Speak to any player, and even more so coaches, and they'll say the key to a good season is a good pre-season.
NZ Warriors get their first chance to show how they've shaped up in pre-season on Saturday, with their first trial match against Melbourne Storm.
With plenty of depth in the squad, particularly in the halves and forwards, coach Nathan Brown has the headache - albeit a nice one - of deciding who will line up against St George Illawarra Dragons in round one of the NRL next month.
Second rower Bayley Sironen admits things have ramped up in recent weeks, as the season inches closer.
"Even at training lately, it's been really competitive for spots," he says.
"A lot of boys have trained awesome and put their best foot forward to secure a round one spot. Trial games are another test for us, another chance to prove our worth."
Shaun Johnson and Wayde Egan have both been ruled out for the Storm clash, leaving room for the likes of competing halves Chanel Harris-Tavita, Kodi Nikorima and Ash Taylor to show Brown what they can do, as well as young hooker Taniela Otukolo.
Brown reiterated on Wednesday who will partner Johnson in the halves remains to be seen, but it's not the only spot for grabs.
"We've certainly got some positions that trial form will play a part in," says Brown.
"Who's going to partner Shuan in the halves is one, who's going to play fullback with Reece [Walsh] being out."
The two trial games will be very different from a selection point of view. Twenty three players have been named, and Brown says they're all likely to get a run against Melbourne as he looks to see who's up to speed, and who isn't.
Next week's team against Gold Titans will be more reflective of a likely round one side.
With a host of young and inexperienced players on the books, the games will be crucial to get a gauge on where everyone's at.
"We've got a fair collective group of players that started their first grade journey in the last two years," adds Brown.
"We've put a lot of faith and hope that we're going to get good improvement out of those guys.
"We haven't gone to the market and got a lot of players in. A lot of the other sides who missed out on the eight have bought a number of high profile players in.
"We've also got the situation with Lodgy [Matt Lodge] and Reece who aren't playing round one, so the likelihood of them playing next week needs to be spoken about as well, because they're not available for the first round."
Regardless of who plays, the Warriors are intent on fixing their leaky defence, knowing that's the foundation of any top eight side.
"Hopefully the results show the difference. Coming into pre-season we had a big focus on our defence," Sironen adds.
"We want to be known as a good defensive side. A lot of our pre-season training and the work we put in pre-Christmas and even now has been on our defence.
"Hopefully off the back of that we score points, we have that in us."
Join Newshub for live updates of the Warriors v Dragons from March 12.
