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'There was a couple of shortcuts' - Warriors sweat on fitness of Green, Beale as Kearney admits there was complacency

August 20, 2018
A dejected looking Blake Green and Bunty Afoa as they watch the final minute of play in the Warriors loss to the Bulldogs. Canterbury Bulldogs v Vodafone Warriors. NRL Rugby League. ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia. 19th August 2018. Copyright Photo: David Neilson / www.photosport.nz

The Warriors are sweating on the fitness of Blake Green and Gerard Beale in the wake of yesterday's shock defeat to the Bulldogs.

Green was forced from the field with a calf injury in the closing stages of the Sydney thriller, while Beale suffered a hamstring strain.

Shaun Johnson played on till the end of the match despite picking up an ankle injury midway through the second half.

Coach Stephen Kearney admitted complacency had allowed the Bulldogs to ruin his side's chances of making the top four.

“You know there was a couple of shortcuts I saw today which again, wasn’t in our game the last couple of weeks and as I mentioned earlier, I thought the Bulldogs had been playing some really consistent footy over the last month,” Kearney said in the post-match press conference.

The Warriors coach admitted the three tries the Bulldogs scored in the first half were disappointing.

"Their early tries, that wasn't us," said Kearney.

Kearney said he wasn't thinking about the NRL play-offs after his side's narrow loss to the 13th placed Bulldogs.

"I'm not really focused on that," said Kearney.

"I'm focused on making sure we improve areas of our game that we didn't do so well in today. I know if we get our best game of footy out there then we give ourselves a chance against anyone. But we didn't do that today."

The Warriors sit eighth on the NRL ladder, with home games against the Penrith Panthers and Canberra Raiders in the final rounds of the competition.

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