Warriors coach Ivan Cleary has dismissed last week's embarrassing 40-10 loss to Brisbane as an 'aberration', insisting his men will show what they're really made of in Friday's semi-final blockbuster against West Tigers.
In front of a capacity crowd of just under 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium, the sixth-placed Warriors looked more like wooden spooners as the Broncos ran in seven-tries-to-two in a dominant display.
"It's hard to totally forget it and there's a few lessons in there as well," Cleary said of the Broncos' loss upon arrival at Sydney airport on Thursday.
"I think it was an aberration in terms of what we've produced this year, and it happens sometimes in big matches and we're just fortunate that we get another chance at redemption and a chance to show what we can really do."
"We didn't really build a platform and got a bit excited and a bit ahead of ourselves and to the Broncos credit they sensed that I think and they really put us to the sword."
"We have to go back to what we did to get there in the first place."
"We deserve to be here, I guess if you look at our game last week that's questionable but certainly our form leading up to the finals was good and against good teams, and that's really what we've got to focus on."
Asked if the occasion got the better of his players against the Broncos, Cleary conceded:
"It'd probably be hard to argue with that assessment, and in a way I guess it's fair enough."
"We understand that we just didn't deliver a performance that gave us a chance to win the game, whether it's a final or any other game."
"We understand what's in front of us and what we've got to do and I guess now we'll just have to wait and see."
Cleary is equally confident Manu Vatuvei will bounce straight back to his blistering best after a forgettable night against Brisbane.
"The first thing he did was put his hand up and accept responsibility that he didn't play as well as he'd like to and didn't fulfil his role for the team on the night and I think that's the first process of getting on with it," Cleary said of 'The Beast'.
"He certainly has bounced back well in the past over the course of his career, he hasn't had too many bad games and I'm certainly looking forward to him being on our team tomorrow night."
But the coach was reluctant to heap pressure on boom No.7 Shaun Johnson when asked of the 20-year-old's match-up with Tigers superstar Benji Marshall.
"I'd rather Shaun in particular not worry too much about Benji, other than when he's in front of him," Cleary said.
"It's not really Shaun against Benji in my opinion, both players have got their respective roles for their team and I just want Shaun to focus on what he does best and his role for us."