In a parallel universe, or perhaps a few seasons ago, losing Ben Matulino for the more than a few weeks would have been a huge blow for the NZ Warriors. It's 2017 though and Matulino - along with his senior propping partner Jacob Lillyman - is coming off a season in which the Warriors simply couldn't kick it in the middle of the field with top-eight forward packs. 

The Warriors rarely enjoyed dominance through the middle and with Matulino playing 23 games as a senior prop, a fair amount of responsibility for that has to fall on the shoulders of Matulino. Finishing 12th in run-metres is perhaps the most telling stat from the 2016 season as its something that many would struggle to comprehend, especially those who still believe in the 'big Warriors forward pack' myth. 

Four teams ran for fewer metres than the Warriors and to make matters worse, the Warriors finished an impressive 6th in line breaks with Solomone Kata (16), Shaun Johnson (15), Tuimoala Lolohea and David Fusitua (14) leading the way in double-digits. That's a great stat for the Warriors, but when you consider that many of the Warriors' run-metres would have come via these line breaks and that Matulino only had a single line break this season (same with Lillyman), it doesn't reflect all that well on Matulino's grunt work.

Nor does Matulino's 8.72m/per-carry and 0.95 offloads/per-game. There's scope for Matulino to be a Jason Taumalolo type of middle forward (10m/per-carry) and as an NRL veteran, you'd expect Matulino to be at least over 9m/per-carry while many talk up his offloading ability as well, yet he barely managed an offload a game. Compare this to Albert Vete, who is had the opposite end of the career spectrum and Matulino is put in the shade by Vete's 8.97m/per-carry and 1.73 offloads/per-game.

I don't doubt that we would have seen a much better Matulino in 2017; he wouldn't have had a choice. Stephen Kearney would have surely made him aware of any shortcomings in his grunt work up the guts and I suspect that Kearney would have quietly put Matulino and Lillyman on notice. Matulino's got a bung knee now though and he won't be there for the opening stanza of the season. 

That's exciting. 

Need I remind y'all of reasons for Warriors optimism? Many of the Warriors younger brigade are now entering the early stages of their career-peak years, from Shaun Johnson to Solomone Kata; these blokes have their best footy ahead of them. The same goes for Vete and Sam Lisone, who long with the likes of Toafofoa Sipley, Charlie Gubb, Bunty Afoa, James Gavet, James Bell, Jazz Tevaga, Ligi Sao and Jordan Pinnock all allowing the Warriors to absorb the loss of Matulino.

Vete started much of last season and I suspect we will see him and Lillyman operate as the starting props once again. Lisone will take a bench spot and with one spot reserved for Nathaniel Roache/Jazz Tevaga as a bench utility as well as Bodene Thompson, Ryan Hoffman and Simon Mannering all likely to play 80 minutes, there's effectively two bench spots for middle forwards left up for grabs.

The funk in that could come in the form of Tuimoala Lolohea; don't sleep on Lolohea holding down a bench spot to add some x-factor off the bench as there's not much room for him in the backline and Kearney would use him far better than Andrew McFadden did off the bench (give him 20 minutes in either half to bring the ruckus with speed and razzle dazzle). 

Sipley has got to be on a Warriors bench as he's the most promising young forward at Mt Smart.  Whether Kearney goes with Afoa and Gubb's mobility, or for the bigger James Gavet for that final bench spot would will be interesting. Alternatively, Kearney can roll with Lolohea, Sipley, Gavet and Gubb. 

A low key factor in Matulino's absence will be Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's return. Tuivasa-Sheck is Mr 200m and if he's taking over 15 carries making over 200m, in each game as he has done previously when healthy, then the Warriors will have a serious dose of oomph through the middle. Manu Vatuvei only played 15 games last season as well and if you add his 9.79m/per-carry from those 15 games, then you've two outside backs (along with Kata and Fusitua) who legitimately run the footy like forwards.

This could allow Kearney to go with a slightly smaller, more mobile and exciting forward pack that places a greater emphasis on speed. 

Matulino's surgey is a blow for the Warriors as he'd be in their top-17 and any time you take someone out of that top-17, you're losing quality, especially when Matulino desperately needs to bounce back to his best work. You can't really be too upset about more minutes for Vete, Lisone, Gubb and Sipley though.