In most cases, a coach would gladly take the win with open arms – but for Warriors coach Brian McClennan, whilst he is pleased that his side won, he is after some better overall play from his side, following their 26-6 win over the Gold Coast Titans at Mt Smart Stadium.

In what was a rather wet game, it was young halfback Shaun Johnson who stole the spotlight, scoring two of his side’s 5 overall tries -with McClennan asking for even more from his side.

“If you sat any one of the players down and said that was a great performance, they would all say no,” he said.

“It was not quite the best we could do, especially the second half.

“I thought the first half, we did pretty well going into the wind and the rain. The second half, we were a little bit immature how we managed the game.”

Despite the win however, McClennan also gave wraps to the physicality that the Titans brought to the table.

It was a pretty physical game out there,” he said.

“You’re talking about a State of Origin forward pack pretty much in experience that they’ve got.”

The win was the icing on the cake for captain Simon Mannering, who was playing in his 150th career NRL game, and his 50th as captain of the club.

For the Titans, coach John Cartwright pointed to his side’s completion rate of 55%, as well as critical moments in the game, that his side did not take advantage of .

“I thought that sort of pretty much set the tone for the game,” he said.

“It was a hard night to chase when you were behind and I probably thought at halftime we didn’t deserve to go in that far behind, but that’s the way it goes.”

With all of the off-field dramas the club has faced, many believe that they played a part in the loss – a fact that Cartwright vehemently denies.

“We’re fine,” he said.

“The group of players, they’re strong. It didn’t affect us at all and it won’t.”

By ricky

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