Sometimes it feels good to just ease the pressure, ease the load and take a few deep breaths. Sometimes, with a team such as our beloved Warriors, it's best to lessen the weight on the bandwagon. Bandwagons, like elevators can only be safely used holding a certain maximum weight and the Warriors just like to ensure that this safety precaution is taken.

That's what we tell ourselves anyway, to ease the come down, to make that dip in the rollercoaster not so dramatic. 

24-0 and the Warriors were thoroughly out-classed by the Roosters who are enjoying a nice bit of form, which has come with a near full-strength team being rolled out consistently. 

24-0 and I don't feel too down. Part of that can be put down to the Roosters playing near their best and part of that is because this Warriors team was down three troops. Ryan Hoffman rolled out the 'every bloke who pulls on that jersey knows they have to do a job' line which goes some way to spreading the culture of the best teams, through the Warriors. 

It's a nice line, a nice theory, but I also heard something similar from a Dragons player, the Dragons who are in a rather large slump. Point being - being down on troops or not being at full-strength in the current version of the NRL, against teams who are in the upper echelon, makes life extremely difficult.

Sometimes, it doesn't matter, sometimes it does and not having Manu Vatuvei, Konrad Hurrell and Ryan Hoffman definitely didn't help. While excuses shouldn't be made, it's worth highlighting these omissions before people start getting over dramatic as I did in the opening paragraphs.

Hoffman's replacement, Raymond Faitala-Mariner missed five tackles and it doesn't take a genius to note that Hoffman is a massive upgrade here. RFM did a nice job on attack, but as we learned from the Roosters, defence is the essence of success. 

The Warriors struggled to get out of their own end, to such extent that I've rarely seen a Warriors team struggle to make metres like this team did. Again, you don't need to be a genius to note that Vatuvei and Hurrell would have at the very least helped out a bit in this area.

There's a few points that I can make from that lack of territory...

-We once again saw the Warriors revert back to the bomb. Over the past few weeks we saw a varied kicking game where the bomb was used in conjunction with little grubbers into the in-goal area or low kicks to open pastures. That keeps fullbacks and wingers guessing and allows the Warriors to build pressure. But because the Warriors were always kicking 40 metres out from the Chooks' try line, the only real option is to put it high and allow the kick-chase to try pin the catcher down as deep as possible. Kick-chase has never been a strong point for the Warriors so this tactic rarely works.

-If you still believe the 'big Warriors forwards' bullshit, well you're pretty damn stupid. The Roosters forwards absolutely dominated their Warriors counterparts, both carting the ball forward (five Roosters made 100+ metres vs two Warriors) but more importantly in defence. The Roosters forwards not only got up off their line quickly but were far more aggressive in the tackle as they hit, then drove the Warriors back. Either putting them on their backsides or winning the wrestle. To be honest, the Warriors looked like a bunch of kids against an angry group of men.

-If our forward pack doesn't have the size, then they need to be uber aggressive and utilise their mobility. We saw neither.

Last week I creamed my undies thanks to David Fusitua, who understandably let me down this week. He had a 'mare and I get the feeling that we'll see a knee-jerk reaction here with Hurrell coming in for Fusitua when fit. I'd like to see Fusitua given the chance to redeem himself and if Hurrell's fit, I still want him coming off the bench as the trump card.

In attack, words like cumbersome come to mind. The two-pass plays that worked over the past few weeks were again rolled out but the Roosters knew exactly what was coming and while it might have stemmed from a plan to shut Shaun Johnson down, it also stems from a general ploy to shut the Warriors' attack down. 

That two-pass play which saw Sam Tomkins/Chad Townsend at first receiver, flinging passes out to Shaun Johnson was read like a book and Andrew McFadden's got to show some coaching nous here. Whether he goes back to the drawing board to draw up so new plays, or whether he makes a few tweaks, we'll see what McFadden's made of because this two-pass play is a relatively new play which worked for a period of time. The Roosters showed how to shut that shit down.

There's no need to be overly dramatic because of those players who were missing and because there's lessons to be learned. Blake Ferguson showed Solomone Kata what's up, but Kata needs to take the lessons onboard instead of getting down in the dumps over being taught how to dougie. Ferguson's a beast, but Kata insisted on trying to tackle him high as league players tend to do these days (it stops the offload and allows for some wrestle to slow things down). Kata wrapped Ferguson's legs up once and it was a great tackle, which is where Kata's gotta recognise that he's coming up against a bloke with NBA-wingspan so cut those legs down.

There were other lessons as well. Sione Lousi does give us some size, but not much else. In the NRL where the best forwards are dynamic, powerful beings who bring the ruckus, Lousi looked the opposite and he continues to look like his career may fizzle. We only have to look at Siosiua Taukeiaho for an example of what type of forward works in the NRL right now.

The same can be said about Sam Rapira, a club servant who didn't quite look to be in the same class as the Roosters forwards. One player from both teams had the exact same number of carries as Rapira - Chad Townsend and Townsend ran for 96 metres in those seven carries. Rapira had 56 metres from seven carries.

But again, it's all good baby baby because do Lousi and Rapira feature in our top 17? No, if that was a bit up in the air before this game because of the fact that we hadn't really seen much from these two this season, we now know. 

Against a Roosters pack who brought the ruckus, we looked timid. I think we're still lacking a forward who is willing to piss blokes off, but as I've said before, Charlie Gubb does a bit of that. So does Sam Lisone and they should both be a part of our best 17.

McFadden only has himself to blame for the conundrum that Siliva Havili has become. Havili sat on the bench as the Warriors looked tired and Nathan Friend (90 metres and two tackle busts) showed that some quick-footed running could help. McFadden brought Havili on, but the game was already gone and it felt like one of those 'I feel sorry for ya, so go on son, have a go' type of situations.

So why have Havili on the bench? McFadden may have a glorious plan to play Friend and Havili together as he did yesterday, but then don't do it when the game's already lost. 

McFadden may be unsure about Friend, hence Havili's presence on the bench but Friend's shown time and time again that he's all good. McFadden hasn't even gone the other way and shared the game time between the two, he's kept Havili on ice. It's extremely confusing and I'd rather that bench spot be used by player who can add to the team or at least be used, ya know?

Something completely off-topic, but kinda weird was the eagerness of a few Warriors players to go at a troll on social media, peep the comments... 

Offering to fight someone who is blatantly trolling only serves to put yourself in the same category as that troll. You could argue that it's just as tough to offer a fight in the comments of an Instagram post, as it is to be a bit of a keyboard warrior (lol), in fact you could argue that Sam Lisone was being a bit of a keyboard warrior (lolololol). 

The fact that a few other Warriors decided to join in and lower themselves to the level of a troll is rather troubling. Why even bother? Do they have something to prove? Super weird.

It got me thinking about a few comments that Shaun Johnson has made, regarding his perception in the eyes of the public - 'they expect me to be perfect ... celebrate me one day, hate me the next' type of thing. Imagine if these players were in the EPL or NBA or a variety of different sporting leagues around the world where the backlash/trolling is way, way, way worse, would they still act in such a way?

If they did, they'd be swiftly told that they were being a bit precious, in both cases.