Warriors resigned to chasing GF berth without Hireme

The Warriors aren't expecting superstar centre Honey Hireme to be on the field when they try and secure a maiden NRLW grand final appearance on Saturday, despite the veteran Kiwi Fern being named in their extended squad this week.

Hireme was included in the initial group to face the undefeated Broncos at the SCG, having not trained or played with her new club at all this season as she continues to care for her mother Caryn, who is battling an aggressive form of incurable stomach cancer.

Assistant coach Justin Morgan said while the door is open for the 38-year-old to make her club debut in the vital match, it's probably wishful thinking.   

"She's fairly doubtful at the moment… the fact that we have got to travel away from home again makes it a little bit difficult, because she has got to be away for three days," Morgan said.

"We have named her in the extended squad to give her an opportunity.

"She knows that the door is always open for her, but at this stage it looks pretty unlikely.

"I've had plenty of conversations with her [recently], not so much on the footy side of things but more on the personal side."

Centre Jules Newman said she was pleased to see Hireme's name on the team list, even if it means she could potentially lose her spot as a result.

"I want us to crack the grand final and if that means I sit out the week for Honey then so be it," Newman told NRL.com.

"At the end of the day it's sport and you have to put out your strongest squad, and if that's the case you just swallow the pill.

"I'm not focused on the what-if scenario, if she's in she's in, [and] it's fantastic Honey has been named."

The Warriors led 6-0 with 20 minutes to go against St George Illawarra last week in the standalone match at Mt Smart Stadium, before giving up five unanswered tries to lose 26-6.  

While there were obvious issues in defence, Morgan said the late collapse stemmed from his side's inability to build pressure and score points earlier in the encounter.

Honey knows that the door is always open for her, but at this stage it looks pretty unlikely

Justin Morgan

The Warriors finished with just 41 per cent possession and had to make 60 tackles more than the Dragons.

"It would have been nice to convert a couple of the opportunities we created into points, and if we could have done that I think the second half would have been a hell of a lot different," Morgan said.

"We most probably didn't build enough pressure ourselves and there were a couple of moments where we had opportunities to build that pressure and didn't take them.  

"We probably took the opportunity to chance our arm a bit too much [instead].

"It's getting that fine balance of 'now is the time to go for the killer blow' or 'no, we need to take a couple of steps back and build a bit of pressure'."

Morgan said the dressing room after the loss was the most dejected he has experienced as a player or coach, and second-rower Crystal Tamarua told NRL.com the players felt they had let their home fans down.  

"After the game we went straight into the changing rooms and all 17 heads went straight down. We were all looking at the ground and nobody was even making eye contact," Tamarua said.  

"It hurt more because our families were here and it was a terrible result for them.

"But it's a new week and we are all back up for it."