has made one change to the side beaten 4-2 by competition leaders Melbourne last weekend, with skipper Steve Price backing up from helping Queensland wrap up the State of Origin series.
He said spirits in the camp remained high, although there was disappointment at the manner of the defeat to the Storm.
The Warriors did enough to win but couldn't close out the contest.
"It's probably a game where we did a lot of things well and we've probably won a lot like that," Cleary said.
"We put ourselves in a position to win and from there we would expect to win. It's just the way it's going at the moment."
Cronulla have Brett Kimmorley and Origin debutant Greg Bird returning from the New South Wales side.
Bird scored two tries in the round-eight win at Mount Smart Stadium and is also one of three Sharks, along with Luke Covell and Paul Gallen, among the top six players for tackle breaks in the NRL.
Meanwhile, Cleary has declined to continue a verbal battle with Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart over players' feigning injury to attract a penalty from the video referee.
The issue was reignited by the Sharks' 20-16 win over St George-Illawarra last Monday night, with Cronulla's Paul Gallen denying he took a dive when clipped high by opposition five-eighth Richie Williams.
Gallen, who wasn't the only player in the match accused of staying down, winked after the penalty was awarded.
After the match, Stuart said he didn't tell his players to dive and he took a shot at Cleary.
"I most definitely do not coach laying down," he said.
"Just to set the record straight, he (Cleary) is very ill-informed. I thought he would know me better than that, but it's amazing what you blame when you're on a losing streak."
After the two-point loss to the Sharks six weeks ago, Cleary alleged that Stuart was encouraging players to lie down to get penalties.
Yesterday, he declined to give his view on Stuart's response.
"I made my comments from the last game and I'm happy with that."
