Basking in their first back-to-back wins of 2021, NZ Warriors are full of belief that an NRL finals spot is still within their grasp, halfback Sean O'Sullivan says.
After breaking their seven-game losing run with a 18-16 victory over Wests Tigers at the end of last month, the Warriors made it two from two last Saturday, defeating Cronulla Sharks by the same scoreline on the Gold Coast.
Those two victories leave the Warriors 12th on the NRL ladder after 19 games played, four points adrift of a spot in the top eight and finals contention.
And while it will take some results going their way from now until the end of the regular season - with four games left to play - 22-year-old O'Sullivan says that the Warriors are adamant that they're still in contention to achieve finals football.
"We never want to write ourselves off again," O'Sullivan says.
"We have a belief in this group that we are a very good football team. We haven't shown it in large amounts of periods throughout the year, but we're really focussed.
"Whether our season ends in four, five weeks, however long it may be, we're really focussed on ending the year strong for our proud fans and members back home."
Up next, the Warriors face the Bulldogs in Redcliffe on Sunday. With two wins from their last two games already under their belts, the Warriors have arguably their best chance to make it three on the bounce against the Bulldogs, who currently sit last on the NRL ladder - with two wins and 17 defeats so far in 2021.
And going by the old adage that winning is a habit, O'Sullivan says everything's in place for the Warriors to finish the season on a high.
"That was what we wanted to do. Going on from last week, we really wanted to get back-to-back wins.
"It was our first for the club this year, it was really important that we narrowed our focus down to getting a positive result last week.
"It's been a bit disappointing that it's taken us this long to achieve that, but we're really glad as a group that we've finally got two wins in a row on the board, and hopefully we'll make it three."
Both victories over the Tigers and Sharks came with the Warriors behind at halftime, with O'Sullivan explaining the team's mentality to claw their way back into games that they'd have previously lost.
So far this season, the Warriors have lost seven games by less than six points, and won six games by that same margin.
"We've shown all throughout the year that we can come back.
"We had a game against Canberra in round three where we came back from a ridiculous scoreline at halftime.
"There's a belief in this group that no matter what the score is, the game's never over. We believe in each other a lot."
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