The NZ Warriors and St George Illawarra Dragons are itching to get their seasons underway, with the teams squaring off in their round one opener this evening at Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland.
"Expectations are sort of on everyone in round one, everyone's waiting to play," Dragons coach Anthony Griffin says. "It'll be good to get out there and get it moving."
The form book favours the Warriors going into tonight's clash, after winning five of their past six games against the Dragons.
However, the Dragons have had a good run-up to the round one game, defeating the Parramatta Eels 26-22 and the South Sydney Rabbitohs 16-10 in their trial games.
"I just want to build on the offseason, we trialled pretty well. Obviously, the level will go up a lot on Saturday but yeah just keep building on what we've been doing," says Griffin.
The Warriors only managed to complete one of their two planned trial games - a 30-18 victory over the Melbourne Storm - after the second hit out against the Gold Coast Titans was cancelled due to torrential rain.
Griffin says he does not believe this gives the Dragons the advantage.
"Oh, I don't think so. These days the players right across the league, everyone's really well conditioned. The Warriors, like us, missed the playoffs last year so they've had a really long offseason. Obviously, they would have liked to have had another hit out but I don't think it gives us an edge at all, you know conditioning-wise."
Warriors coach Nathan Brown is optimistic the New Zealand team can kick on this season following their 12th place finish in 2021.
“If we can get ourselves off to a decent start for the year, there is no reason why we shouldn’t make the eight,” he says.
“We’re quite hopeful that a top eight spot will be a target for us, especially because we got some great learnings last year.”
The Dragons are expecting a tough encounter. "They're always a tough team to play," Griffin says. "With Shaun Johnson back there now to help (Kodi) Nikorima and (Addin) Fonua-Blake re-signed, you know they've got a real platform there."
"They're a classy team, they attack really well. I think they're on the way up as a club."
In a preview of the match, nrl.com points out that the Warriors have won four of their past five opening round games, while the Dragons have not started the season with a win since 2018.
"Their round one last year against the Gold Coast, they hardly got two passes wide of the ruck but they were really methodical and disciplined with the ball and that's how you need to play in round one, says Griffin. "You need to earn your points and work your way into the season."
"It'll end up being a bit of a war of attrition I think by the end. It's going to be 30 degrees."
"They're a high-quality side, they've got their scheme in attack which they stick to. They've got a high completion rate," says Griffin.
Kick-off is at 7.30pm NZ time.
