Price sits on fence over captaincy
decision

Steve Price say he would like to lead the New Zealand Warriors but also reckons they couldn't find a better captain than Ruben Wiki.

The Warriors are spoilt for choice with both ex-Bulldogs captain Price and Kiwis skipper Wiki among contenders to lead them in 2005 after joining in the off-season.

"If I am (captain), that's great, if not I'll support whoever is the captain," said Price.

"There's a lot of experienced leaders in the team anyway, so whether that person's got a C beside his name or not is not going to make a difference to how they play."

Price said there was "unbelievable" respect for Wiki among the Warriors, especially among the younger players who followed his glory days with the Canberra Raiders.

"There couldn't be a better person to lead the New Zealand Warriors," he added.

Price finished today's session early because of shin soreness but said his recovery from surgery in October was going well.

The group was also joined by Kiwi Test players returning after their Tri Nations tour. Other new signings from Australia, Nathan Fien and Todd Byrne, said the training of recent weeks had been hard and coaching staff were trying to instill a new attitude to put last season's second-last finish behind them.

"The new boys that have come over ... all come into an environment where people want to erase last year from their memory," said Fien, formerly with North Queensland.

Ex-Rooster Byrne said: "It's been pretty tough the last couple of weeks, we've really ripped in, you have to change a few of the mental attitudes that happened last year."

The team had particularly been working on their skills when tired to avoid causing penalties at the end of games, Byrne said.

Price said the return to the Warriors of former players Ivan Cleary and Kevin Campion to the coaching staff had bolstered the team.

"Those two guys, they were here when there was a lot of success with the club so there's a lot of respect from the players," he said, adding they were classed as "gods" to the club's supporters.

Under coach Tony Kemp, Cleary is assistant coach focusing on offence while Campion is the club's defence coordinator.