A great start to the Telstra 2018 NRL Premiership competition by the New Zealand Warriors is no reason for irrational exuberance or false confidence, according to Coach Stephan Kearney.
The Warriors are unbeaten through four games and they have a chance to make it five straight when they host the North Queensland Cowboys in Auckland on Saturday night.
They have never had a better start to a season, surprising for a side from New Zealand and Kearney is cautioning his players not to get caught up in the hype surrounding the team.
The Warriors beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the first round, the Gold Coast Titans in the second, the Canberra Raiders in the third and the Sydney Roosters in the fourth round.
Other than Canberra, the Warriors have won games against decent teams.
The Cowboys are off to a slow start and might be playing with a chip on their shoulder when they come to Auckland, so the Warriors might be glad to have the home ground against a side that is better than its record suggests.
Kearney told his players and anyone else interested, “We keep it pretty simple here, in terms of how we go about our preparation. We’ve given them (the players) a few tips of being mindful of that.Any sense of them not doing their job will certainly get brought up, but the guys are enjoying their footy and enjoying preparing and how they go about things.I don’t think that needs to change.”
The key is maintaining a balanced perspective, according to Warriors hooker Issac Luke. They allow themselves to celebrate wins, but when the training for next week begins, high emotions must be set aside in order to focus on the task at hand.
“That’s the big thing we’ve had the last few weeks, being able to bring ourselves back to neutral after our games,” Luke said.