I understand folks. You're an Aotearoa Warriors fan so it automatically comes naturally to you and you live in Aotearoa so you've only ever been served up dramatic over-reactions from the mainstream media. 

I know it's tough not to get your knickers in a twist. 

I know it's tough to watch your team struggle its way through the gauntlet that is the NRL.

This isn't Super Rugby. There's many NRL teams who are disappointed right now, because well, there's many teams who are in with a sniff of winning the Premiership. Our Warriors certainly have a sniff and even after that fumbling display against the Bulldogs, there's no need to panic.

Let's get this clear; if you are depressed about the Warriors or would rather read the same ol' negative headlines from those mainstream jokers, then continue on that path. 

It's up to you what you prefer, positivity and actual feedback or lazy negativity. I don't really care what you chose, I just know what I'll be dishing out to the faithful and it contains a heavy dose of context.

The Warriors didn't start the season as a top-four team. The Warriors barely started the season as a top-eight team and anyone who believed the 'oh they've got the Kiwis spine so they'll be awesome' line is just stupid. The NRL already has a top-four sussed with the Broncos, Cowboys, Sharks and Storm leading the way and those teams have had combinations, schemes and a identity that's been set in stone for at least a season or two, let alone a decade. Our Warriors started the season in the middle of the pack and after three rounds, they are still in the middle of the pack.

No dramas. 

Of course the Warriors attack was pretty shit down in Dunedin and you should honestly ask yourself what else did you expect when you have a 20-year-old with five NRL games to his name in Ata Hingano alongside Tuimoala Lolohea, a 22-year-old who is solely doing a job for his club in a position that he's got no real long-term future in. That Kiwis spine that you built your expectations around has been torn to shreds and with two youngsters who are only playing because Kieran Foran and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck aren't, you've got to be tremendously stupid to make any major judgements right now.

'But Shaun Johnson was shit again'.

Have you seen SJ7 control a game of footy by himself? I certainly haven't and that's why the Warriors struggled to impress last season, it's just not what Johnson does. Johnson adds some uber sweet icing on top of a cake baked by a solid half who can dictate how a game of footy is played and Hingano ain't doing none of that yet, Foran probably will.

For those who seem to have been caught up in SJ7's incredible show-pony attacking ability; SHAUN JOHNSON IS NOT LEADING AN NRL TEAM DEEP INTO THE FINALS AS THE LONE PLAY-MAKER. If he's got Tuivasa-Sheck and Foran helping him out, then it's a different story.

Shit the bed, it's only round three. Not only do we have the bulk of the season to look for development and improvement, we haven't even seen the strongest possible Warriors team on the park together. The Warriors aren't close to being a challenger for the Premiership right now, it's completely logical to believe that by round 26, they will be. So you can either ride the wave or get lost in your own negativity.

The Bulldogs have laid their playing foundations around defence, with a limited attack holding them back from really putting pressure on teams like Jonathan Thurston's Cowboys, the Broncos who have had the same slick spine (Boyd, Hunt, Milford) for consecutive seasons, the Sharks who have a plethora of weapons or the Storm who are the Storm. 

The Doggies stay in games because they can make big metres with a forward pack that had David Klemmer running for 177m off 18 carries, James Graham running for 115m off 13 carries and Aiden Tolman running for 131m off 17 carries and they defend their guts out; they only missed 11 tackles against the Warriors and consistently rushed up off the line to put pressure on a young Hingano and Johnson - who the Doggies knew would get the footy more often than not.

Manly missed 26 tackles in their big win over the Cowboys.

No matter how crazy my imagination is, it's hard to envision a play-making group of Lolohea, Hingano and Johnson breaking open the Bulldogs defence. I'm fairly confident that when these two teams meet later in the season and if the Warriors have their strongest team on the park, they'll show off a nice combination of funky creativity and sound execution of their set-plays and they'll win.

Here's some things that aren't quite working so well now but over time will be ironed out...

As of right now, Lolohea is only getting game time on the wing when Tuivasa-Sheck returns. Even then, with Manu Vatuvei battling injuries, other blokes like Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad will keep pressure on Lolohea.

That's reason not to be down on the Warriors right now as the reserve grade team has guys in it that are already making strong cases for a promotion, or have started to stack up brownie points. The Warriors team you see now may not look anything like the team in round 18 and there's every chance that guys like Nicoll-Klokstad, the Sipley brothers, Isaiah Papalii, Junior Pauga, Daniel Palavi, Ofa Ogden, Matt Allwood, Jazz Tevaga, James Bell, Semisi Fotu, Chris Satae, Tevin Arona or King Vuniyayawa could force their way into this team.

However, that requires patience and time. It will take time for these blokes to really demand selection - not just one or two strong performances - just as it will take time for Foran to come back, or time for Matulino or time for Tuivasa-Sheck.  

The rotation of the forwards was in contrast to what Des Hasler did with his blokes in the middle. Hasler left his bench on ice until the second half while Stephen Kearney rolled through the standard rotations; Graham and Tolman did their offensive and defensive graft in the opening 50 minutes then the energy came off the bench in the last quarter. Perhaps we could see Albert Vete move towards playing 55 minutes, then Sam Lisone is unleashed for the last quarter.

What's doing with all the wrap-around plays employed by Issac Luke? This isn't Luke's fault because it was done so often that it clearly looked planned  and it was easily telegraphed, so the Doggies could just slide over. Get some bodies in motion, get one forward cutting back inside then another offering a short ball so Luke can flip a few dummies then shift it wide. There was minimal effort to engage the Bulldogs' middle defenders, hence there weren't too many chances out wider.

No point having David Fusitua - who was low key impressive defensively - and Solomone Kata in your term if they are only take 9 and 10 carries. If Ken Maumalo (14 carries for 110m), Fusitua and Kata are all hitting 14 carries, then things are gonna happen whether it's a quick play-the-ball or a line break. 

The Warriors apparently had 15 'fast' play-the-balls compared to 26 from the Doggies and 29 'slow' play-the-balls' compared to 19 from the Doggies. You can't expect a team's attack to fire when that's the case and how Kearney addresses this will be interesting to observe in the coming weeks.

The Warriors are ranked 15th in offloads with 17 offloads this season, only the Cowboys have less with 12. The Cowboys also have Jonathan Thurston so, ya know.

Eight teams have over 30 offloads and 14 teams have over 20 offloads, while our Warriors have 17. This could be cause for concern, but I'm leaning towards it being a sign of Kearney's desire to play it safe in the opening stanza of the season and lay a few foundations before hitting a few buttons with the Warriors' attack. 

And that my friends is why we need to appreciate this journey of 2017. I honestly reckon that we have only see a few of Kearney's cards laid down on the table and if you're getting dramatic given that, you're silly. Just enjoy the journey, enjoy making observations of how this team improves over the whole season and don't get caught up in performances like what we saw against the Bulldogs. 

There's a long way to go, so chill.