Warriors coach Nathan Brown says lessons learned from spending 2020 in Australia have his side in better shape for another NRL season of sacrifice.
After playing the entire season out of Australia last year, the Auckland-based Warriors were expecting to host their first home game since August 2019 in round five this season.
That date that has now been pushed back to mid-season as COVID-19 plays havoc with a trans-Tasman travel bubble.
The uncertainty on short notice rocked the Warriors last year.
However, Brown believes the addition of the players' families and no biosecurity bubble has allowed the roster to better accept whatever comes their way this season.
"I just think through experience the club's better prepared," he said on Wednesday.
"Last year was all new, so I think the players feel reasonably comfortable and everyone certainly feels like the club and our owners have provided the best of the situation for us.
"That's all you can do in any of these situations, put in place what suits you and your club the best, and then we try and make it work the best we can."
Last year's side were left isolated from family and friends when committing to the NRL's May restart, and also dealt with players departing the team midway through the season.
David Fusitu'a, Ken Maumalo, Agnatius Paasi, King Vuniyayawa and Leivaha Pulu were all granted requests to leave the bubble and rejoin their families in New Zealand.
However Brown does not anticipate similar circumstances this year.
"We can only go on what each individual wants, but having partners and children here now, I'm not foreseeing any of that in the future," Brown said.
"At this stage we seem to have that in check because of last year's experiences, but as I said something could pop up and you just got to deal with it when it does."
The Warriors open their season against Gold Coast on the Central Coast on Saturday.
