Woods, Taumalolo/Tamou/Scott, Bromwich, Graham/Klemmer/Kasian, Gallen, McGuire/Parker ... who do the Warriors have?

The reaction to our Warriors not making the top-8 after losing to Wests Tigers is pretty damn funny. Of course, I find it funny because for much of this season I have been trying to down-play expectations, preaching that the Warriors are nothing more than a mid-table team battlin' to keep up. Even if the Warriors made the top-8, they would have fallen victim to one of the many rampant forces near the top of the NRL ladder.

Sure, I'm disappointed that the Warriors are just your average ho-hum NRL team. Yet I found contentment earlier in the season, safe in the knowledge that the Warriors wouldn't make any waves this season but that there's certainly reason to maintain the infinite optimism that us Warriors fans always have.

I feel for many fans to some extent because the silly mainstream media love to drum up false hype around this Warriors team and that's where my sympathy stops, because y'all pay attention to that stupidity. Key areas of the Warriors performance against the Tigers - that ultimately let them down in this game - had been there all season.

We can sit here and have a whinge about the referees, or we can bemoan Solomone Kata's lack of focus or Manu Vatuvei's ... well, my man has a few major issues at the moment. These moments or lapses overlook trends that have been a part of the Warriors play for a long time, most notably a lack of buzz around the footy. Whether it's a forward running to the line by himself, making himself an easy target to be gang-tackled or no one pushing up in support of Jacob Lillyman, the Warriors simply don't offer enough support to the ball-carrier.

Whinge all you like about the NRL Bunker, yet if anyone is in support of Jacob Lillyman when he's in the open, the Warriors score. The only joker in support of Lillyman though, was Caspar.

This has been the case all season long and I'd like to point out that instances like this, highlight the need for a specialist fullback who has experience in that position. Hence the loss of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was so big as Tuivasa-Sheck is a constant presence around the football, always there to pounce on the smallest of opportunities. You're a bit cray-cray if you thought the Warriors would make waves in the NRL without Tuivasa-Sheck, seriously.

Tuivasa-Sheck could have also helped a forward pack that has folded, as well as just not having the same firepower as other NRL forward packs. We tend to forget that Tuivasa-Sheck broke the record for running-metres last season and this Warriors forward pack has had only two players (Ryan Hoffman vs Cowboys, Ben Matulino vs Tigers) run over 100m in the past two game. I don't want this to sound like 'what could have been with RTS' ... but he'd help out a little.

NZ Warriors Diary is brought to you by CocoSina Coconut Oil. Made in Samoa, supporting local farmers and no coconut flavour/taste!

That my friends headlines a major concern with this Warriors forward pack. Gone are the days of the Warriors intimidating their opposition through the middle and even offering some flair through the middle, this Warriors forward pack simply can't hang with the best in the NRL. Last week we were given a nice clear example of what the best big boppers can do (James Tamou/Jason Taumalolo) and this week we were gifted another crystal-clear example in Aaron Woods. Woods had a barn-storming first half and then finished with 19 carries, 185m, a try assist, 2 tackle busts, 1 offload, 1 line break and 1 line break.

Matulino was our best forward with 10 carries, 105m.

The Warriors just don't have a dominant forward, no one.

Nor do the Warriors have a bloke with power and footwork. Woods is dominant because he takes plenty of carries and has a great pair of hands, while someone like Jason Taumalolo is dominant because of his speed around the ruck. The Warriors don't have speed, footwork, mobility, an enforcer, any sort of niggle or freakish size in their forward pack and if you look around the NRL, you'll find that all the best forward packs do ... and a lot of them are Kiwis.

Talk shit about Issac Luke all you want, but he had the same number of runs as Jacob Lillyman (4/43m vs 4/47m).

We can sit here and discuss Kata's inability to pass or how the Warriors don't really get value for money with Vatuvei, however the Warriors simply don't have the forwards to compete at a high level. Maybe they do have the forwards and Matulino was strong for much of the season, they didn't show up when it mattered most and we can look at the losses to the Rabbitohs, Cowboys and now the Tigers as games in which the forward pack showed how far behind the rest of the NRL they are. Not only in terms of the personnel, also the style of play and this is what pushed me to find contentment with the 2016 Warriors as the NRL has moved forward in how it's played, leaving the Warriors behind.

Having big outside backs makes up for this. The Warriors manage to get downfield often thanks solely to their outside backs, not too many teams are going to win the Premiership with outside backs doing the job of the forwards. Outside backs compliment the work of their forwards, here we have outside backs doing the job of the forwards and the proof is in the pudding.

Why is Thomas Leuluai running the footy more than Shaun Johnson?

I won't get too down on Johnson, no one should when his forwards aren't dominant or anywhere close to being the enforcers that they should be. There were a few sets against the Tigers when it was all a bit hectic for the Warriors and Johnson showcased his lack of control, which has held the Warriors back all season and is a huge concern, not for Johnson but the lack of a pure halfback to free up Johnson.

Daryl Halligan pointed this out without mentioning any names and instead of hitting specific areas of the field, executing a play here then a play there, Johnson barely touched the footy and it just looked as though the Warriors hadn't trained together for a while.

Maybe this is because of Johnson's inability to train, it pretty much looked exactly like Johnson hadn't trained a whole lot with the team. Although, Johnson wasn't organising his comrades, he wasn't steering the ship and he doesn't need to train to steer the ship. Luke Brooks' name was barely mentioned as he just went about his work quietly, dictating where the game was played and who got the ball when while allowing Mitchell Moses to add the spice. In that regard, the Brooks/Moses combination put Johnson and Leuluai in the shade, if anything because the Brooks/Moses combination is the perfect mix while Johnson/Leuluai have never looked like a settled combo.

Part of me wants to see Andrew McFadden given some time. He's a young coach in his first job and needs more than a few seasons with this group, plus the Warriors will just be rolling through the same cycle of starting again if they give him the flick. Part of me finds holes in nearly everything that McFadden does...

Stop.

There'll be a season debrief after next week's game to go in-depth on the Warriors issues.