It's pretty clear that the Warriors' season is now over. I won't make that official until Mad Monday when the regular season is over and we can start to do a bit of a debrief of 2015 as it feels a bit rude to do that while blokes are still running around, trying to win footy games.

Or are they? Maybe I could start doing my post-season debrief stuff now because unfortunately for Warriors fans across the world, their team has once again shut up shop with their season on the line.

The NRL is an extremely difficult competition to win, especially over the past few seasons as we have seen that anyone can beat anyone, let alone trying to win a bunch of playoff games. It's tough, so to expect the Warriors to win the whole thing with ease is a bit foolish, but what we can expect from this team is to see a group of individuals come together and represent their club and people with pride.

That's where Saturday's loss to the Panthers hit a nerve, the same nerve that the Warriors hit last week against the Dragons. We have certainly had more than our fair share of injuries, and suspension but if there's one team that's been as ravaged by injury as the Warriors have been, it's the Panthers. But the Panthers still show up every week and put on a hearty display for their fans, last season they went deep into the finals despite being plagued by injury and despite being below the Warriors on the ladder, still came to play with energy and intent.

It seems as though the shittyness that has flowed through the Warriors recently like a flu in an office, has infiltrated the immune systems of our veterans as well. Simon Mannering missed a rather simple tackle on Tyrone Peachey and turned in a rather lacklustre performance while a bloke like Jacob Lillyman, well he produced the sort of tackle attempt on Reagan Campbell-Gillard that we have come to expect from Raymond Faitala-Mariner.

If Dominique Peyroux was picked at centre because Andrew McFadden thought he would be a better defensive option over Konrad Hurrell, then I'm a donkey. And I have a feeling I might be a donkey here, even though Lewis Brown of all people showed why Peyroux has struggled to establish himself in the NRL as Brown dusted Peyroux off with ease.

Pause, there were some positives. Sam Tomkins was improved and showed some signs of potency on attack, while I continue to salivate at the prospect of seeing Sam Lisone, Albert Vete and Charlie Gubb in the future. These three forwards will form the foundation of the Warriors, well that's what I want anyway as they can set the tone for the Warriors of 2016 and beyond with their aggression and enthusiasm. They offer something that the Warriors have always lacked in desperation.

I didn't expect much from the Warriors on attack because one of the constants this season has been an over-reliance on Shaun Johnson and a lack of clinical/creative plays. That falls on the shoulders of McFadden, but I won't go down that road again.

There isn't much faith in McFadden from me, I have no issues with him being given a chance to coach his way out of this funk in 2016 but I now want to see other players brought in to this team for the remaining few rounds. The team that faced the Panthers had five players in it who won't be with the Warriors next season and while there is still a slim chance of making the eight, the current group simply hasn't been good enough.

McFadden can either take this chance to blood a few youngins' who would benefit from a few NRL minutes, which would offer Warriors fans a sense of hope and excitement. Or he can continue this extremely depressing slump that we are in ... or if the Warriors somehow win a few games, we'll just get a glimpse at what could have been. That's never nice, to think what if?

Cheeky sidenote - Jim Doyle and Andrew McFadden have both highlighted problems at the Warriors, which you can only imagine have existed since Ivan Cleary left the club. Now, it's all fine and dandy to point the finger at the likes of Wayne Scurrah, Dean Bell and the various coaches that have come and gone, but where are the owners in this?

The owners of the Warriors have either no interest in what happens in the club that they have invested in, or they just don't care and are extremely naive. To their credit, they have brought Doyle on board which can only be seen as a positive, but the owners have been quick to talk up the club without a whole lot of substance and here we are again, looking at another stinker of a season.

Ah, Glen Fisiiahi. The man who promised so much in the NRL/reserve grade but failed to deliver thanks to a consistent run of injuries. The Warriors were wise to not offer Fisiiahi much, let alone anything as they have that guy Roger Tuivasa-Sheck coming and could do a nice job of finding cheap/solid back up for him at fullback. Fisiiahi apparently had interest in him from other NRL clubs, but by not really showing much interest back, I think he showed that he wasn't too keen to leave Auckland. By signing with Counties Manukau and subsequently the Waikato Chiefs, he gets to stay in Auckland while maintaining a professional contract.

There will be spin put on this story, but some simple estimations in my wonderful mind resulted in Fisiiahi staying with the Warriors not being possible. Tuivasa-Sheck is on big money and Fisiiahi is off-contract, would the Warriors upgrade Fisiiahi's contract? Well given he has hardly played in the NRL this season AND they don't have much salary cap space to work with - no, they definitely wouldn't.

Would Fisiiahi take less money from the Warriors? Hell no, not when other clubs/union are offering him more. More doesn't exactly mean big money either, just more than what the Warriors would have been keen to pay for an injury prone fullback who would play second fiddle to Tuivasa-Sheck.

All in all, it's a win for all parties. We'll always have this...