Warriors cruise past short Broncos in NRL

May 27, 2017 - 11:06 AM The Warriors' fortnight of discontent is over - but their climb up the NRL ladder has only just begun, coach Stephen Kearney says.

A dominant display in attack and defence has handed Kearney's troops a priceless 28-10 victory over an undermanned Brisbane in Auckland.

In stark contrast to their previous defeats against Penrith and St George Illawarra, the Warriors could do no wrong on home turf.

They successfully laid a platform for the likes of Shaun Johnson, Kieran Foran and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to weave their magic.

Johnson put a horror show against the Dragons to bed with a virtuoso display, bagging a try and two assists, while Tuivasa-Sheck pinched a try and assist of his own.

The Warriors' forward pack, meanwhile, made 300 more metres than their opponents despite the loss of prop Jacob Lillyman to State of Origin duty.

But where Lillyman's absence was barely felt, the Broncos' six missing Queensland stars - including Anthony Milford and Darius Boyd - left a gaping hole.

Benji Marshall was a mostly subdued presence as Milford's replacement, bar a try assist for James Roberts, while his side made an uncharacteristic 46 missed tackles.

Kearney nevertheless insisted his side had won through their own endeavour, rather than simply facing a Brisbane outfit without their Origin stars.

"It wasn't going to be about the Broncos this week - it was going to be about the team, and what we needed to deliver on," Kearney told reporters.

"Regardless of who was out there in the opposition, it was about us focusing on our jobs and what we needed to do; and the guys did that pretty well."

After a tight opening, Warriors centre Blake Ayshford collected a Johnson short ball down the left edge to hand his side an 11th-minute lead.

Johnson scored a solo effort soon afterwards, streaking through the middle of the ruck, before he grubbered for Tuivasa-Sheck to score just before the break.

Ahead 16-0 at half-time, the Warriors showed no desire to take their foot off the gas and crossed through Ken Maumalo three minutes after the restart.

A pair of Roberts tries closed the gap with 20 minutes left to play, until James Gavet barged over against his former side to settle the contest.

Kearney lauded his side for holding their nerve and exorcising their mental demons after a tough fortnight in which their finals hopes had appeared over.

They could now get back to the form seen before the representative round, when they produced gritty wins over the Roosters, Eels and Titans.

Saturday's win places them on the precipice of the top eight after 12 games, while the Broncos remain comfortably inside the top four.

"We probably lost our way in terms of concentration and focus on what's important for us, and what we felt we worked on really well for a six-week block," Kearney said.

"When you put physical pressure on a team, whether it's you running the footy or defending, it creates opportunities to offload or, when defending, putting physical pressure on, you create errors - and that's what it's all about."

Source: AAP