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Warriors wary of Broncos in NRL finals

Laine Clark 08/09/2011 02:13:27 PM Comments (0)

When the dust settled on the Broncos' pulsating 21-20 NRL win over the Warriors last month, Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin admitted he would be happy if he didn't see the Kiwi side again this season.

It seems the feeling was mutual.

Griffin may have groaned when fate conspired to throw the sides together in Saturday night's finals clash at Suncorp Stadium.

But Warriors lock Michael Luck admits his side weren't jumping for joy either.

"I suppose after that (21-20 result) I was thinking I didn't really want to play them again either," Luck told AAP.

"It took us a couple of days to get over that.

"And the week after it took us a while to click into gear.

"They are usually tough encounters and Saturday night should be no exception."

Mind you, the round 22 clash at Suncorp Stadium on August 6 is a hard act to follow.

It had Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson beating seven Broncos to score a brilliant solo try and a Darren Lockyer-inspired second-half four-pointer that changed the game.

Finally there was Broncos halfback Peter Wallace's match-winning field goal - much to Griffin's relief.

But Griffin's blood pressure is again set to be tested judging by Luck's confidence.

The stage is set for another epic encounter with Suncorp Stadium again set to be packed to witness Lockyer's final playoff campaign.

However Luck backed his troops to gate crash the party.

Especially with the Warriors still smarting from their early 2010 finals exit despite finishing the regular season in fifth place.

"We are not too worried about that (Lockyer farewell factor)," Luck said.

"When we go over there and give it a good shake you never know what can happen.

"I reckon we are as good a chance as anyone.

"It's up to every team to write their own chapter come finals time - hopefully we do that over the next month or so."

The Warriors may have the worst finals record of the remaining teams (six wins at 46 per cent) but they have some of the best away form of 2011.

They downed the Storm in Melbourne in round seven, the Knights in Newcastle three weeks later and thrashed South Sydney 48-16 in Sydney in round 20.

And they will back themselves against a Brisbane side missing barnstorming forward Sam Thaiday (suspension) and livewire fullback Josh Hoffman (knee).

Ben Te'o moves from the centres to replace Thaiday in the backrow, Gerard Beale is now at fullback and Matt Gillett will come off bench to help protect Lockyer in defence.

"I have a huge wrap on Matt Gillett, he's just as hard to handle (as Thaiday)," Luck said.

"Ben Te'o is a power athlete who runs a good hole or puts a good hit on.

"And Gerard Beale was pretty good at fullback last week as well (coming on for the injured Hoffman).

"Those blokes will fill their boots admirably. I don't think they lose too much."

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