The Warriors have earned a lot of airplay recently with some dramatic wins which doubled as consecutive wins across the ditch, which is a rarity. Whatever you think of the Warriors, put that to the side as they are currently 5-5 as we approach the halfway stage of the NRL season and I can't remember off the top of my head such a solid start to a season.

Usually the Warriors are at either end of the spectrum. They have either blown everyone's expectations out of the water and are looking very good or they have lost the majority of their opening games and rely on a nice win streak late in the season to help them recover. I don't even know if the former has taken place, but 2015 sees the Warriors in the top eight despite not really putting together an 80 minute performance that gets everyone excited. 

Which, to be honest is the perfect situation. There's not too much hype around the Warriors as none of their games have really shown what they are capable of, but they haven't slumped either. The highs haven't been too high and the lows haven't been too low, I like it.

Everyone is mentioning Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Issac Luke which nice but I'm not in the business of looking that far into the future. I don't even want to get excited about 2016, the Warriors have a long way to go in the 2015 season and we all need to keep our eyes firmly focused on how the Warriors progress this season. The way the NRL is this season, if the Warriors can continue to improve while staying in the top eight, there's no reason that they can't challenge for a title.

If the Warriors weren't 5-5, I would be very down on them as they just don't look like they have quite figured out their niche, their style, their identity. But while they haven't quite nailed that, they have won games and when you consider that they have largely had mix and match backlines and a revolving door on their bench, it's a pretty impressive effort.

This week they welcome back Sam Tomkins who will add some class to their attack. Tui Lolohea has done a fine job in place of Tomkins, but there has been a rather disjointed look to the Warriors' attack which Tomkins should definitely help with. The biggest issue here is Tomkins staying on the field, he's no use to anyone on the sidelines but overall, the Warriors have done a nice job to stay competitive without Tomkins.

Lolohea is a very interesting case. This week we see him in the centres as Konrad Hurrell is still out injured and personally I think that Lolohea is perfectly suited to do a job at centre for as long as coach Andrew McFadden wants him there. If there's one player who has emerged from the early portion of the season as developing the most, it's been Lolohea. If he's fit, he deserves to be in the 17 somewhere.

The flipside of that is Hurrell. For all his attacking prowess, I think the only real option is to play bad cop with Hurrell. He needs to learn that while he can run over blokes, he won't have much of an NRL career if he keeps making all these mistakes both on defence and with the ball. What's if Lolohea emerges as an extremely safe option at centre? Then Hurrell could find himself having to learn a lot, very quickly.

Solomone Kata has overtaken Hurrell in my books. He's still got a long way to go and each week he dishes up a slightly cringe-worthy moment, but he's showing signs of improvement and he at least looks like he wants to be playing every week in the NRL. 

There is a bench spot open with a hooker and two props being picked each week. Maybe Hurrell could find himself coming off the bench when he's back? I wouldn't be opposed to it, in fact I would love it. 

The two wing spots have been sealed with Manu Vatuvei holding down his spot while Jonathan Wright is safe. I've had enough of players with all this talent who lack the ability to simply do their job for the team and Wight is more job-doer than athletic talent. There's going be players biting at his heels with the likes of David Fusitua, Ngani Laumape and Glen Fisiahii eager to get back into first grade. The Warriors don't need a game breaker on that wing, they just need someone who can catch and position themselves nicely, which Wright does.

Of late we have seen Shaun Johnson improve from his early season slump, which to be fair would have been difficult for him. This Golden Boot award wasn't exactly Johnson's decision and all of a sudden he has to live up to being the 'best player in the world'. That award was merely voted by media folk who had just seen Johnson dazzle the Kangaroos and it would have been pretty damn hard for Johnson to deal with that pressure, all the expectations, the questions, the scrutiny. 

The Warriors just need Johnson to execute the gameplan for the Warriors and then pounce at opportunities such as a quick play the ball or an offload. The situation with Chad Townsend is interesting. We keep hearing that he's heading back to Cronulla as a family situation will likely see him head back home. Whether he stays or goes, he's playing for a contract and you would expect him to put his best foot forward. I think we'll see the combination between Townsend and Johnson continue to grow, there's enough strike across the squad that these two don't need to do everything. But they do need to control the game at the very least and get the Warriors down the right end of the park. 

I said that Lolohea has been developed of the season the most, which is because Albert Vete and Sam Lisone have been amazing all season. The power, footwork, aggression and skill that they bring off the bench compliments Jacob Lillyman and Ben Matulino perfectly. I'm loving this prop rotation, especially because they love an offload and are quick. That's how the NRL is now played, you need power and you need to play ad-lib footy to break down defences which this rotation offers. 

Not much needs to be said about the back rowers as Bodene Thompson, Ryan Hoffman and Simon Mannering have turned in professional performances all season. The only thing that I can see improving is a bit more oomph on the edges but there isn't really anyone who is putting pressure on Thompson or Hoffman and they are churning through 80 minutes rather easily.

We did see Sione Lousi play there against the Eels, but it looks as though Lousi is out of favour at the moment. He's struggled to get much game time and there has been a whisper that he's been offered in a package with Chad Townsend, which is fair enough. Lousi doesn't quite have the mobility that his size requires, similar to his younger brother Sam. 

Speaking on departures, Suaia Matagi's departure to the Roosters signals that Jim Doyle isn't keen on the dead weight which has been an issue for the Warriors. They have always been about the good vibes and not giving blokes the flick, but I like this slightly more cut-throat style of Doyle. It's nothing against Matagi and he'll probably go well with the Roosters who could use another cannonball. 

McFadden has been forced to suss out his dummy half situation with Thomas Leuluai ruled out for the season. While it sucks for Leuluai, I think that this could be a blessing in disguise for the Warriors as one of the biggest things they have lacked so far this season has been dynamic dummy half running. Leuluai is better at getting out of dummy half and going sideways, before passing out the back than he is making a quick 10 metres. We now have Nathan Friend starting with Saliva Havili coming off the bench and I won't go as far as to say that it's going be awesome, but it will be very interesting to see how it works out. 

The Warriors have a long way to go. They continue to look slightly off the pace in terms of how they are attacking which doesn't look as threatening as the NRL's best. There's still the overuse of the bomb, a lack of patience to build pressure and a desire to go for the glory play. I reckon that if they can keep winning every second game while they nail how they want to play and which weapons are working well, then they'll be nicely set up to pose a threat later in the season.

Winning, somehow they have just got to keep finding ways to win. There's a fine line as the NRL is extremely close and if they are off their game for a few weeks, all of a sudden they'll be out of the top eight and wondering where their season went. But we've seen signs, signs that they are getting there and hopefully they can maintain a win record somewhere close to 50 percent through the State Of Origin period.