The Kieran Foran saga is over, kinda. Foran has been allowed to return to the NRL in round three which is tremendous news for the Aotearoa Warriors, although the elephant in the room is now whether Foran will stay on with the Warriors after this season and return the faith they have showed in him.

That's going to take some time to play out, for now we get to look forward to a Warriors team who have a spine that is about as tasty as they get. I still maintain that the most important player in all of this is Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and with the responsibility of captaincy on his shoulders, that will allow Foran and Shaun Johnson to stick to their play-making duties; the same duties that have brought them success as a combination in international footy.

Obviously it would make more sense and would be more beneficial to the Warriors if Foran was allowed to return for the opening round of the season. Why the NRL didn't want that to happen is a bit strange, but there's definitely a silver lining to that cloud as it will allow coach Stephen Kearney the opportunity to play with Tuimoala Lolohea or Ata Hingano in the halves and assess his back up options.

If everything goes as planned, Foran's absence for two games won't have any major implications on the Warriors' season. The best way of viewing those two games is that it simply presents opportunities and the alternative of having Foran come in mid-way through the season would provide a range of complications as the young halves would be required to keep the Warriors in contention for Foran's return.

Forget about getting off to a good start; the Warriors can lose those first two games and be all good for the rest of the season. It's a long season and win/loss streaks come and go.

I've found a positive in Foran's absence for those first two games, so I've gotta serve up a word of caution as well. This morning I read some thoughts from Matty Johns regarding his excitement for Penrith's young halves duo of Nathan Cleary and Te Maire Martin. These two youngsters are blatantly talented and as Johns pointed out, they will play behind a forward pack that did a great job in punching above its weight last season and has now added James Tamou. Penrith have a legit forward pack (Tamou, Trent Merrin, Bryce Cartwright, Leilani Latu, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, James Fisher-Harris, Sitaleki Akauola, Sam McKendry) making life so much easier for those young halves.

The Warriors' strength is their spine, not their forward pack and their relative woes last season came as their forward pack simply couldn't hang with the best in the business. A fit and firing Tuivasa-Sheck (Mr 200m) makes a huge difference, especially in combination with Issac Luke as they'll scoot around that ruck area every chance they get, but I certainly think that the Warriors lack the size, mobility and skill of other forward packs.

Teams are built differently and the Warriors' spine ticks all the boxes to overcome a weakness in their forward pack as they are all fantastic runners and have experience. Just don't assume because they have such a fantastic spine that this will breed success because we all know that it starts up the guts - and being able to stop opposition forward packs.

It'll be fun to watch this Warriors team and how they use their spine to compete.