Warriors, Roosters look for reversal of fortunes

Everything was going swimmingly for the Roosters and Warriors before last weekend’s round but after Saturday’s game one of these teams will officially be in a midseason slump.

The Warriors were smashed 36-4 by the Rabbitohs in Perth while the Roosters suffered a shock 10-4 loss to the Sharks.

Both clubs looked like continuing their climb into the top four before those defeats, but the loser of their clash at Mt Smart Stadium is likely to slip out of the top eight.

For the Roosters, everything was rosy when they thrashed the Storm 24-2 the previous week, but against the Sharks they were too desperate to get that try-scoring pass away, or make that great solo run.

‘‘We got the balance wrong against Cronulla,’’ Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.

‘‘We got involved emotionally as far as the battle went, but we forgot to build our game, we were too expansive too early and we didn’t build the game through rolling the ruck and forward domination.

‘‘We looked to score too often and ended up not scoring through our attack, we ended up scoring one through our defence.’’

The Warriors’ problems were with defence rather than attack, as it so often is, but assistant coach Tony Iro says he’s confident they can bounce back from that disappointing game.

‘‘One thing I’ve learned about this competition is that there are small margins in every single game we play,’’ Iro said.

‘‘Those margins can result in big losses or wins. Every game hinges on key moments and we were obviously on the back end of quite a few that went against us and most of them were of our own making last weekend.

‘‘But I don’t have any concern whatsoever, I know the perform- ances that the boys have been throwing out there for us have generally been ones of improvement.’’

Robinson says he’s been impressed by the Warriors this season, but feels form will count for little when the teams run out at the later than usual time of 8pm.

‘‘The Warriors have improved this year, based on the platform they’ve laid over the last couple of years,’’ he said.

‘‘Some key players have improved in their system and I’m sure they’ll be disappointed about last week.

‘‘But what we did against Cronulla or what they did against

I don’t have any concern whatsoever, I know the performances that the boys have been throwing out there for us have generally been ones of improvement. Tony Iro Warriors assistant coach

Souths won’t have any bearing.

‘‘It’s how we decide to play this week which counts, that’s the NRL season, that’s why there are so many wins and losses for teams each year. Form is a dangerous thing to rely on in the NRL, you’ve got to create it each week and that’s what we’ve got to do on Saturday.’’

Meanwhile, Iro has revealed that Bodene Thompson could fill in at hooker if something happens to Nathan Friend.

For the first time this season the Warriors have dispensed with having two hookers in their 17-man squad, after a couple of disappointing performances from Siliva Havili, and they are hoping the 34-year-old Friend can last the 80 minutes.

If he can’t, Iro says there are a couple of options to take his place. ‘‘Most sides only carry one hooker, but have someone who can do a job for you,’’ Iro said. ‘‘We’ve got a couple of blokes in the back who can fill that role, Bodene Thompson is one. He’s an 80-minute player who can pass from the deck, so he might be the first option.’’