New Zealand Warriors assistant coach Justin Morgan admits that there is no pressure on his halves pairing but believes there are better things to come.
Although the Warriors secured two points against the Newcastle Knights, Shaun Johnson and Te Maire Martin struggled in their side's Round 1 encounter, especially with the boot.
Having failed to make all goal conversions, Johnson struggled with his kicking game on the last tackle. This meant he continued to kick it toward Lachlan Miller and ease the pressure off the team.
Morgan spoke to SENZ The Run Home about the halves' kicking game and why he expects them to improve this week.
"They get a lot of stick, they get a lot of pressure but I thought it was a good starting point," Morgan said.
"Shaun (Johnson) was the first to put his hand up and say, ‘Look you got me in good positions for kicks, I didn't really execute them as well as I should have,' and it's something that I know he's really working on."
"Te Maire, he had some nice touches, I thought he defended quite well and again I think they're only going to be better for the run."
Continuing, Morgan believes they are big things in the future for the Warriors. Having a new look spine to last season, he insists they will continue to get better and better over time once they are used to one another.
"They're still learning to play with Wayde Egan at the number nine and I think what we'll see in the next weeks (is) we'll see a nice balance of when Shaun wants the ball when Te Maire wants the ball and I think we'll only see that combination build."
"If they can build that really well with sort of Tohu (Harris) in the middle of the field who's acting as our link forward player, I think we'll see a lot more cohesion with our attack."
