New Zealand Warriors

Led by star halfback Shaun Johnson, the Warriors overcame an early deficit to pile on five tries to two to secure their first win outside New Zealand since downing Canberra 21-20 at Redcliffe in Round 8 last season.

Johnson combined with five-eighth Te Maire Martin to have a hand in three of his side's tries as the Warriors capitalised on a dominant forward performance built of the back of a high completion rate.

North Queensland will be hurting from last week's derby loss to the Broncos, which also saw them lose Scott Drinkwater (three games) and Peta Hiku (two matches) to suspension. 

The Warriors meanwhile were left to rue poor execution in the final quarter of their 20-12 loss to the Roosters on Saturday, after they had battled on valiantly in the face of losing Jackson Ford (head knock), Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (head knock) and Josh Curran (hip).

After taking an 8-6 lead into the break, the Roosters scored two second-half tries and kicked a penalty with five minutes to go to secure the result at Allianz Stadium, although there will be concern around Brandon Smith failing to play the second half due to a back issue. 

The Warriors battled on through a hefty injury toll which saw them lose Jackson Ford (2nd minute) and Charnze Nicoll Klokstad (50th minute) to failed head injury assessments, while Josh Curran left the field 22 minutes from full-time with a hip pointer injury. 

Trent Robinson's side struggled to get things going in attack against the competition newcomers and shot themselves in the foot with a high error rate, while in addition losing 28-18 they had both Victor Radley and Matt Lodge fail head injury assessments, with the latter now set to undergo surgery on a facial injury this week. 

The Warriors on the other will be in high spirits after a 20-12 win in which they took the limited opportunities presented to them in attack and defended with true grit through prolonged periods camped in their own half. 

After a long stint away from home due to the COVID pandemic, the Warriors can expect huge support at Sky Stadium on Friday night and then at Mt Smart for clashes against the Bulldogs (round 4), Cowboys (round 7) and Roosters (round 9).

With new coach Andrew Webster at the helm and a number of key signings, the Warriors will look to hit the ground running as they look to return to the finals for the first time since 2018.

They sit equal with the Sharks on 32 points but ahead by 71 on points differential and a home final in Townsville beckons provided they can hold their nerve in the remaining three games.

The Warriors have shown some positive signs against qualty opposition in the past month but it doesn't get any tougher than facing the top two sides in the next fortnight.

If they can hold their heads high against the Cowboys and Panthers and then finish with a win in front of the Mt Smart faithful in Round 25 there will be plenty of positives to take into next season.

With Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake turning on the power and Shaun Johnson turning back the clock, the Warriors sent the parochial Auckland crowd home happy with the seven-tries-to-three win.

The Warriors opened the scoring after seven minutes when Johnson put centre Viliami Vailea into a huge hole and the youngster celebrated his return from a broken jaw with a try.

Come Friday night they will find themselves playing a revitalised Dogs team who pushed the second-placed Cowboys all the way in Round 21.

After leading with half an hour to go, the Bulldogs fell just short of footing it with North Queensland but will have taken plenty of confidence from the performance and still have two wins from their last three matches, with their key players in good form.

Murray set up the first three tries of the match, while Mitchell scored two and laid on two others as a ruthless Souths side leapfrogged the Broncos and Roosters into sixth position on the Telstra Premiership ladder.

So dominant was Murray that the Rabbitohs captain had run more than 100 metres by the time second-rower Keaon Koloamatangi scored his side's fourth try in the 21st minute and he finished with a game high 191 metres.

With matches against heavyweights the Eels, Panthers, Cowboys and Roosters to come after this weekend's assignment the Rabbitohs can't afford to slip up  against a team that took them to the wire in Magic Round.

The Rabbitohs led 26-6 at half-time in that match at Suncorp Stadium but clocked off to concede four tries in 15 minutes and almost let the victory slip away.

Finals are out of the question for the Warriors but they'll happy play spoiler to any contenders who dare take them lightly.