How do I approach this week's game against Wests Tigers? I've leaned the way of keeping all three of my eyes (shout out to you third-eye folk) trained on the future for much of this season and here we are. Even if the Warriors beat the Tigers, I'm not convinced that they'll make the top-8 and even if the Warriors make the top-8, I'm not convinced that they'll ruffle any feathers in the Finals.

See - it's tricky. Last week felt like a game that the Warriors would lose and this week it feels like a game that the Warriors will win, with the forwards playing as we expect them to and our play-makers offering up clinical execution. Both of which have been lacking at various stages this season and were no where to be seen last week, so a home game against the Tigers - who are a lot weaker than the Cowboys - should see the Warriors get back into their stride.
That's what we as fans should demand from the team. While I'm definitely not encouraged or hopeful or optimistic of any sort of success this season, fans deserve to get their money's worth and what not. Chur to that.

The long-term vision is my major concern however and this game will be an interesting contest for the Warriors on the back of that reasonably embarrassing effort in Townsville. What really concerned me about that performance was that it showed the vast open space between the best of the Warriors as a team and individually and their worst. It wasn't as if we saw the likes of Shaun Johnson, Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman and Bodene Thompson play a little below-par, nah, they sucked.

Those lads are established NRL players and while in the Rabbitohs game we saw a younger lad like Tuimoala Lolohea's flaws in his game exposed, to see established NRL players simply not show up as was the case against the Cowboys in a game that required their best work, wasn't good. Of course, this has happened before, many times before.

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Earlier this season we all thought that the Warriors had turned a corner. Perhaps this was the case, although after what happened in Townsville, you've got to wonder if it was the right corner or if it was merely a little corner down a detour.

Wests Tigers present a unique challenge as they are a team that doesn't tend to do all that well defensively, stacking up points via an exciting play-making group and a powerful forward pack. They are there for the picking though as the Panthers showed last week, while an enthusiastic win over the Cowboys a few weeks ago simply makes it impossible to predict how the Tigers will go at Mt Smart.

Excitement or anticipation for me stems from the young brigade for the Warriors, especially as the young forwards will come up against Tigers forwards in a similar situation. How the likes of Sam Lisone and Albert Vete go against Sauaso Sue and Ava Seumanufagai won't quite be crucial to the result but it'll be interesting to watch, as will the injection of Ata Hingano off the bench after he made his debut last week. Hingano could make way for Isaac Luke's return though.

With Tuimoala Lolohea now on the wing and David Fusitua, Andrew McFadden's mindgames with these two youngsters continues. McFadden has to focus on winning games so I understand if he thinks that having Fusitua at fullback gives the Warriors the best chance of that, however neither of these two are going to play fullback long-term so why not give Fusitua an extended stint at centre if that's where he's going to fit in once Roger Tuivasa-Sheck slots into fullback? McFadden's looking out for himself though and that's fine, my belief is that Lolohea's going to have a few mental scars from the 2016 season though.

There's excitement to see what our young brigade can do against an energetic Tigers team and then there is intrigue as to what the veterans dish up. The work of the established NRL players especially Shaun Johnson and the forwards is not only intriguing to me, it's crucial to the Warriors getting a win. Last week Jacob Lillyman, Ben Matulino, Bodene Thompson and Simon Mannering simply weren't good enough while Ryan Hoffman was solid. These are blokes who should be the best players for the Warriors each week, who drive the culture and dictate the vibes within this team so it was almost unbearable to watch them crumble against the Cowboys.

The opportunity is there for them this week to get back on the wagon, leading this Warriors team as they should. I can't give you any reason why they won't put in a much better effort this week and that forms the basis of my belief that this game is simply the sort of game that the Warriors win, however if these experienced forwards don't deliver then I think there could be some interesting implications with the long-term picture in mind.

Last week Jason Taumalolo and James Tamou put our best middle forwards in the shade, in a cold, mouldy corner of a shaded area. The Tigers have Aaron Woods in their pack and he's capable of doing the same, if Woods dominates the middle and makes it back-to-back games in which our best forwards have been rolled by the opponent's best forward/s, then we've got some serious issues that need addressing.

As I tend to do, I'll finish on Shaun Johnson who faces off against Luke Brooks. I'll throw Mitchell Moses into this discussion as well as I view the Brooks/Moses combination as the sort of combination that I want to see Johnson in. Moses is responsible for much of the Tigers' attack, doing a fair bit of kicking, running the Tigers left-edge and showing off his running game on a regular basis ... pretty much what I want Johnson to do.

Johnson is tasked with doing the job of both Brooks and Moses though, which is a problem I've wrestled with for quite some time. Johnson could show that he is capable of this against Brooks and Moses, showing what a gun he is by doing the job of Brooks and Moses, or I'll be able to share with y'all a nice example of the sort of combo that I want Johnson in. Brooks is more dominant than Thomas Leuluai, with Leuluai relegated to his left-edge and little involvement elsewhere and Moses is allowed to play a bit wider with more freedom.

What we saw last week was Johnson put in his place by Jonathan Thurston. Will Johnson put the Tigers young guns in their place or will we see a better example of how to best-use Johnson?