Yes, I reckon the NZ Warriors will struggle to make any Premiership waves this season. Yes, I reckon the NZ Warriors will open up their Premiership window next season. Yes, I'm all good with how things are truckin' along because I've got a long-term vision illuminated. Yes, yes, yes ... yet our NZ Warriors are only a few wins away from being knee deep in the top-8.

That's the odd thing when pondering the Warriors' predicament and is why we should all be immensely positive about their future. I'm no psychologist or anything, but I'd suggest that it's easier to look towards the future with positivity when you accept the current situation, accept that the Warriors have a foundation from which they can build on over the next few seasons; they are a mid-table NRL team with young guns entering their prime years and veterans still with plenty to offer. 

Well, this is what I've been telling myself a lot over the last few days as I try to reinforce the positive vibes because Confusing Cappy has popped up. It's been a while since we've seen Confusing Cappy and I sure as hell didn't miss him as the last few weeks has seen a consistent team selected, with combinations improving and the Warriors rolling through fairly solid performances. Confusing Cappy came about thanks to coach Andrew McFadden constantly tinkering with his team, changes that just didn't really need to be made and changes that simply didn't allow players to settle into one job.

This is understandable at the start of the season or during the Origin period, it's round 21 now. Is anyone convinced that Confusing Cappy knows what his best team is? 

Obviously this week it's all about Tuimoala Lolohea's move to fullback, pushing David Fusitua to centre and Blake Ayshford to the bench. I've loved the work of Fusitua at fullback and we saw the benefit of Lolohea coming off the bench, adding some spark for a solid 30 minutes while Ayshford has pretty much done what he was brought to Mt Smart to do. 

My positivity regarding our club's future stems from the fact that both Lolohea and Fusitua are excellent footy players - whether it's Lolohea or Fusitua at fullback, we've got a gun at fullback.

I just want to see the same combinations rolled out for more than three weeks, pick either Lolohea or Fusitua and show them faith that they have the job for as long as Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's out. Instead, Lolohea and Fusitua have both been yanked from fullback at various stages of the season.

If Lolohea is now our fullback, oki dokie. Just keep him there for the rest of the season.

(Remember that we are all discussing which youngster is a better fullback for this current team ... we've got two legit youngsters competing Tuivasa-Sheck's fullback spot and I love it)

The thing with Confusing Cappy is that he's confused me now because I'm pondering if the Warriors will be a more potent attacking team with Fusitua at centre. Ayshford was brought to Mt Smart to do a job as a NRL battler and he's done exactly that, it's just that he's not a weapon, he doesn't have x-factor and right now, the Warriors need more points as they are struggling to turn their dominance with possession/territory into tries.

Consider it a different perspective - instead of looking at the fullback position, look at the centre aspect of this change. On one edge we have Fusitua, on the other edge we have Solomone Kata and they are both certified NRL weapons with Kata resembling a hot-stepping nugget while Fusitua has the size to trouble defenders as well as the skill. Fusitua will still get into the middle of the park and take carries to help his forwards, then he'll slide back out to his edge and we've seen Shaun Johnson link with him nicely before so expect Johnson to try get Fusitua plenty of early ball.

I wouldn't sleep on a late change to the team named either, so who knows.

Penrith present a unique challenge for our Warriors and I'm intrigued by how this game pans out because the Panthers basically play how I want the Warriors to play. The Warriors have moved closer and closer to a Penrith style of play where offloads are frequent, lots of passes and simple hard running, yet the Warriors are some way off from really embracing this style and unleashing their weapons who are nicely suited to that style.

While the Panthers rolled through Brisbane's forward pack last week, our forward pack could limit their ability to stroll down field and play off the front foot. And while I love the youthful nature of the Warriors, the veterans are just as important and most of them are in the forward pack. Jacob Lillyman, Ben Matulino, Issac Luke and Simon Mannering all play through the middle and they'll need to lead the way in making metres as well as whacking in defence and putting their opponents on their backs. Ryan Hoffman has been in strong form on our left edge and makes big metres with every carry, he's our skipper and we need him to continue to play his best footy at this stage of the season.

If our grizzly forwards are at their best, then I'm extremely positive about what will happen on Saturday evening. Penrith can only do what they do when they are making metres and enjoying quick play-the-balls, giving Nathan Cleary and Matt Moylan more time and space to wave their wands. Our grizzly forward pack is better than their pack on paper and at Mt Smart, you'd expect a rampant display in which they impose their physicality.

A interesting sub-plot in this game will be Shaun Johnson vs Nathan Cleary. Cleary has burst on to the scene and looks at home in the NRL as he's got the toughness to take hits as he moves forward - either running at the line or carrying and then kicking/passing - and then he's got the ability to execute each skill to near perfection. Johnson has been simmering away and I've actually really liked Johnson's work in the back-to-back losses as he hasn't caught the headlines, but he's shown nice control to at least keep the Warriors down their opponent's end of the field - they have looked overly threatening but they are building pressure and enjoying more footy in good territory. 

We would all hope that Johnson puts Cleary in his place and shows the youngster that he's still got a wee way to go yet. Johnson will do this by kicking with precision and running the footy, a combination that he's shown in the last few weeks but he just needs to take that to a new level; kick better and run more. 

And Johnson doesn't need to do a whole lot more than that because there's many weapons around him for him to distribute the footy to. Confusing Cappy confused me because I just want to see one bloke given time to settle, but I can't really argue with Fusitua playing at centre, allowing Lolohea to start at fullback. This only gives Johnson more weapons to work with, especially with Thomas Leuluai currently in a nice little vein of form. 

I'm excited to see Fusitua get early footy from Johnson and I'm excited to see Lolohea sweep around the back, especially on the right where he can link with Johnson and Fusitua. 

Most notably though, I'm excited to see how our grizzly forward pack responds to a big home game at this stage of the season. I've got a feeling that they'll come out firing and I bloody hope they do because it's needed to slow this Panthers side down.