The Warriors took a inter-squad hit out out to the Southside on Saturday, as they played out a pretty intense game in Papakura. Besides it being great for rugby league to play in front of fans down at the local park, it's pretty hard to take anything major away from this game besides Andrew McFadden ticking a few boxes.

The news that the Warriors had signed Nathaniel Peteru and Albert Vete for a season after they spent the off season training with the first grade squad was definitely encouraging, especially as they along with Sam Lisone were impressive in the weekend's game. 

I've been loud and clear that the Warriors need some young props who can consistently perform at the NRL level to keep the starters honest and while we haven't seen Peteru, Vete or Lisone turn out in the NRL, the signs are there. 

Coach Cappy also suggested that he's got his starting group in mind for week one which includes Solomone Kata at centre and Tui Lolohea on the wing. While things might change over the next few weeks, that's pretty exciting and the chance to expose the NRL world to Kata is what I'm looking forward to. Throw in Konrad Hurrell who looked good on Saturday and the Warriors are starting to form a pretty strong group of players who are doing what they do every time - fill us with optimism. 

How can you not be excited by having Shaun Johnson, Sam Tomkins, Manu Vatuvei, Ryan Hoffman, Simon Mannering and Hurrell in the same squad? Sure, we've seen it all before but the core is there. Add in the fact that they're all looking leaner, I'm getting giddy.

With Ngani Laumape injured, I'm going with Coach Cappy and including Kata and Lolohea - Tomkins, Manu, Hurrell, Kata, Lolohea, Townsend and Johnson. Power on both flanks, plenty of skill but we've got to see them be able to defend some well designed NRL players.

The forward pack is a bit more complicated but all signs are pointing towards Mannering playing in the middle with Bodene Thompson on one edge and Hoffman on the other. You'd expect Jacob Lillyman to have earned a starting spot and I'm going to give Sam Rapira the other starting spot with Nathan Friend starting at hooker.

We're hearing noise that Thompson can play 80 minutes, Hoffman definitely can but you've got to have Ben Henry on the bench to cover a few spots. The same can be said for Thomas Leuluai who is so much more than a bench hooker, he can come on and add a different style to the Warriors attack whether he comes on to replace Friend or one of the big boys.

That leaves us with two spots for big boppers, which you'd think would include Ben Matulino and Suaia Matagi but I'd love to see Sam Lisone given a run from round one. Give him plenty of time, see what he's got and let him do his thing, we've already seen that he offers more ball playing than Matagi and he'll serve up plenty of enthusiasm.

Look at this for a group of names not in the Warriors top 17 for week one thanks to depth and injuries - Sione Lousi, Vete, Charlie Gubb, Ken Maumalo, John Palavi, Jonathan Wright, Dominque Peyroux, Glen Fisi'ahii, David Fusitua, Sebastine Ikahihifo, Ngani Laumape, Mathew Allwood, Peteru ... not a bad NSW Cup side huh?