Last week's loss to the Bunnies was less than ideal by itself, with an away trip to the Cowboys this weekend though it looks all-round silly. The Warriors were at their worst last week and failed to step up in a game against the Rabbitohs who are below them on the ladder, now they face a Cowboys team that desperately needs a slick performance and will likely deliver that. 

Confusing Cappy has popped up again to say 'kia ora!' as he's given Tuimoala Lolohea the yank, slotting David Fusitua at fullback and Blake Ayshford. Lolohea certainly wasn't up to much good last week, however instead of being given a chance to rectify his performance and give the Warriors some much-needed spark against the Cowboys, Lolohea won't be there. 

Earlier in the season, I wondered what it would be like to be one of the young props for the Warriors. Up until the Origin period, Confusing Cappy kept chopping and changing with his forward rotations, not allowing these forwards to settle into a job and focus on nailing that job. Look at Albert Vete now, he's starting every week and knows exactly what his job is for this team. Then imagine being James Gavet, who is in and out of the team without much rhyme or reason.

And now imagine being Tuimoala Lolohea. Instead of chirping from your couch, put yourself in Lolohea's boots and ponder his situation; he's got no idea what his best position is, he's been told that he's Shaun Johnson's halves partner next year, he has one sloppy game and he's dropped, his confidence ... what confidence? Other clubs have told him how great he is and the club he's at is in the media, talking about signing Kieran Foran who would take his place in the halves next season. 

Often in sports, we hear about players playing without fear. They play with freedom, coming from a full dose of faith and confidence from the coaching staff, playing without fear of the repercussions, not being worried about what might happen if they make a mistake. Lolohea's full of fear, it only took one stink game and he was dropped.

What's wrong with just telling Lolohea to keep his head up and pump him up with confidence that he's the man to play fullback for the Warriors right now? 

This just makes my head hurts. Andrew McFadden simply hasn't stuck to his guns. He didn't stick it out with Fusitua at fullback, he didn't stick to his guns in playing Lolohea off the bench and now he hasn't stuck with Lolohea at fullback. 

And let's not be dumb here, thinking that other NRL teams are chopping and changing their fullback in round 24 of the season. No, other teams know exactly who their key spine players are while McFadden feels the need to switch it up and expect the Warriors to compete against the best, when it matters most. Doesn't that sound crazy?

I'm not confident.

We should expect the forwards to make a huge jump forward from last week's woeful display against the Rabbitohs, yet even if they do they're coming up against the best middle trio in the NRL; Matt Scott, James Tamou and Jason Taumalolo.  No Warriors forward, bar Ben Matulino is close to being on the level of these three and I just can't see the Warriors doing enough through the middle to give their edge players the opportunities they need.

The Cowboys have been held back by Jonathan Thurston's blip on the radar, a few weeks in which he's looked like a mortal man and not the wizard that he is. Thurston returns to Townsville and the stage is set for him to remind the NRL that he's still got wizard tendencies, which isn't good news for the Warriors. 

Any time the Warriors come up against Thurston, it becomes an intriguing match up of Thurston vs Shaun Johnson. This is always a good opportunity to see where Johnson is at, up against Thurston because there's a crystal clear example of what Johnson is aiming for. 

Does Johnson have the same range of kicks as Thurston?

Does Johnson have the same range of passes as Thurston?

Does Johnson take the ball as close to the line before passing, as Thurston?

Is Johnson's running game as effective as Thurston's?

Can Johnson organise his troops, run as smooth an operation as Thurston?

It goes without saying that if Johnson is near Thurston's level, the Warriors will have a sniff of victory because Johnson can be that good.

Also keep tabs on the role-playing forwards in this game. The Cowboys have Coen Hess, Scott Bolton and Patrick Kaufusi coming off their bench while the Warriors have Vete starting with Sam Lisone and James Gavet coming off the bench. That group of Cowboys bench forwards will be tasked with limiting the influence of Matulino when he comes on and who gets the upper hand between those Cowboys forwards and Lisone/Gavet, will be interesting. 
Vete's going to have to punch holes through that Cowboys middle trio in the opening 20-25 minutes.

The Warriors missed their chance to grab 2 points last week and although the Cowboys are coming off a few losses, expect the Cowboys to come out firing in front of a home crowd. Every game is a must-win at this stage of the season for the Warriors and we saw last week how this team responds in that situation so there's no reason to think that they'll make waves with a big ol' upset. The Warriors are a mid-table team and they'll put up a mid-table performance against a Cowboys side who are looking to re-establish themselves as a serious contender.