As Tuimola Lolohea sat on the sideline in Perth, hood up with torrential rain pestering him, we all wondered what the point was, besides giving young Tui Lolo a cold. After watching Lolohea catch the sniffles before entering the arena against Manly at a stage where he could have little influence on the game, fans and opposition NRL clubs began to pipe up; how could such a talent be on the sidelines?

We've only got to look at what is happening with Wests Tigers x Robbie Farah to get the answer to that question, but Lolohea is a lovely chap who in the wake of interest from other NRL clubs said that he wants to be at Mt Smart forever ... Farah probably wanted to be a Tiger forever. This all created a whirlwind of attention around Lolohea and it's been brewing for a number of seasons now as Lolohea has filled every backline position in the NRL and could probably establish himself in every backline position as he's simply a natural footy player.

Any plans to settle Lolohea into a position and allow him to play consistently in the same position, were thrown in the bin when Roger Tuivasa-Sheck suffered a season-ending knee injury. Lolohea himself then suffered a minor injury which gave David Fusitua a sniff of fullback and Fusitua showed what a natural footy player he is by playing just as good at fullback as he was on the wing.

Further complicating matters is the emergence of Ken Maumalo on the wing. Maumalo is different to Lolohea and may not be as much of a general threat with the footy as Lolohea, he does however give the Warriors a unique asset as both he and Vatuvei cart the footy up as forwards, which when combined with Fusitua and Solomone Kata gives the Warriors a healthy dose of go-forward. The key is that these blokes aren't forwards, the are backs and have the speed/footwork of backs which allows them to either get in-between defenders and then get up quickly to play-the-ball. With Issac Luke at dummy half, this is where the Warriors can tear teams apart; up the guts.

For the rest of the season, having Lolohea at fullback, Fusitua and Kata in the centres and Vatuvei and Maumalo on the wings gives the Warriors the most attacking impetus. Blake Ayshford needs some lovin' because he was brought to Mt Smart to do a job for the club and he's done a fine job of offering a steady hand for much of the season, plus his job may not be over as it will only take an injury to bring him back. In the past, injuries have meant that a youngster gets a run at a crucial stage of the season so having Ayshford there as a solid NRL battler gives us some depth.

As I have been for much of the year, I'm more concerned with next season and beyond as this is when I expect the Warriors to really cash in on their copious amounts of talent. Ponder our current situation with Lolohea as it's only come about thanks to a season-ending injury to Tuivasa-Sheck who was coming off a record-breaking season in 2015. With Tuivasa-Sheck and Lolohea out injured, Fusitua made fullback look excessively easy and we are all generally wondering about Lolohea because Maumalo and Kata are playing good footy themselves. If having Tuivasa-Sheck, Lolohea, Maumalo, Fusitua, Kata with the OG Vatuvei doesn't excite you, then I'll tempt you with some Bully Luke, Ben Matulino, Ryan Hoffman, Bodene Thompson, Simon Mannering, Sam Lisone, Albert Vete, Bunty Afoa, Toafofoa Sipley and Jazz Tevaga.
Point being that here we are worrying ourselves with how and where Lolohea fits in, knowing that he does fit in and we're all ignoring that this is a great problem to have.

The curveball in all of this is a young half by the name of Ata Hingano, who I view as the perfect complimentary piece to Shaun Johnson. Hingano has been a standout player for the Junior Warriors and he's successfully made the jump up to reserve grade, rolling through consistently strong performances and generally showing that he can hang with grown men. At 19-years-old, Hingano is a classy all-round half with a decent running game, all the passes required to break down defences and perhaps most notably; he's got a slick left boot.

Where does Thomas Leuluai play? On the left edge.

Where's Hingano's left boot best used? On the left edge.

After the huff and puff of Lolohea's situation, Johnson came out and said that Lolohea will be his halves partner next season. Combine this with feedback I receive that Lolohea's best work will come as a half and I definitely think that we will see a Johnson x Lolohea halves combination take the Warriors into next season. I really like Hingano though and at some stage next season, we will likely see Hingano play in the halves when injury/suspension strikes. I'd suggest that Hingano will be a long-term Warriors half if he stays with the club, which could force Lolohea back into a utility role as the Hingano x Johnson halves pairing could be the best option.

People hear the word 'utility' and negative vibes fill their soul. In the current NRL, teams need a utility to cover positions but to also add spark with less interchanges meaning that there's greater scope for the smaller bloke with quick feet to make an impact against big forwards. I get the feeling that people don't want Lolohea to be a victim of his own wizardry, but think of it differently and wonder how awesome a Warriors team would be with Lolohea coming off the bench and getting a decent stint (30-40 minutes) on the field; if you can hang with the Warriors for the first 25 minutes of the first half, Lolohea's coming on to rip you apart ... just a thought.

All I can say at this point of the 2016 season is that I am incredibly excited to see how this situation pans out because our Warriors have the talent. In the past we've just had Stacey Jones and of late we've kinda only had Johnson who was playing at such a level, moving forward though we've got three halves in Johnson, Lolohea and Hingano who all possess pure footy talent. Three into two doesn't quite work, however having three highly talented halves who have come through the Warriors system is a position that we've never really been in before.

As more kiwis from outside of Auckland are snapped up by other NRL clubs and go on to be influential NRL players (Nelson Asofa-Solomona, James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Manu etc), I've wrote a few things about the Warriors recruitment and development in the current NRL landscape. Y'all and mainstream media have repeatedly questioned the culture within the Warriors as well.

Take it as a fact that the Warriors have developed three players from their Under-20's team and put them in a position to move the club forward positively. These three aren't powerful outside backs or big forwards as the stereotype suggests, they are halves, so it's clear that something right is happening. How Lolohea fits in, is a fantastic problem for our club to have moving into next season and beyond.