Ryan Hoffman has joined the Warriors, like he's actually arrived and I'm bloody excited. How excited? Well Ryan Hoffman will slide under the radar as one of the most important signings of 2015 and he could give the Warriors what they need to go where they haven't been able to go in recent years. That's how excited I am.

Let me break it on down for you. 

Ryan Hoffman will play on an edge, more than likely the opposite to Simon Mannering. If you haven't seen Hoffman play, he's pretty much a really, really good Simon Mannering which is saying something as Mannering is the captain of Aotearoa. 

Hoffman's go to attacking style is hole running, he'll thrive off many a short pass from Shaun Johnson and Sam Tomkins. He's also got a bit of ball playing in him which won't be a go to option but it will give the Warriors some variety, especially as opposing teams will load up on Tomkins. Hoffman's arrival will allow Tomkins a bit more time and space which should help the old second year syndrome, especially as everyone saw what Tomkins is capable of last season. Tomkins will play the usual role of a fullback, out the back and having Hoffman there will allow Johnson to fake to Tomkins and pump Hoffman with a short ball or, it will allow Hoffman to do a bit of ball playing himself. Definitely keep an eye out for a pass from Hoffman to Tomkins wrapping around out the back to create an overlap.

Do this a few times and defenders will start to look at Hoffman a bit too much, that's when he'll become a decoy which will result in Johnson and Tomkins doing what they do best. 

Hoffman liked to play on the left edge with the Storm, which is also where Mannering likes to chill. Mannering could move over to the right edge, or we could see Mannering spend more time in the middle as the Warriors haven't really established a consistent lock forward and their defence through the middle has been rather poo. Both Hoffman and Mannering are 80 minute players, but there's a few young back rowers who have pack plenty of punch so you'd want to give them some game time as well. I'd look out for Mannering spending some time in the middle, whether he plays 80 minutes there or he moves between the edge and the middle.

The NRL is a copy cat league, as they all are and this is what the Penrith Panthers have done with Elijah Taylor. He'll start on an edge and then move to the middle, that's probably the best way for the Warriors to juggle minutes and it's beneficial to the team.

Defensively, well Hoffman improves that a fair amount. His presence should help out whoever is playing left centre, probably Ngani Laumape immensely which will in turn make Manu Vatuvei's decisions a lot easier. If, and it's a big if, if Hoffman for some reason plays on the right edge, then he'll be making life easier for Konrad Hurrell. Now that my friends would make the Warriors a team to watch out for because they wouldn't have such an obvious defensive weakness to target.

When I watched State Of Origin, in which Ryan Hoffman started on the left edge consistently, the word from the commentators and players was how professional Hoffman was and is. For example before each game he'll fire out a fair amount of passes from a dummy half position, because he'll be called on to do that a few times in a game and if those passes go straight in to the bread basket it's job done (how many times have you seen a forward deliver a shit pass to a halfback, killing the attacking flow). He was the player's player in an Origin game and this attitude, this desire to work and his consistency will be huge for the Warriors. 

Ryan Hoffman may not resemble Kevin Campion, but he's the exact sort of Aussie player that Warriors fans have wanted. In fact we have two with Jacob Lillyman coming off an awesome 2014 season. Hoffman definitely has the ability to push the Warriors from sporadically impressive to a dominant force and for me it's not even a case of 'well he might', it's a certainty.