Round one wins aren't exactly the Warriors specialty huh? Up against a Newcastle Knights side who were solid, but could definitely have been beaten, the Warriors let a golden opportunity to get off to a nice start slip.

It's was a bit of a funky game as the Warriors impressed in certain areas but we saw some signs that are familiar to all Warriors fans. The key thing to come out of the game was the lack of involvement from Shaun Johnson and this is where I'm going to start as it's a pretty complicated matter.

The Warriors needed Johnson to get his mits on the ball much more than he did, they needed him to direct them around the field and generally be a halfback. Instead, we saw the opposite which is obviously a worry but for me this opens a can of worms with our expectations of Johnson. 

I thought fatigue might have played its part as Johnson could have been undone by making a few too many tackles which when combined with the heat resulted in a lack of focus. But Johnson only made 15 tackles, less than Chad Townsend so it wasn't as though the Knights played their part in running at Johnson a lot to get him tired and limit his impact.

Townsend was all good as well, he wasn't spectacular but that's not what we need from him, we just need him to do his bit and support Johnson ... see that's the problem. 

Do we need Johnson to control games and be a game breaker? Or do we just need him to just make plays and win games with some polish? Right now, it feels like we're asking Johnson to do a hell of a lot but we've heard from Johnson how he wants to run the team, this is his team and he wants to control the game.

We just haven't seen it.

Johnson's got everyone on board thanks to his highlight plays which when he doesn't produce them means fans are disappointed. What the fans want and what the Warriors need are two completely different things though and the Warriors need a leader. They have Simon Mannering but he's a leader of men, Johnson as the halfback would know that the team leans on him to offer direction and class, which wasn't there.

It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out because if Johnson can combine game control with razzle dazzle, then that's awesome. But that's difficult to do.

The other aspect of this loss was that the Warriors had a mix and match team on the park. You're not going to win too many games in the NRL, especially this season where on paper every team is pretty good, if you're not throwing out combinations who know each other inside out ... or if you're playing without key players.

No Sam Tomkins and then no Ken Maumalo, which resulted in a backline shuffle that put Ben Henry at centre. We've seen countless times that Benry struggles defensively at centre and it should come as no surprise that Dane Gagai dined out against Benry. The headlines will read that the Knights won thanks to a top effort from Gagai, but Benry could have done a lot better.

For Gagai's first try we have our left edge lined up with Ryan Hoffman taking the ball runner Kade Snowden, Chad Townsend taking Beau Scott while Benry clearly doesn't trust Townsend manning up against Scott so he's crept it. Gagai is on the edge of the screen, outside of Benry which despite it being 4 v 4, gives the Knights a 2 v 1 overlap out wide. 

An inbetweener, Benry isn't quick enough to give that sort of room to Gagai. Gagai's second try also has Benry lining up inside Gagai which is ok, if you're able to get across and put Gagai under the pump. But Benry isn't...

Benry was a fill in centre though, so while Gagai had a great day out, it was against a re-shuffled back line that allowed him to do so.

I'm worried about Benry and also Tui Lolohea. Benry is a jack of all trades, master of none and simply isn't as good as someone like Lewis Brown who is cut from the same cloth. He's too small to line up against big edge back rowers while too slow to be a centre. Lolohea, well his problem is that he's awesome, but where do we play him?

The work of Lolohea, Albert Vete and Sam Lisone was great. These three lads are the reason why fans aren't down in the dumps today as they showed that they can add something to this squad. Lisone and Vete are the exact type of forward that we need as they are aggressive, mobile and skillful which should see them in the 17 each week from now on. 

Ryan Hoffman was also very good, but he's a NSW player and a Kangaroos ... honestly, what'd you expect?

The problem the Warriors face, is clarity. At the moment everything seems a bit mumbo jumbo, look at Lisone and Vete. They knew what Coach McFadden wanted and went out there and had an impact. No reason to dig too deep though, the Warriors toiled away despite being a bit off their game and with a pick and mix side. 

While Benry offers utility value off the bench, having two hookers named means that the Warriors lack an extra big lad. I'd let Benry find his niche in NSW Cup and bring in an extra big bopper on to the bench - Friend, Lisone, Vete and someone like Sione Lousi. 

We'll check in later in the week to see how things look as they lead in to a cheeky challenge against the Canberra Raiders.