Coach Andrew McFadden is hoping a little bit of self-belief will go a long way for the Warriors after their 24-20 NRL win over Canterbury in Wellington on Saturday.

Trailing 14-8 at halftime after taking an early 8-0 lead, the Warriors scored three second half tries then defended grimly over the last five minutes to hang on for their third win of the season.

McFadden says one of the most pleasing aspects of the game was the way the Warriors fought back for their first win over the Bulldogs at Westpac Stadium in six outings.

“We didn’t stop playing, particularly when we were behind in the second half,” he said.

“They had a fair bit of momentum going into halftime, but we came out and turned that around very quickly.”

Admittedly, he says, his players didn’t take the easy path.

“We managed to find a hard way to do it – the unforced errors coming out of our own end put huge amounts of pressure on us.

“But we had to build some belief on coming from behind.”

McFadden says it was the manner of the win as much as the result which pleased him.

Two disallowed tries, both to centre Solomone Kata early on, could easily have knocked the Warriors off-stride.

“I thought we were really unlucky, but we stuck at it and we scored the next two tries.

“They’re things you’ve just got to live with, and we did that today.”

Encouraging as that performance was, McFadden is already looking ahead to the Warriors next match against the Storm in Melbourne on Anzac Day.

“It’s really important for us as a team – we’ve been under lots of pressure, there’s lots of expectation on us and it’s challenging for the players.

“For them to deliver that performance tonight, I think that shows the character we have. But we have to back it up.”