Events over the past few days could be viewed as positive and negative for our dear Warriors. On the one hand, there's a buzz oozing from the Gold Coast which I can feel in my tree-hut somewhere in South Auckland and Jarryd Hayne could show us all just how much of a footy freak he is. On the other hand you could insert your funniest joke about Hayne running down field expecting a pass from his Gold Coast quarterback (Ash Taylor), or running behind Agnatius Paasi hoping for a block. The Warriors will either feel the full wrath or benefit from a hangover.

After signing Hayne, Gold Coast fired this game into the casual fan's gaze. It went from being a very interesting mid-table clash that holds great importance on the make up of the top-8, to a game in which every Tom, Dick and Harry is going to watch because of Hayne. With or without Hayne though, this game was already going to be a low key blockbuster and it's a fantastic gauge of how our Warriors are looking.

As I shove my personal beliefs aside, if the Warriors are serious about making waves this season, then they simply need to win this game. The Titans present a solid all-round challenge for our Warriors which starts through the middle where their big, niggly forwards have kept the Titans in many games this season. Albert Vete made his return last week and it's come just in time as he showed what an asset he is to this team with his strong carries and offloading ability, his battle with Ryan James especially will be brutal.

The Warriors will need all hands on deck through the middle and big performances from all the forwards need to come in the same game. We've seen Ben Matulino be consistently dynamic coming off the bench, however supporting contributions haven't been as consistent with Vete, Sam Lisone, Jacob Lillyman and Simon Mannering all showing their best work individually at various stages this season without it all coming together. At this stage of the season, the whole forward pack must do their best Captain Planet impersonation and combine because the Titans forward pack has been as strong a unit as there's been all season.

What goes down out on the edges will be equally as interesting, just not as crucial. The Warriors have the big names in Bodene Thompson and Ryan Hoffman; two representative players who are in great form. Thompson will line up against Zeb Taia who is bigger than Thompson and he loves to his his athletic ability to set his outside backs up with an offload or a slick pass as he's very difficult to bring down. Working in Thompson's favour though is his mobility and we can expect to see him cut back against the grain, using his step to trouble Taia and those defending around him.

Hoffman vs McQueen will be the battle of the hole-runners, two blokes who run North/South without too much footwork and they have both played Origin footy playing this way. We've all slept on Hoffman's work after a slow start to the season and he constantly makes big metres down our left edge, especially when the Warriors head down the short-side. Expect it to be Hoffman and not necessarily Solomone Kata, who targets Konrad Hurrell's defence. 

If Kata's getting the footy, there won't be too much disguising this and it will just be a case of Kata getting early ball. The Warriors will need to force Hurrell to make a decision and the short ball to Hoffman will be used with bodies in motion around Hoffman.

Hurrell is the obvious storyline to watch out for, the obvious that the silly mainstream media will highlight. There's another former Warrior in this Titans team, who has also found his best form after leaving Mt Smart (peep the trend!) in Agnatius Paasi. We've seen Paasi lace up against his old club before, yet every time the Titans play, Paasi seems to take his game up a gear and his work off the bench has been emphatic for the Titans; they'll hold their own for the first 25-30 minutes before Paasi and then Leivaha Pulu come off the bench.

Paasi adds a huge dose of power and athletic ability to the Titans, basically giving them a whole new dimension. He'll take carries through the middle and he'll lurk out on the edges, on either edge and generally bring the ruckus. This will likely be around the same time when Ben Matulino comes on and the Warriors will need to limit the effectiveness of Paasi in that middle stanza.

Last week, Shaun Johnson put Nathan Cleary in the shade with a slick performance. Can Johnson do the same on a bigger stage, with more eyes watching and more riding on this game? He's up against Ash Taylor, borderline Rookie Of The Year and Johnson has got to serve up a similar performance to what we've seen from him in recent weeks. Johnson's kicked well, pinning opposing teams deep in their own territory and when the opportunity presents itself, Johnson runs. Fuck all the golden point stuff, Johnson has been playing well and without his kicking game, the Warriors wouldn't be in that golden point mix.

If Issac Luke is scootin' out of dummy half heaps, the Warriors win.

*Funnily enough, Luke's out injured for a while. I was comfortable with the Warriors being a mid-table team who wouldn't make waves in the NRL Finals, now with Luke out for a few weeks, there's little to no hope of the Warriors going further than a week into the Finals ... if they make the Finals.

This is a biggun' folks. Both teams need to show that they are genuine top-8 teams, Jarryd Hayne is back, it's on the Gold Coast so there'll be a big kiwi crowd and it's on a Sunday! If you're scared, go to church Sunday morning or spark the herb in honour of Jah and gather the homies because this game oozes what we love about the NRL.