After the loss to the Dragons, I put our 'Warriors care scale' at 2.4 out of 5. I certainly don't think the Warriors were terrible against Parramatta and if they can manage a win up on the Gold Coast next week, they'll return to Aotearoa with a close loss and a win which ain't all bad. 
That Warriors care scale did rise though as it was major mishaps from the Warriors that cost them a win they really should have grabbed with both hands. We're officially up to 2.7/5; I've gotta keep it a hunnit and highlight some super weird mediocrity, however that weirdness also flowed in to some semi-impressive footy.

Like, what is Solomone Kata up to on Parramatta's first try?

The Warriors left edge is clearly out-numbered, but I've seen some impressive scramble defence from the Warriors under Stephen Kearney and they could have covered that over-lap. Well, until Kata boosted up off the line to try tackle/put pressure on the same guy that Kieran Foran was marking.

There's absolutely no explanation for what Kata did. He probably felt as though he had no choice thanks to the over-lap, the choice Kata made turned a possibly try-scoring opportunity into a terrible defensive read and a certainly try. 

How do we explain Shaun Johnson taking his second air-swing of the season? Wait, scratch that as Johnson's first (against the Dragons) saw him make a crater of a divot in the turf and I think he did connect with the footy. I'll just label both as air-swings and we've got a talented halfback who has a wide variety of kicks that he can execute to wizard-like perfection, putting up two air-swings in as many weeks.

This air-swing led directly to Semi Radradra's try and as someone who leans on appreciating Johnson more than hatin' on him, all I could wonder during this game was how cool it would be if Johnson just did his job. 'Yeah, yeah mate, we know you can do immense fancy shit, but how about you just do the basics and really perfect those basics before you graduate to your fancy shit'. Then we had the kick going out on the full, instead of dribbling into the corner from which the Warriors could put pressure on the Eels with their defence.

Johnson's problems reflect those of the whole team as this team doesn't just slip up, when they slip up and make an error or concede a penalty, it's borderline catastrophic. A kick going out on the full happens, on the back of Johnson's second air-swing of the season? Yeah bruh, nice. Much of my defence for Johnson stems from the lack of a consistent halves partner who can control the game, allowing for Johnson to then simplify his game. Kieran Foran was very solid in this game, but he's not a typical halfback who dictates the flow of the game which isn't quite ideal. Poor execution of basic skills from Johnson, most notably his kicking which is almost as good as his running, falls solely on Johnson's shoulders and I can't excuse that.

There's no explanation for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck blatantly strippin' the footy when he didn't need to.

There's no explanation for Ben Matulino going over the top with the face massage to concede a penalty, when he had already sealed a dominant tackle.

There's no real need for Matulino to play 50 minutes either, when he's putting up 11 carries for 97m. Not when Sam Lisone is only playing 23 minutes.

There's no real reason for Bodene Thompson to play 80 minutes if he's only going to take 8 carries and offer little x-factor. 

Issac Luke was a clear MVP from this game and every time he had a cheeky geeze up, from dummy half, he looked dangerous. Luke did this without much help from his forwards, most of the quick play-the-balls came from the outside backs and at the moment, David Fusitua and Ken Maumalo are the best runners of the footy in this team. Luke had more metres than any of the Warriors forwards (123m) from less carries (9) than any other starting forward and his 13.66m/carry was better than any of the Warriors forwards.

The issue with the fine performances from Luke, along with Fusitua and Maumalo, was that not much good came from it as there was a severe lack of support runners when these blokes carried the footy. Remember last week when Fusitua and Maumalo combined with a few offloads through the middle? That's the magic the Warriors need to spark some momentum, you can only offload if there's a bloke in support to offload to and at the moment there's a lack of energy or desire to really push up. 

Tuivasa-Sheck should be doing this and he was a tad late to receive an offload from Luke. When Tuivasa-Sheck is as busy as he is with his carries though, it's tough to expect him to carry then constantly be there in support which is where Johnson or someone else needs to hover around the footy and always be there. Last night I was watching the Dragons vs Tigers and it was Jason Nightingale who just sat there, behind the bloke with the footy, always ready to get an offload and while he may not have actually touched the footy for three tackles, he was always there.

Who's doing that for the Warriors? No one and we've all had a moan about the lack of offloads from the Warriors, yet they simply aren't putting themselves in the best position to execute offloads. We're not seeing any planning for that, so when someone is in a position to offload, nothing comes of it.

As we move up from 2.4 to 2.7 and as the Warriors continue to look fairly average, I become more and more intrigued by the actions of coach Kearney. This is where Kearney will show his ability as a coach, he's gotta get this team moving forward and somehow get the players he selects, not only doing all they can to win but also executing their skills at the highest level. 

Kearney hasn't swung the axe yet and that time will definitely come if this current group continues to fall short. Somehow this Warriors team has combined poor decision-making, poor skill execution and a below-par effort. That's a recipe for us reaching level 5 on the care scale rather quickly. What does Kearney have up his sleeve?

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