How good was Bodene Thompson? Wanna see him go 1-outs with Gallen again.

Before I get any further, two things need to be addressed. Both need to be addressed here and now because there was so much more to the Warriors' narrow defeat at Shark Park than the penalty try and Andrew McFadden's decision to start Jonathan Wright ahead of Tuimoala Lolohea.

Who knows what the right or wrong decision was with the penalty try. Up to that point, such an incident merely resulted in the player being sent to the sin bin then suddenly a similar incident is a penalty try. Incredibly frustrating yes, however this is how the NRL and the referees have alienated fans, players and coaches over the past five years. This is nothing new and while everyone screams for consistency, we get the opposite.

Unfortunately, such dramatic inconsistency is to be expected with those silly NRL officials. It shouldn't take away from Simon Mannering's brain-snap as he blatantly held back Jayson Bukuya, who was likely to score.

Coach Andrew McFadden obviously didn't think Jonathan Wright was going to be at his clumsy best. I believe he wanted a bit more size with Wright and Ken Maumalo on the flanks and David Fusitua at fullback, then bringing on Lolohea near the end to add some footwork and speed. Unfortunately Wright had a shocker.

What is weird here is that McFadden is in no place, as an NRL coach to be trying such tricks.

This all felt as though McFadden was trying to be too cute, over-thinking a simple formula that had worked previously and I'm not surprised that it turned out how it did. That McFadden didn't bring on Lolohea at the back-end of the first half and then near the end of the game as well, was baffling. Lolohea is a weapon and the Warriors need as many weapons as possible.

Coach Cappy, if you're out there ... you're not that good a coach, that you can do that just yet. You and you're team are getting by, so maybe just focus on simplicity.

No more of that now, this was a mighty Warriors performance and everything is pointing in the right direction. The result was a bummer sure, yet how many of us honestly thought that the Warriors would win when it became clear that a field-goal would win the game? Cronulla have been there before, they knew what needed to be done and they approached golden point far more effectively than the Warriors did. That's simply thanks to experience, having been in those situations before and our Warriors had no idea what to do.

Warriors Diary is brought to you by Cocosina Coconut Oil. Made in Samoa and supporting local farmers!

Cronulla ramped up their defensive pressure and dominated nearly every minute of extra time. The one genuine opportunity for the Warriors to kick a field-goal summed it all up for me as Maumalo threw a stinker of a pass from dummy half and nothing came of it. Those minor details in crunch time are crucial; why is a big winger throwing such an important pass?

Hence I don't believe the Warriors had any idea what they were doing.

That sucks and they let a great chance to beat the Sharks slip away, but in with the bigger picture in mind, this was a fantastic performance from the Warriors.

While Wright is a pretty average footy player, having Fusitua at fullback is a low key asset that could see Lolohea have to fill a gap ... possibly on the wing. As I've told y'all a few times now, Fusitua is a gun fullback and with more game time there, we're starting to see how he has all the necessary skills of an NRL fullback; good hands (freakish passing ability), safe under the high-ball and he's a beast running the footy. Fusitua had 22 carries for 197m ... those a Roger Tuivasa-Sheck sort of numbers.

There's a clear advantage in having Fusitua and Maumalo carting the ball forward with Blake Ayshford and Solomone Kata chipping in. Maumalo had 23 carries for 174m, showing off not only his ability to make metres but a desire to take tough carries over and over again. Fusitua and Maumalo combined for 45 carries and the five Cronulla outside backs combined for 62 carries, that desire to help out the forwards and to get stuck in while being effective in doing so is a definite advantage.

The Warriors ran for 1,730m while Cronulla ran for 1,661m with Jacob Lillyman only playing 23 minutes. That's thanks to a strong display from our forwards (plus big outside backs) and we're starting to see Albert Vete and Sam Lisone settle into their NRL work, with this game dominated by Vete's brutal carries. I've praised Lisone a bunch previously and that this was Vete's turn to stand up, shows what a strong position the Warriors are in. If it's not Lillyman, it's Matulino, or Lisone, or Vete (things aren't looking too good for Charlie Gubb at the moment).

Vete only played 37mins and had 14 carries for 117m. There was always a chance of him offloading as well, he had 4 offloads and the way Vete turns his shoulder towards the defender at the point of contact sets up an offload perfectly.

With Vete only getting better, having Matulino come off the bench is a luxury. Again, bench vs starting isn't that much of an issue, just knowing that Matulino is there to come on around the 25min mark is awesome. He had 17 carries with 161m in a typically impressive display from the veteran and while he started on the bench, he played out the rest of the game with the most carries/metres of any Warriors forward.

Special shout out to Bodene Thompson as well, who had 7 tackle busts with 11 carries and 119m. Thompson is a handful out on the right edge, he's best used running under Shaun Johnson and cutting back in-field, however he's also just as dangerous putting on a bit of foowork to get on the outside or running a great line off Johnson. As long as Thompson is running hard, good things happen.

Issac Luke: 10 carries, 98m, 2 tackle busts, 41 tackles, 1 offload.

Those are typical Luke stats, the sort of stats show just how well he is playing through the middle. Ponder that Luke averaged 9.8m with each carry in this game.

For all of that, what really impressed me about the Warriors was their defence. Usually when opposition teams are down their end, I'm not exactly confident that the Warriors can repel them and withstand pressure, absorb pressure. In the middle, Mannering led the way by make crucial tackles, covering the inside lanes and generally being a determined bugger. There was a passage in the second half when Mannering made three repeat efforts in front of the posts, close to the line and while I do think that Justin Morgan's work as an assistant coach is starting to seep through with defensive structures and what not, Mannering and the Warriors are just ripping far better than they were.

And this is where I sit after that game as I toast to improvements. Yes, 2 points and a win would have been lovely but let's just appreciate some improvements. What I saw against the Sharks was a team that understands the intensity, desire and skill needed to be a force in the NRL.

The Warriors lacked the polish and winning mentality to seal this game, because they are still a mid-table team who came up against the best in the NRL right now. Improvements have been made folks and I don't know about y'all but I felt proud watching our Warriors on Saturday night, it doesn't get much better than that.

Quick/mandatory note on the halves...

The more Shaun Johnson stays on the right and Thomas Leuluai stays on the left, the more I spew. Johnson does appear to be struggling with that injury which is holding him back and I accept that. I can not see the Warriors going too deep into the finals with Johnson restricted to the right and Leuluai, the left. Keep an eye on this as I still believe that Johnson needs to get his hands on the footy everywhere, influencing the game as often as possible while Leuluai cleans up his mess and does a basic role.

Regular readers would have heard this before - Johnson hasn't shown that he can control and dominate a game in the NRL. Johnson needs a steady hand there to free him up, allowing Johnson to do what he does best which is playing what he sees in front of him.

I am yet to see any of this.