While we all pondered another 'failure' (depending on your definition of success with this NZ Warriors team) of a season for the NZ Warriors, it was quietly announced that Shaun Lane had been snapped up by Manly Sea Eagles. Remember when Lane joined the Warriors from the Bulldogs, in a swap with Raymond Faitala-Mariner? Yeah, well Faitala-Mariner has featured off the bench and started a few games since that move and we've never really seen Lane in the NRL for the Warriors; casual fans may not know who Shaun Lane.

Lane moving to Manly isn't that crazy, just more player movement on the fringe of the NRL and it's the time of the year when moves like this happen on almost a daily basis. What I found interesting, is that Lane's time in Auckland and his departure kinda highlight a few areas in which the Warriors haven't quite been at the same level of the NRL's best.

This needs to be taken in context as y'all will know that I'm far more positive or optimistic about the Warriors than apparently anyone else.

Straight up; the Warriors took an L in the Faitala-Mariner/Lane trade. There's a few people who could take ownership for this from Jim Doyle to Andrew McFadden, with Doyle the overlord who makes the decision and McFadden being the coach who is obviously not quite as gifted as Des Hasler. Hasler flipped Faitala-Mariner from being a fringe NRL player, to being a constant presence in the Bulldogs 17 each week, even rolling with Faitala-Mariner over T-Rex (Tony Williams). Faitala-Mariner has done better with the Bulldogs than he did with the Warriors, plain and simple. I'd suggest that's thanks to Hasler's coaching ability.

And then for whatever reason, Lane has been unable to establish himself as any sort of presence in the Warriors NRL team. Who knows how Lane has trained and adapted to kiwi life, he may not have liked Aotearoa at all and his heart may never have been in it, so we need to keep that in mind.

There's also the reluctance of McFadden to give Lane a run, with Bunty Afoa taking Bodene Thompson's spot on the right edge when Thompson was out injured. Lane had something different about him (he's huge) and I thought that this would have been an asset to a Warriors forward pack that is all around the same size, with the similar skillsets. Lane's a point of difference, but with Ryan Hoffman and Thompson playing 80 minutes on either edge, he was never given a substantial go.

Even if Lane was given more of a go, McFadden would have likely only given him 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there ... as McFadden has done all season with a variety of young forwards. McFadden's still learning his craft and for whatever reason, he wasn't to keen to give Lane an opportunity.

This highlights a weakness in the front-office and in the coach's box. The Warriors lost out in the Faitala-Mariner/Lane trade and simply aren't making the best use of their salary cap as they aren't getting anywhere close to value for their money with a bunch of players. Put that down as a -2 points for the front-office.

While Hasler has enjoyed significant contributions from Faitala-Mariner, moving Faitala-Mariner from fringe NRL player to a NRL player, McFadden couldn't get the best out of Lane. It's also important to note that despite the Bulldogs having edge forward depth, Hasler gave Faitala-Mariner an opportunity and McFadden was reluctant to do the same with Lane in a similar situation. That's simply because Hasler's a better coach than McFadden.

Why is Hasler a better coach than McFadden? Because he started coaching in 2004 with Manly and has coached the Bulldogs since 2012; 127 games with the Bulldogs.

This is McFadden's first NRL gig, so he's learning how to be as good as Hasler is.

Doyle has been the boss-dawg of the Warriors for a couple years now, not long enough to rid the Warriors of deals done by the previous administration.

I say all that, because the Faitala-Mariner/Lane trade and how it's panned out is a great example of my sympathy and optimism for the Warriors. McFadden and Doyle are re-building the Warriors, they are both learning on the go and developing in their roles while pushing the club forward. The Bulldogs won this trade because that learning process is a long way in the past.

The Bulldogs are a constant top-8 club, because everything that lends itself to success has been in place for a long time; Doyle and McFadden have just begun.

Looks like the Warriors are playing the Eels this weekend...