By Andrew Gourdie
The Warriors face the Brisbane Broncos tonight in a crucial match for both sides as the NRL playoffs edge closer.
And with two losses from their last three games, the Broncos are desperate for a win to boost their bid for the minor premiership
Most of the Warriors players had their headphones on as they touched down in Brisbane but it's unlikely any of them were listening to the overtures coming from the Broncos ahead of tonight's clash at Suncorp Stadium
“Potentially I think [the Warriors] are premiers and they're probably in my view one of the top two or three teams in the competition,” says Broncos coach Anthony Griffin.
Last week's win over the Titans has left the Warriors in eighth position but they're occupying a false position on the ladder according to Griffin.
“They’ve got strike and class right across the field and their younger forwards are learning how to grind games out now which makes them very hard to get over the top of,” says Griffin.
And the Broncos got a taste of that the last time the two sides met in a bruising round nine encounter.
The Warriors forwards dominated at Mount Smart and the Broncos will be keeping a particularly close eye on the in-form Feleti Mateo tonight.
“He's probably the best ball playing backrower in the competition; he can play before the line or through the line, he's a line breaker himself,” says Griffin.
And Warriors coach Brian ‘Bluey’ McClennan says Mateo is getting even better.
“He's working on other areas of the game as well and he's getting better - we're pretty happy with him, the main thing for us is we've got our 1,9,6,7 back together,” says McClennan.
There's good news off the field for the Warriors ahead of tonight's match with prop Jacob Lillyman signing a two year extension with the club – and he'll be even happier if the Warriors can collect two points against the Broncos.
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