Dear NZ Warriors ... instead of being dumb and having 50 jerseys, just keep this jersey as the home jersey and have an away jersey. This jersey is the best.

If you were expecting plenty of points, skill and entertainment at 6pm on a Sunday evening, you're pretty foolish. 6pm on a Sunday, in Auckland is a horrible time-slot for a game of footy and we've got to keep it real here and say that last night's Warriors vs Roosters game reflected that scheduling decision.

Of course, no one in Aotearoa would have had any say in the matter. There was only one game of NRL footy yesterday, so the Warriors vs Roosters needed to be in the Sunday prime-time slot of 4pm Sydney time.

This game stunk as a spectacle for a variety of reasons but before I get into any great depth, we need to appreciate a win. Despite enjoying a dominant wave in the second half, the Warriors almost saw victory slip from their grasp late as the Roosters mounted a comeback and at 12-10 with a minute or so to go, I was pretty damn nervous.

Three straight wins needs to be put into context as the Warriors (sorry for repeating this again, some of you are foolish) have beaten Newcastle, Brisbane after Origin and now the Roosters. These aren't wins that should excite us about the Warriors' hopes this season, but they are wins that were needed in the big scheme of things. Look at the Warriors on the NRL ladder after three straight wins; they're 7th on 16 points, only 2 points behind the Cowboys in 4th (as of Monday 1pm).

While the mainstream media had their knickers in a twist after a week or two, I was preaching that the NRL season is long, good times come and go. The Warriors are making hay while the sun shines and that's what you've gotta do to make the top-eight, the sun will stop shining once or a few more times this season, it's all part of the NRL season.

Watching the Warriors stumble and fumble their way through set after set of good possession, was a drag. Numerous times during this game I found myself thinking how shit the Warriors attack was and it was sloppy at best, they had 56 percent of the pill but could only score 12 points and force two dropouts. That's pretty bad folks.

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Again, context needs to be applied. Thomas Leuluai went off injured early in the game, Shaun Johnson barely trained all week and Nathaniel Roache played much of the game on the wing.

With Roache on the wing, he lacked the finishing ability of David Fusitua which cost the Warriors a try and after what ... two games with a settled spine, the Warriors ended up playing this game with a new spine consisting of Fusitua at fullback, Tuimoala Lolohea and SJ7 in the halves. Once again, as various NRL sides roll out the same group of play-makers on a weekly basis, the Warriors are battling a merry-go-round in key positions and that makes life extremely difficult.

This is why I view this as an impressive win, even though the casual fan would have stopped watching mid-way through. The Warriors battled adversity and found a way to win in a game which little went right for them. We don't need to look much further than Roache's performance to gauge the effort from the Warriors. He's no Fusitua but he caught bombs, returned kicks with enthusiasm and just generally tried his hardest to help the team from the wing.

Regardless of what the club tells you, we can't take anything away from this game in terms of the defensive effort from the Warriors. They almost missed more tackles that the Roosters and were helped defensively by some young Roosters halves in Ryan Matterson and Jackson Hastings who were largely non-factors in this game. A better halves combination would have tested Roache on the wing more, they would have pumped the ball down their right-edge when Ken Maumalo was in the sin-bin etc. This is a halves combination that is low on confidence and it showed.

In my preview I highlighted the need for the young forwards for the Warriors to step up and go to battle against a strong Roosters pack. They did just with Albert Vete taking 13 carries for 124m, Sam Lisone 7/61m, Toafofoa Sipley 7/75 and Charlie Gubb 9/85m but I still want to see the likes of Lisone, Sipley and Gubb get much more game time. Vete started and play 34 minutes, while Lisone (25mins), Sipley (21mins) and Gubb (23mins) all got their standard rotation. I'm not completely sure that Simon Mannering needs to play 80 minutes in the middle, especially not at this stage of the season and I'm wondering if Andrew McFadden would be wise to give Mannering a spell with Gubb or Lisone getting extra minutes.

Gubb especially, is a huge boost when he's on the field. His mere presence lifts Mt Smart, the faithful rise off their seats and celebrate his effort, but he spends much of the game on the bench. Gubb is the closest thing to a cult-hero the Warriors have in their roster.

There's a lot to like about Sipley as well as every carry causes damage. When Jacob Lillyman returns, Sipley will likely slide out of this team but he'll be lurking, putting pressure on Vete, Lisone and Gubb to keep their place in the team.

You watch Shaun Johnson, I watch David Fusitua and Tuimoala Lolohea. These two stepped into more prominent roles in this game and I'm gonna remind y'all every week that they are the two most talented youngsters at Mt Smart, perhaps two of the most talented to be produced by Mt Smart ever.

The Warrior still haven't kicked a 40/20 this season.

I'll finish with the most important point from this game as the Warriors wouldn't have won this game with solid performances from their veterans. Issac Luke had 105 touches, 13 runs for 94m and 5 kicks while Ben Matulino had 14 carries/115m, Bodene Thompson had 14/100m, Ryan Hoffman had 11/102m and Mannering rolled through 52 tackles with 11/83m.

These veterans reflected the Warriors' performance as they still served up some mediocre touches, but they led the way in this new attacking intent shown by the Warriors. Their attack sucked, however the intent to offload and keep the footy moving, thus shifting a big Roosters pack around was crucial. Half of the Warriors offloads came from these players and Luke was dynamic around the ruck area, making quick metres.

Bar for a few sloppy passes, Luke was the best Warriors player on the park. There's a feeling of comfort, similar to that which comes when watching a Kiwis team with Luke in it as you know that at any moment Luke could burst out of dummy half and make a big chunk of metres. We know this Warriors team has x-factor in it but with Luke posing a threat around the ruck, points can literally come from anywhere on the park as it only takes a lazy defender close to the ruck and Luke's gone. In the past we've had hookers who weren't as quick or powerful as Luke so those opportunities weren't pounced on and Luke offers something that no other NRL team has; he's a threat for 80 minutes ... plus he showed that he's a low key skilled kicker out of dummy half as well.