Finally, we've got  NRL action back. Finally, we can actually look at a team list! 

1 Sam Tomkins
2 Tuimoala Lolohea
3 Konrad Hurrell
4 Solomone Kata
5 Manu Vatuvei
6 Chad Townsend
7 Shaun Johnson
8 Jacob Lillyman
9 Thomas Leuluai
10 Ben Matulino
11 Bodene Thompson
12 Ryan Hoffman
13 Simon Mannering (c)

Interchange
14 Nathan Friend
15 Ben Henry
16 Sam Lisone
17 Albert Vete
18 Suaia Matagi

Smacking you in the face like a sloppy fish are the youngsters who have been given an opportunity by Andrew McFadden to get their toes wet in NRL footy. The selections of Solomone Kata and Tuimoala Lolohea are largely thanks to a bunch of injuries to our outside backs but both Kata and Lolohea at the very least deserve a run regardless. 

To say that they'll be thrown in to the deep end is a understatement as the Knights have named their stock standard back line of freaks. With Dane Gagai and Joey Leilua lining up in the centres this is going to be a massive test for Kata and of course Konrad Hurrell who needs to show signs of defensive know how early on this season. While there was plenty of fitness and what not done over the off season, you'd hope that a lot of film work was done as well as tweaking the decision making process of our outside backs. This puts all that to the test and while Kata and Koni have the ability to make Gagai and Leilua looks silly with ball in hand, they have a huge defensive test ahead of them.

Lolohea is going to be interesting to watch - will be float around and offer some play making or will be be a straight up and down winger? 

Then we have Sam Lisone and Albert Vete coming off the bench which has me in a spin. They won't be the biggest props in the NRL, but they are both cut from the modern NRL prop cloth - built like brick shithouses, plenty of skills and some footwork. They'll need to offer plenty of punch off the bench because although this Knights side has a solid forward pack, they could be dominated by a pack with more power. 

The flipside of this is that Suaia Matagi is 18th man and while Sam Rapira is currently injured, that's all good though as Coach McFadden obviously appreciates the work of Lisone and Vete in the off season.

Hopefully Jacob Lillyman can continue his form from last season but we need to see a whole lot more from Ben Matulino. If the tempo and feel of the game changes when Lisone and Vete come on, things will get interesting.

With Ben Henry named on the bench you can expect to see Simon Mannering to hold down the middle and Ryan Hoffman to play 80 minutes on one edge. Bodene Thompson gets the other edge spot with Benry likely to give him a spell. Don't be surprised to see Lisone or Vete come on for Mannering either to play as a third middle forward.

Thomas Leuluai gets the starting spot over Nathan Friend, but I imagine this is a very fluid situation for McFadden depending on a variety of things. 

There's no reason why the Warriors can't dominate the Knights up front, as I said they have a very solid forward pack but no one that you have to load up on. The key will be our halves and with Shaun Johnson likely to step up his game control and run the show, it's going to be very interesting to see how Chad Townsend goes. He doesn't have to do a whole lot, just support Johnson and put some classy kicks in when needed while also getting Sam Tomkins the ball when he needs it.

The biggest worry for the Warriors will be their edge defence. Not only because of the strike power the Knights have in the centres but their halves will throw a bunch of different plays to throw a spanner in to the works. Tyrone Roberts is very quick and can easily get on the outside of a defender and/or create an overlap by scooting across field while Jarrod Mullen can pick out a weak defender with ease.

If the Warriors can show that they are fitter and smarter than they have been, then they will not only win the game but it'll also signal a fresh start.