Warriors skipper Simon Mannering steered clear of the maths as he led his team to a 42-0 whitewash against the Gold Coast Titans in Auckland.
After two defeats in a row, the Warriors had begun the weekend in 10th place, two points below the top eight.
Their seven-try victory over Gold Coast still left them languishing behind eighth-placed Brisbane Broncos, even it’s by the slimmest of margins – a seven point, points differential.
But their victory over the Titans and the final-round draw means the Warriors will make it into the finals if they beat fourth-placed Penrith next Sunday.
Mannering says the players never discussed the for-and-against equations while the scoreboard was ticking over at Mt Smart Stadium.
The issue also wasn’t mentioned in the sheds at half-time, when they were up 30-0.
Doing that would have taken the focus away from the main objective, which was ensuring they won.
“We just first and foremost wanted to defend our line and try to get that zero – not necessarily score, but worry about our defence – and we did that,” Mannering said.
“We knew they were going to come back strong in the second half and I thought it was a good grind for us going into next week.”
Mannering was understandably happy the Warriors now had control of their own destiny and didn’t have to rely on other teams.
“We can put all our focus on Penrith,” he said.
“I guess our playoffs start early. If we get the two points there, we’re in the eight. Our fate’s in our own hands.”
NZN rlo/ptj
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