There's an ancient cliche about rugby league forwards laying the foundation for the pretty boys to add their polish. Last weekend we saw two clear examples of why this idea holds plenty of truth as the Warriors and the North Queensland Cowboys dominated the battle through the middle of the field and were then able to reap the rewards from that hard work.

The Warriors defeated the Tigers while the Cowboys defeated the Rabbitohs. Both the Tigers and Rabbitohs offered an even match up, perhaps they could have been favourites in the minds of some people but at the very least, these two games on paper should have been even contests. But they weren't, besides a few patches where the Tigers and Rabbitohs had the edge, the Warriors and Cowboys won rather easily thanks to impressive performances up front.

We'll start with the Warriors who came up against a forward pack which features Aaron Woods, one of the best and Keith Galloway who is a solid performer week in week out. Throw in Martin Taupau and you have three players who pack plenty of punch through the middle along with a bench that features youngsters who are eager to make their mark. 

The Warriors ran for 1591 metres compared to 1070 metres from the Tigers, but the Tigers lack of possession played its part here. With only 44% of the ball, the Tigers had 16 less hit ups than the Warriors which is fine, but the Warriors forward pack still dominated with their carries, offloads and tackles. Taking into account all the forwards, hookers and those who played less than 20 minutes excluded, the Warriors offered much more impact carting the ball forward. Their two starting props and edge back rowers; Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman, Ryan Hoffman and Bodene Thompson all ran for more than 100 metres each while the Tigers only had Aaron Woods up over the 100 metre mark.

It's nice to make lots of metres with your carries, but it's important to look at how many metres are made per carry. Adding Simon Mannering, Sam Lisone and Albert Vete to the list of Warriors forwards, only Lisone and Hoffman dropped below 8.2 metres per carry with 7.25 m/c for Lisone and 7.39 m/c for Hoffman. 

The Tigers had three players below the 8.2 m/c mark but weren't too far behind the Warriors here thanks to Sauaso Sue (9.80m/c) and Keith Galloway (9.4m/c). Interestingly, Mannering had the most m/c off all the forwards I looked at with 9.89. He also made 49 tackles, not bad.

The Warriors had the advantage thanks to their offloads and tackle breaks from their forwards. Throwing 5 offloads to the Tigers 3 and breaking 4 tackles (all forwards bar hookers) compared to the Tigers who broke no tackles shows the impact the big boys can have. The Warriors forwards also only missed 5 tackles while the Tigers managed to miss 11. 

The Cowboys served up a similar story against the Rabbitohs. The Bunnies only had George Burgess and Chris Grevsmuhl above the 100 metre mark while the Cowboys had their big three in Matt Scott, James Tamou and Jason Taumalolo all at the peak of their powers, running for more than 100 metres along with Gavin Cooper, Ben Hannant and Scott Bolton also running for more than 100 metres.

The Cowboys also had three players averaging more than 10 metres per carry, with Taumalolo leading the way thanks to his 11.56 m/c. He, Cooper and Scott all put the Rabbits to shame as only George Burgess averaged more the 10 m/c. The key here is the contribution from the collective forward packs, with no one from the Cowboys falling below 8.33 m/c. Compare that to the Rabbitohs only had three players averaging more than 8.5 m/c.

Taumalolo almost had more tackle breaks than the Rabbitohs forward pack combined with 7. The Cowboys pack, hookers excluded broke 14 tackles while the Rabbitohs pack could only break 9 tackles. 

While both the Cowboys and Warriors have forward packs who on their day, are up there with the best in the NRL, it really is the foundation that they can lay down that is the key. The Cowboys have the best playmaker in the NRL with Jonathan Thurston doing what he does best along with a backline that has plenty of talent in every position. While the Warriors don't have a Thurston, they have plenty of impact that thrives on the back of forwards who are rolling down field. 

Having their respective forward packs doing their job exceptionally well means that the Cowboys and Warriors are able to playing some attacking football out wider and chance their arm a bit. Whether it's Thurston having an extra few seconds to pick out a lazy defender or whether it's Johnson getting the ball from an offload and turning Konrad Hurrell back on the inside, both teams have weapons a-plenty in their backs who flourish when their team is laying a very solid foundation.