The Warriors have continued their strong form in the 2nd half of the season with a hard-fought 16-12 win over a struggling Sharks side at Mount Smart this afternoon.
It is the Warriors' 2nd win in a row and the first against their bogey team in several seasons which will do a lot for the confidence of Andrew McFadden's charges especially as it came without key playmaker, Shaun Johnson and star back, Konrad Hurrell.
The Warriors led 16-6 at the break but found the 2nd half hard going against a determined Sharks side that was in a scrap with the Raiders to avoid winning the wooden spoon. The Sharks gave a far better account than their fellow strugglers from Canberra and nearly continued their lucky run against the Warriors but for some determined defence from the home side.
This latest winning run is a nice one for Warriors fans as it also sees them move within 2 points of the top 4 with games against the Knights, Roosters, Titans and Panthers to come - the Warriors should win at least 2 of those games and therefore finish on 30 points at least which historically has been enough for any side to make the top 8.
A top 4 finish would be nice as it would guarantee the Warriors 2 weekends of playoff football - even if they lose on the first weekend of the playoffs, they will get another life the following weekend.
It is a remarkable turn of events given that the Warriors got rid of head coach Matthew Elliott earlier in the season and replaced him with inexperienced coach Andrew McFadden. The fact is that the Warriors are really a squad of talented and mercurial footballers who just need a coach who knew them intimately in the dressing room rather than a big name manager to look after them - testament to McFadden's ability to get the best out of this group of players who would normally frustrated past coaches.
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