Yes you ca....... wait, I actually haven't seen you kick.

A clear pattern has emerged in following the Warriors, following the Warriors and trying to find different angles to each game. We've established that the Warriors tend to win their home games, although to be honest most of these home games have coincided with their opponents rolling out weaker teams or simply not playing their best footy.

These home games are followed by an away game or two and I tend to fall into a default position of 'oh this is a great test to see where the Warriors are at'. I don't fall into that default position intentionally and as it's a 'default' position, you could say it's the easiest angle to approach an away game. This brings with it a hope that the Warriors will rise to the occasion and while the Warriors haven't put together a slick 80 minutes of footy away from home - they haven't done it at home either - their away losses haven't exactly been terrible.

Games against Canberra, Melbourne and Parramatta saw the Warriors offer a challenge and at the very least stay in the contest thanks to pure effort. They got torched by Penrith in that second-half demolition, after the Warriors had rolled through a decent first-half of footy. It's not as though the Warriors are horrible away from home, they just ain't winning and certainty aren't executing as they'd hope.

With that in mind, an away trip to Perth against Manly doesn't leave me with a hole lot of hope that the Warriors will snatch 2 points. The Warriors tend to lose in Perth and Manly are a slick outfit, so I don't think any of us should have high expectations for this game and that's why I view this game as a very legit test of where the Warriors are at. Not just the lazy default option.

Manly have established their systems and style, they are in the second year of Trent Barrett's stint while the Warriors are halfway through the first year of Stephen Kearney's tenure. Martin Taupau is a Jason Taumalolo clone (who also leads the NRL in offloads), Jake Trbjoevic has played himself into rep jerseys, Daly Cherry-Evans has put himself back in the Queensland mix, Tom Trbojevic is a genuine freak and sits in the top-five for line breaks along with Akuila Uate. I could extend that out to their swift centre pairing of Dylan Walker and Brian Kelly, or the power that will come off their bench in the form of Lloyd Perrett, Darcy Lussick and Addin Fonua-Blake.

Manly just feel like the better team and our expectations should reflect that. Also consider that the Warriors take on a rather beastly Manly forward pack without Sam Lisone coming off the bench, just as Lisone was really settling into his work and Kearney was nailing how he used Lisone. The impact of Lisone and James Gavet gives the Warriors a point of difference, not only thanks to their utterly ruthless style of footy but also the skill they offer.

Good to get the win at home last night esp with my mate here. My facials should say it all in this pic, no homo 😬

690 Likes, 15 Comments - Ata Hingano (@atahingano) on Instagram: "Good to get the win at home last night esp with my mate here. My facials should say it all in this..."

This is a fabulous test of where the Warriors are at because we are going to see what Albert Vete and Bunty Afoa can when given greater responsibility. We know Gavet's gonna offer plenty of oomph around the 25-minute mark, yet Vete only played a handful of minutes last week and he'll be given a far longer stint that he's had this season.

Vete has slid down the pecking order with Kearney's arrival, meaning that this is his chance to prove his worth. Afoa is still working his way towards being a consistent NRL forward and he's impressed in limited opportunities thanks to his effort and enthusiasm, I'm not sure if Afoa's specialty is impact though.

We know that the likes of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, David Fusitua and Ken Maumalo take the pressure off the forwards with their work in carting the footy up. Pressure will be on Afoa and Vete to be aggressive, whack in defence, dominate tackles and slow down Manly's forwards who are all bigger than Afoa and Vete. That's likely to come either side of half-time as well, which could decide the game.

Another aspect of the ol' testy test, comes with Nathaniel Roache at hooker and what I believe is the Warriors greatest threat; speed. Manly have size and power, plus they have the defensive maestro Jake Trbojevic, so it's not going to be easy but the Warriors need to get Tuivasa-Sheck, Kieran Foran, Shaun Johnson, Maumalo and Fusitua running close to the ruck, darting back in-behind the ruck. The more tackles Trbojevic has to make, the better because it means that the Warriors are smashing the ruck area.

Tuivasa-Sheck does with footwork, Fusitua and Maumalo are responsible for the early carries so they need to force repeat efforts, while we've seen how influential Foran's direct running can be and remember when Johnson stormed on to the footy, angling behind the ruck a few weeks ago?. If these players around Roache can put pressure on Manly's ruck-defence, then Roache will benefit and we saw last week how eager Roache is to dart out of dummy half.

Nate Roache training in preparation for his start at hooker against the Sea Eagles #WarriorNation

3,798 Likes, 26 Comments - Vodafone Warriors (@nzwarriors) on Instagram: "Nate Roache training in preparation for his start at hooker against the Sea Eagles #WarriorNation"

Then we have the grind, something that has been evident in the Warriors' work under Kearney and in conjunction with speed and footwork through the middle, I've got going set-for-set with Manly as being crucial to getting a win, or just making this a contest. I can't see the Warriors offloading and shifting the footy to their edges frequently, they'll be out to complete sets, kick long and keep Manly's big forwards coming off their own try-line.

Roache is low key crucial to that given how Issac Luke chimes in with a couple long kicks every game. Does Roache have a long kicking game? Johnson and Foran can kick accurately from their own 40m line and Luke did exactly that last week, I'm not sure if Roache is capable of that. I'm bloody eager to find out though.

Manly have a back-five that are all super quick, nifty ball-runners. They'll pose a major threat in good-ball with Cherry-Evans pulling the strings, yet there's an opportunity for the Warriors to dominate the first few tackles down Manly's end; Manly don't have metre-eaters like Maumalo and Fusitua. Expect to see plenty of effort in limiting Manly's metres in those early carries, before Taupau, Brenton Lawrence etc get the footy.

Much of what the Warriors have done, or been trying to do this season has been building towards this game. They've shown a willingness to kick long early, Kearney's got the kick-chase working a treat and there's a clear desire to complete sets. Manly are have the x-factor, they offload, they execute with sublime skill and all of that. This Warriors team are different and embrace the grind, well, that's their best chance of winning anyway.

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