This clash between the Warriors and Bulldogs was shaping as an tremendous gauge of the starch in our Warriors' forward pack. With Jacob Lillyman and Bodene Thompson both slotting into the starting team, there's a grizzly look to the Warriors' pack and it's needed as they are coming up against the Doggies' typically brutal gang of forwards.

Then news dropped of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's concussion still lingering which has ruled him out of Friday night's game. I was gearing up to focus on what the Warriors forward pack could do, in conjunction with Mr 200m, Ken Maumalo and the returning Manu Vatuvei. That's a back-three designed to make plenty of metres coming out of their own territory, chuck in David Fusitua's ability to always poke through the defensive line and the always-dynamic Solomone Kata and there was little pressure on the Warriors forwards to roll down the field.

Yes folks; Tuivasa-Sheck is that good that he can paper over the cracks of a ho-hum forward pack. He's Mr 200m after all.

Tuivasa-Sheck won't play and Tuimoala Lolohea will play fullback. The big outside backs are still there and I don't doubt that Vatuvei's return will help - imagine Vatuvei, Maumalo, Fusitua taking consecutive hit ups - but without Tuivasa-Sheck lurking in the middle of the field, the Warriors forward pack are going to be in for a big test. The Warriors forwards are smaller, there's less variety and whether it's the pure funk of Sam Kasiano or the halfback-like work of James Graham, the Bulldogs forwards usually offer more skill.

The Doggies aren't in the NRL's upper echelon and if the Warriors' attacking weapons are near their best, then it's possible that the Warriors will win without their forwards steaming through the middle. Heck, the Warriors could again fail to slow the ruck down (Melbourne purely smoked them in that regard) and still go alright as Josh Reynolds and Moses Mbye don't quite strike fear into you with their clinical play-making.

I just want to see how the Warriors' forwards deal with the challenge and their mobility could give them a nifty little advantage.

Bunty Afoa drops back to the bench and how Stephen Kearney uses Afoa will be a point of interest as well. Afoa has started on the edge for two games with his effort and energy making him stand out; will Afoa give Bodene Thompson a spell or will he get some minutes through the middle?

Thompson will most likely get a rest, however I'd like to see Afoa bring that energy to the middle of the field. Afoa will give up some size to the Bulldogs' forwards but he's lively and has mobility to cause a few problems around the ruck area. Regardless, Afoa deserves plenty of minutes coming off the bench.

Ah, Mr Lolohea. Fusitua is my favoured back-up fullback option, but Kearney appears to be leaning towards Lolohea so I'm happy to roll with that.

Lolohea definitely isn't Tuivasa-Sheck and while it feels as though Tuivasa-Sheck is always near the footy, last week we saw Lolohea kinda did the opposite. What Lolohea does have in front of him is a half on either edge who he can play off of and Lolohea does have the skills to execute a final pass, or create something when getting the footy from Ata Hingano or Shaun Johnson.

Expectations aren't as high as they once were with Lolohea and I'm all good with that. Just be there in the middle of the field ready for an offload, be there when your supposed to execute a play out wider in the backline and don't over-play anything. Do ya job.

Without Tuivasa-Sheck, I certainly don't expect a Warriors win. I think they'll win though and I'll roll with Hingano to impress, along with Johnson re-establishing a solid kicking game after reasonably average performances last week, buckling under Melbourne's pressure.

The bigger picture provides intrigue though; can the Warriors forwards show some aggression or show signs of how they could break the shackles and emerge as a dominant forward pack?