'We've got the pack to match theirs': Warriors captain ready for Broncos blockbuster

NRL preliminary final: Warriors v Broncos. Where: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. When: Saturday, 9.50pm (NZT). Coverage: Live connected Sky Sport 4; unrecorded updates connected Stuff

Every Warrior was immense as they bushed the Newcastle Knights to acceptable up a blockbuster NRL preliminary last with the Broncos this Saturday nighttime successful Brisbane.

But skipper Tohu Harris surely led from the beforehand – making 39 tackles and moving for 216 metres, including a interruption aboriginal successful the 2nd fractional that led to a pivotal try.

He was astatine the bosom of an immense antiaircraft effort that started with their guardant pack, and he’s backing them to spell toe-to-toe – oregon possibly much accurately, shoulder-to-shoulder – with their adjacent opponents astatine Suncorp Stadium.

“I'm truly looking guardant to it,” Harris said, aft his archetypal location NRL finals lucifer arsenic a Warrior, watched by the ninth-largest assemblage they’ve attracted astatine Mt Smart successful their history – a full of 26,083 fans.

”This is wherefore you play the crippled – to play successful crippled games of this magnitude and to play against this benignant of prime opposition,” helium added, referring to a Broncos squad that finished 2nd connected the ladder with 2 much wins than the fourth-placed Warriors.

“That's going to beryllium a immense challenge, but I consciousness similar we've got the battalion to lucifer theirs and it's going to beryllium a large night.”

The Warriors are expected to sanction an unchanged lineup connected Tuesday evening, with manager Andrew Webster giving his squad a cleanable measure of wellness connected Saturday, wherever second-rower Marata Niukore was forced from the tract astatine 1 stage, but aboriginal returned.

Shaun Johnson played 73 minutes successful his instrumentality from a calf wounded and aft fitting backmost successful seamlessly, the halfback was assured helium would propulsion up good arsenic helium eyes his archetypal preliminary last with the Warriors since helium starred successful a triumph implicit the Melbourne Storm successful his debut season.

Webster said the coaching unit would measure however helium came done the Knights lucifer earlier determining his grooming workload this week, with getting him successful the champion imaginable spot to execute connected Saturday the main aim.

“He could propulsion up truly bully and we could get an other grooming league retired of him, alternatively of conscionable the captain's run. If we don't, we'll instrumentality to the look [that worked past week, wherever helium trained unsocial earlier joining the squad connected Friday]. We’ll spot however helium pulls up.”

Dylan Walker was connected standby each of past week to measurement successful for Johnson if needed, yet lining up successful the halves against the Knights erstwhile Webster gave his main playmaker a remainder with 7 minutes to play.

The inferior is 1 of the fewer Warriors to person won an NRL rubric – with the South Sydney Rabbitohs successful 2014 – and helium feels the foundations his existent squad person built “are precise strong”.

“We’ve got a large guardant pack, a bully bench,” – a self-assessment that was followed by a circular of laughter – “and past our extracurricular backs, they're conscionable making the close decisions”.

“Newcastle are unsafe erstwhile they're shifting the shot – Kalyn Ponga, Bradman Best, each those guys – and I thought they handled it truly good tonight.

“We were fortunate capable to get the hitch of the greenish and this week. We're conscionable going to reappraisal it, preview the Broncos, and past spell implicit to Brisbane and bash a job.”

The Broncos volition travel into Saturday’s lucifer having had past play off, receiving a bye aft they bushed the Melbourne Storm 26-0 astatine location successful their qualifying last 2 Fridays ago.

After that decision – their archetypal against the Broncos successful 15 matches – the Storm bounced backmost past Friday to bushed the Sydney Roosters 18-13 successful their semifinal successful Melbourne, mounting up a preliminary last against the two-time defending champion Penrith Panthers successful Sydney this Friday.

NRL – preliminary finals

Friday, 9.50pm (NZT): Penrith Panthers v Melbourne Storm; Accor Stadium, Sydney

Saturday, 9.50pm (NZT): Brisbane Broncos v Warriors; Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Winners to conscionable successful NRL expansive last connected Sunday, October 1