Cleary ready to prove Sydney hacks wrong

Pre-season supplements are chewing up hectares of softwood across the Tasman, and in the panels compiled by League Week, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph, more than half the pundits have tipped the Warriors for the wooden spoon in this year's NRL.

Even former Warrior Greg Alexander says they will finish last, while Sydney bookies rate them a distant $34 for the premiership.

But as the Warriors kick off their least-heralded NRL season in memory at the Gold Coast today, their coach appears remarkably relaxed for a man who even this week was facing fresh rumours that he has just five rounds to prove himself or face the axe.

Last year, Ivan Cleary's Warriors were widely-tipped and failed. This year, they are widely-derided and think they will go all right. "I've got to say: I am happier with it this way," smiles the coach.

"I am very relaxed," Cleary adds. "The lesson from last year is we probably reacted a bit too much to wins and losses, and maybe that was due to expectation. I'm going to try and not to do that this year."

Cleary is well aware of the view from Sydney. "There's no [expectations] over the ditch: well, there is expectation, but it is very low. But the positive there is we don't have to be going that well to exceed them. Here, in rugby league circles, expectations will always be high and we've got our own.

"It's quite funny, in a way, I don't know that we've gone that bad over the last 12 months. I think a lot of it is based on ignorance, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way, I just don't think anybody knows what we've done or are doing and they don't care and I think it's easy to think if you don't know about us, just look at last year's [performance].

"I really think that's the case, and I find that really good because that means we are going in [under the radar]."

The obvious critique of the Warriors is that they haven't strengthened significantly, the line taken by the SMH's chief league writer, Brad Walter, a noted Kiwiphile, who didn't pick them for the spoon but does have them finishing well outside the eight.

Walter says: "They don't seem to have the depth of topline players they used to have, especially in the key positions of half and hooker."

Cleary says he's less concerned about his minimal recruitment and the impact of arrivals Brett Seymour, Jeremy Latimore and James Maloney than how key players who underperformed in 2009 will respond.

"A few players who have been here for quite a while frankly didn't play as well as they could last year," he says. "My focus is to get them to play to their ability and the new guys can only add to that".

What impact a load of hacks in Australia can have on a football team in New Zealand is questionable. "Some guys read it, some don't: half the team know exactly what's going on and half are blissfully ignorant. But it's pretty easy to work out we are outsiders and everyone is quite comfortable with that. You get a sense they are quite happy sneaking around surprising people."

- © Fairfax NZ News