Anzac Day footy, against Melbourne Storm. It's as close as we get to having some sort of rivalry in the NRL and it does the trick nicely, not only do the Storm have a sprinkling of the best kiwis doing the rounds in the NRL, typically the Warriors match up well against the Storm.

The Warriors have already played the Storm this season, which the Storm won despite being rather average. The difference between the two teams on that day was the experience/footy know-how oozed by Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk as they knew exactly what to do in the clutch moments of the game. The Storm were also coming up against a Warriors team who weren't exactly swimming in confidence.

I don't think we've seen the Warriors play close to their best this season, just like I don't think we've seen the Warriors play as horribly as some think (stop being dramatic folks). This reflects their middle of the table position and after a nice win against the Bulldogs, our Warriors have a blueprint, a blueprint and confidence that they can kick it with other NRL teams even when they aren't quite firing on all cylinders.

For all the fluff, we can't overlook the fact that the Warriors beat the Doggies thanks to the best performance from their forward pack of the season. Do I expect this to be repeated? Not really, Jacob Lillyman hasn't really been able to string together those 150m+ sort of games for a while now but to be honest he doesn't need to. There's a large disparity between Lillyman's best and what he served up prior to that Bulldogs game, which isn't ideal and the Warriors need him to be operating with a similar consistency to Ben Matulino.

I expect Matulino and Jesse Bromwich to cancel each other out. They're the best in the business and as kiwis we can just sit back and enjoy the show, the funk for me will come from guys like Sam Lisone, Charlie Gubb and Ligi Sao who will have to offer some x-factor to counter the enthusiasm of Kenny Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi and Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

Lisone's minutes kinda annoys me, I'm happy to ride with Andrew McFadden on this one though as he uses the young prop wisely. Lisone played 28 minutes last week, Gubb played 30 minutes and Sao played only 14 minutes, keep an eye on these three as I've got one of them enjoying a breakout game on a glorious Anzac Day.

Thomas Leuluai starts in the halves, alongside Shaun Johnson with Tuimoala Lolohea at fullback. Johnson was at his best last week as he was heavily involved and showcased his running instincts, these running instincts are incredibly dangerous and will be crucial in breaking down the Storm's defence.

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Johnson will be in at first-receiver most of the time, except when the Warriors head down their left edge where Leuluai will run the show. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's injury has coincided nicely with Leuluai's return and Leuluai would have been able to work exclusively with his left edge. Leuluai has Ryan Hoffman, Solomone Kata and Manu Vatuvei at his disposal while Lolohea will pop up there as well and I'm excited to see Leuluai given the simple job of running that left-edge, especially as he's a got experienced along with all the skills needed to pull the strings.

Leuluai will rock the No.6 jersey, as will Blake Green. Green works exclusively down the Storm's left edge, working with the same players set after set, week after week. Keep an eye on the work of Leuluai and Green as they'll be doing a similar job, they will play second fiddle to dominant halfbacks but when they head left, they are crucial.

There's no bigger Manu Vatuvei fan - besides his friends and whanau - than myself so I'm gonna preach that the benefit of having Manu in this Warriors' side will be crystal clear. Besides the near-certainty that he'll score when given the ball 10m out from the opponents' try-line, Manu is a forward when he carts the ball up and his return to this team coincides with David Fusitua playing his second game this season.

The Vatuvei x Fusitua combo out of the Warriors' end will see them start their sets off very well and get the Storm on the back foot. Add Lolohea and Kata to that and the Warriors won't be battling for territory too often, peep the impact this has on Johnson as he'll be able to run at a defensive line that isn't pushing up on him.

Don't sleep on the Cameron Smith vs Issac Luke battle either. Luke was no where near the top-3 hooker that we know he can be, earlier this season and he's starting to come good as he settles into his Warriors' career. We'll get a good gauge of Luke's progress in the battle of the two best hookers of the past 5-7 years.

Bodene Thompson and Hoffman will also have a tough task, up against Kevin Proctor and Tohu Harris. The Storm's kiwi edge-forwards don't put a foot wrong and they are strong runners that have all the skills, so it will be up to Thompson and Hoffman to limit their effectiveness and protect their little halves beside them.

I don't know about you but I'm frothing with excitement. I've watched these Anzac footy games this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed them, with the knowledge that the Warriors will be in action on a special Monday night. The occasion will always make this fixture special, however in the context of the season, this is a huge game for the Warriors as they have one of the better 17-man squads of the season and need to start stringing wins, or at least decent performances together.