Here we go!!! Our favourite day of the week is here once again!! Game Day!! We take on the Warriors this afternoon on the Sunshine Coast in what will hopefully be an epic match. This is a game I had circled on my calendar ever since the 2021 draw came out. Being a Kiwi that bleeds Red and Green, playing the Warriors is always personal for me. It's war, it's always a bg clash amd one that I get fired up for like when we play the Roosters. Some of my best mates are Warriors fans and everyone over here pays attention to how the NZ team is going so for me, it's always massive when we play them.
They are down at the moment as it stands. They've lost six in a row and have some injuries to key players however, we cannot let that fool us because all that does is makes them more hungry, more driven and more desperate to play well against us and get the win. I still believe the Warriors are a top eight side if they get things right and you only have to look at their game last week to see what they're capable of. If they didn't have no players on the bench, they would've given Penrith a big scare. Therefore, we simply cannot expect this to be a walkover today. They have a great forward pack lead by the likes of Lodge and Fonua-Blake so that is the key battle today. Contain their forwards as well as Reece Walsh and it'll go a long way to winning. That can be easier said than done though.
I said it earlier on in the week but today is all about attitude for us. We didn't turn up with the right attitude against the Bulldogs last week so we need to make amends for that and get it right in this one. The attitude defensively is what especially needs to be focussed on. it was not up to scratch against the 16th placed team in our last game so I'm looking for a big improvement there. Significantly, that's going to be difficult considering we have an almost all new backline with no Graham or Johnston but we have to have a next man up mentality and those boys coming in must do a job.
I'm making a night of it tonight. Have about 10-12 mates coming round to watch this one. Half Souths fans, half Warriors fans so it should be great!! I'll make sure you guys can hear me screaming from across the ditch!
So let's fire up!! Bring it on!!