As you may have guessed, we love league. We appreciate all the teams in the NRL and many of the staff here support a variety of Australian teams. But we're all kiwis. And as kiwis it is our duties to support the homies from Mt Smart who have battled away as the only New Zealand team in an Australian competition. It is our duty to give the people of Auckland and the hearty fans all around NZ the lowdown on their team, keep the public informed, ya know? So we'll start with a pretty intense look at the Warriors, their options, their squad, how they might play, who's going to star, who's going to emerge and most importantly - will anyone rival Simon Mannering and Nathan Friend as the true heroes of Mt Smart?

When you look at the 2014 Warriors, the amount of pure attacking play makers must be at the forefront of your mind. These are blokes who can create something for themselves or their comrades next to them. This all begins with the spine, the core of the team who are responsible for the organisation of their team. Welcoming Sam Tomkins to Mt Smart has added a lot of class to the Warriors attack with Tomkins being a fine distributor of the ball from what we've seen, let's hope he still has this ability when teams like Manly are putting pressure on him. While Tomkins' ability to fit in to the Warriors back line is hugely beneficial, he is also an equal threat in unstructured play as he is able to snipe through gaps thanks to a combination of speed, agility and balance. This means that should a loose ball fall to a Warriors back, any of them - they're all a threat, an opportunity will be created.

Sam Tomkins isn't the only new face - Chad Townsend is also looking likely to have an impact on the Warriors. With everyone around him having an attacking spark, Townsend looks to be the typical Aussie half back which the Warriors have always longed for. Someone who barks out orders, takes control of the game by dictating where the footy is played and offers a sense of confidence within the team. Townsend is no mug, reigning NSW Cup halfback of the year, Junior Kangaroos captain, etc, etc and he must feel like he's walked in to a footballin' heaven. With so much talent around him, Townsend's job is to do what he's always done - direct a team. The influence this will have on Shaun Johnson is pretty simple, Townsend will allow Johnson to roam, be a free little butterfly. With Kevin Locke and Thomas Leuluai both battling injury, the spine picks itself, but I'm looking forward to having these two players there waiting in the wings. I imagine Leuluai will shift in to a bench dummy half spot ... Nathan Friend/Leuluai dummy half combo sounds pretty good doesn't it! And I'm not too sure where Locke will fit in but Matthew Elliott did say something along the lines of - if they're both fit, they're both playing (Tomkins/Locke). How that could happen, I'm not sure but Elliot is the type of coach who will experiment.

Haere Mai Chad Townsend with that trophy

The only new face in the forwards is Jayson Bukuya who, having watched plenty of Cronulla Sharks footy, I know a fair bit about. A very powerful ball runner, there is a reason why Bukuya kept battling through injury to fight his way back in to first grade. You would imagine that Bukuya and Feleti Mateo will be the top edge back rowers and we've seen in the trials so far that Mateo and Elliot look to have figured this footy thing out. They've got a whole lot of little plays designed for Mateo's edge which will hopefully allow Mateo to shine.

Bukuya, Mateo!? What about Simon Mannering? I'm glad you asked. What we saw at the World Cup was Simon Mannering defending in the middle, playing lock essentially. Now that Elijah Taylor and Todd Lowrie are both gone, I have a little feeling that we could see Mannering fill that void. Should this happen, I'm predicting the Warriors become a much better defensive team as Mannering will partner Friend (and Leuluai who's an allgood defender) in the middle. It's pretty hard to argue that these two epitomise the effort, intensity and smarts that we want the Warriors to be known for. This will allow a largely youngish group of forwards a bit of slack, which won't be accepted but won't have such a negative impact as previous seasons. I'm going to have to wait and see how the 2014 Warriors defend with my own eyes before I gain any hope they've turned a bit of a corner, but the signs provide hope.

The Warriors have always had an interesting group of young players coming in to first grade each season, but 2014 takes the cake. Who will play on the wings? Well your guess is as good as mine because there is just too much talent. Glenn Fisi'iahi has been fantastic, Ngani Laumpae and Konrad Hurrell have continued their development while David Fusitua is someone you definitely need to keep an eye on. Dominque Peyroux offers cover for nearly every back line position and while Hurrell will likely start at centre, Laumape can play both centre and wing. Tui Lolohea will hopefully find himself in reserve grade (not Under 20's) and will be able to develop his play making game. All these guys are young in their NRL careers, albeit at different stages. Now, interestingly enough we saw Solomone Kata fill in at dummy half against the Broncos and do a very fine job. Known as a centre, Kata has some serious power (given his frame, that should be pretty obvious) as well as a very solid passing game. Elliot must have noticed this and we could see Kata provide some dummy half cover until Leuluai returns.

The young talent in the forward pack is enough to put the Warriors near the top of the 'team with the best young talent in first grade' conversation. The return of Sione Lousi is encouraging: big, athletic and motivated. The same can be said about Charlie Gubb who has been very impressive, like super impressive. Throw in Suaia Matagi (young in experience) and John Palavi, both eager to continue their development as well as the even younger lads like David Bhana and Albert Vete who will find themselves in reserve grade.

We must always display a sense of caution with the Warriors, but that's not going to stop me getting excited. The Warriors have assembled one of their best squads - entire squad, not just starting 13/17, and there are many NRL teams who aren't nearly as threatening as the Warriors. For what it's worth, here's my top 17 for round one, taking in to account that I don't know the injury status of some players.

Sam Tomkins

Glenn Fisi'ahii

Dane Nielsen (Ngani Laumape)

Konrad Hurrell

Manu Vatuvei (David Fusitua)

Chad Townsend

Shaun Johnson

Jacob Lillyman

Nathan Friend

Sam Rapira

Feleti Mateo

Jayson Bukuya