Our dear ol' Warriors flipped the script on the Gold Coast as they did what a few teams have done to them, in turning on the funk and blowing away their opponent in a 20-30 minute period. With four tries in 30 minutes, the Warriors not only bounced back from conceding a try but then ensured that Gold Coast would struggle to get themselves back into this contest.

Without James Gavet, the Warriors forwards did a fine job of holding things down in the middle of the field but in true Warriors fashion it was David Fusitua and Ken Maumalo who offer that little bit extra. There are numerous, obvious signs available when the Warriors are on-song and the leading sign is Roger Tuivasa-Sheck stacking up the metres (18 carries, 201m, 8 tackle busts, 1 offload, 2 line breaks, 1 try) as Mr 200m and once that has been established, having Fusitua and Maumalo carting the footy up means the Warriors are already on the front foot.

Maumalo is simply a metre-eater and ever since he came into the NRL, he's done so via hefty carries straight into the defence. Now he's adding a bit of footwork which when combined with his speed allows him to cut back behind the ruck. Fusitua is the most slept on Warriors player (honourable mentioned to Blake Ayshford) and Stephen Kearney has settled on Fusitua playing wing. In an impressive Warriors performance, Fusitua doesn't get too much footy but stays busy by running into a bunch of eager forwards and when the Warriors are playing well, the back three are at least getting their team up to the 40m line with the first three carries.

Shaun Johnson's kicking game, or lack of in recent weeks demanded such criticism because it's not what we expect from Johnson, nor is it what Johnson would expect from himself. One of Johnson's kicks early in this game was a wobbly grubber, where Johnson hit the belly of the ball and inside of the balling rolling end over end, Johnson hit the belly of the ball with the ball held sideways. 

This went out, a few metres from the Titans try line and I'm sure Johnson could have done a normal grubber or perky little chip for the same result. I found beauty in this kick because after some terrible kicking displays recently, Johnson's confidence and execution was there, he had his mojo back and was rolling through his back of tricks. Soon after, Johnson hooked a kick from the right edge at halfway, back to the left edge corner, finding vast open pastures and although this kick went dead-in-goal, it was evidence of another funky kick from Johnson; it's a matter of metres between a great kick and a seven tackle set.

Issac Luke had one kick and it was a kick that sums up Luke's ability with the boot (he's kicking goals now too). Luke popped out of dummy half as Cameron Smith would do and sent a 45m kick deep into the right edge corner, pinning Gold Coast in their own territory. Luke doesn't need to kick more than once or twice a game, it's what comes of that kick and putting pressure back on the opposition, respecting the grind of NRL footy with a single kick can change the flow of a game.

Luke has been great all season and his last three games have seen him put up:

vs Broncos: 10 carries, 91m, 1 line break, 1 try assist, 1 offload, 0 missed tackles, 3 kicks.

vs Eels: 10 carries, 128m, 1 line break, 1 offload, 1 missed tackle, 1 kick.

vs Titans: 9 carries, 83m, 1 offload, 1 missed tackle, 1 kick.

The Warriors offloaded! Much has been made of Kearney's process and the visible preference to settle into a grind, I like this but there needs to be a balance and offloads are so much more than your silly stereotype of Polynesian players and how you thought the Warriors play/ed footy. 

Offloads are crucial to any name and you don't need to have 50 offloads to be dangerous as a couple offloads can move the defence enough to unsettle them, get them scrambling. NRL defences are pretty good, so you need to offload to get challenge that defence, just as you need to engage defenders through the middle before hitting the edges and vice versa.

Again: offloads are not special to the Warriors and/or Polynesians, STOP BEING DUMB. Every NRL team needs to offload, some do it more than others but regardless of how many there are, offloads generally lead to something positive.

The Warriors only beat the Titans in offloads 12-7 so they didn't go crazy. Quality over quantity though and Bodene Thompson had 3 offloads, 2 of which led directly to tries; one for Fusitua and then the offload to Tuivasa-Sheck who has this nek level power that swiftly translates into off-the-mark-speed.

Injecting Sam Lisone and Albert Vete into the game gives the Warriors a serious dose of oomph ... and funk. Lisone runs as hard as Vete and they are both good at that job (Vete had 7 carries for 68m, almost 10m/carry) but Lisone was brilliant and playing direct, sprinting at the defensive line and then either passing or hitting it up. He put Tuivasa-Sheck through a hole as Tuivasa-Sheck burst on to the footy off Lisone's hip and as long as Lisone is confidently executing his distributing skills, it's another ball-playing forward.

Another ball-playing forward to help Simon Mannering, who I have highlighted consistently as a freak.

Kieran Foran was great in this game and whether it's Foran's burst forward before passing or hitting a tackle, or Lisone doing the same thing; there's a clear desire to run straight and engage the defenders in front of them. When that's happening and there are a few offloads, then the Warriors are a lot harder to stop, but what really got me excited was when Foran went off injured and Ata Hingano came on.

Playing on his favoured left edge, Hingano generally operated two-passes off the ruck with Johnson taking control. Hingano's first call to action involved him doing exactly what Foran had done in running straight and then Hingano copied Foran with a beauty of a cut-out pass for Maumalo. Foran had done this earlier for a Maumalo try, both down a short-side, except although both passes looked all good, Hingano's was called as forward.

Ryan Hoffman got his cute moment kickng a goal in his 300th game and that was thanks to Hingano. After running straight like Foran and throwing a slick cut-out pass like Foran, Hingano received a short-ball from Johnson as Foran would. All the commentators get giddy when Johnson and Foran combine, so it was great to see Hingano swoop around from his left edge to sit on Johnson's outside shoulder on the right.

Nathaniel Peteru rushed out of the line, creating a gap for Hingano to slide into. Now, I'm not sure if that was the plan or if Hingano was gonna get the footy and move it wider. That doesn't matter because Hingano reacted to Peteru rushing and they combined to 'play what they saw in front of them' - another commentator/coaching cliche.

We've seen Hingano get sporadic opportunities in the NRL and I'm loving that progression because he's getting a taste here and a taste there, while he's training with Foran and Johnson with an opportunity to fine-tune what he's learning in reserve grade. Hingano effectively played as Foran had up to that point and as Hingano's a left edge half, he's learning from one of the best left edge halves in the NRL.

In those last 15 minutes, we were gifted with an opening into life after Foran. I've celebrated the arrival of Hingano for a while now and he's blatantly talented, chuck in Hingano learning from Foran and Hingano is progressing bloody nicely. 

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