With confirmation that Manu Vatuvei is off to Salford, the Warriors announced that game against Penrith Panthers would serve as a bit of a dedication to the barnstorming winger. Cute and telegraphed as the Warriors are simply following the lead from the Bulldogs, it's kinda cringe-worthy just how similar it is to the Josh Reynolds tribute, especially less than a week after Belmore celebrated their spiritual leader. I certainly ain't gonna complain though and it's cool that Manu gets a little lovin' as he deserves nothing less.

The funk sits plenty of talk about how Manu has to be offloaded to make salary cap space for the Warriors. Sure, it's a smart business move to stop paying someone an NRL salary when they aren't playing NRL footy and won't play NRL footy anytime soon.

Yes there will be more cap space from Manu's exit. It ain't massive cap space though and I really don't think that the Warriors suddenly have a stack full of cash to throw around free agents; Tohu Harris ain't cheap, neither is Shaun Johnson etc. Those same mainstream media folk harpin' on about cap space probably didn't notice that Ken Maumalo's contract for next season has been upgraded (he was already contracted) and extended it until the end of 2019.

I say this as a chill notice to kick back on thinking that the Warriors have big signings in store, because there's this belief that they have plenty of cap space. Don't expect nothing.

Instead of zoning in on the cap space, flip the narrative and ponder that David Fusitua and Ken Maumalo are just better wingers than Manu right now. Hence, if Manu was legit able to play this game or any remaining game of this season, he probably wouldn't be picked as Fusitua and Maumalo have lept ahead Manu. 

And that comes with no negative vibes directed towards Manu, it's actually immensely positive.

Without Manu, we wouldn't have Maumalo. We damn sure wouldn't have the Maumalo that we have in round 19, because Maumalo has had to improve dramatically just to keep Manu out of the team. This is will be a Manu Vatuvei ceremony at Manu Vatuvei Stadium on Friday night and we should all celebrate the fact that Manu won't be playing; Manu leaves the club having ushered in young wingers who are more than capable of surpassing Manu and taking the Warriors towards glory.

Manu Vatuvei was the measuring stick for Maumalo and Fusitua. The youngins had to be better than Manu to maintain their place and we move into a new era where we'll constantly be reminded of Manu's influence in how these young wingers develop. The thought of more development for Maumalo and Fusitua gets me going, hence Manu will always be celebrated.

Remember when Penrith smoked the Warriors in that second half rampage? Since that loss they have moved from 12th (8 points) to 10th (18 points) and including the big loss to the Dragons a week after the Penrith loss, the Warriors have improved their points differential from -45 to -26. During this period the Warriors have been without Solomone Kata as well as brief stints without Ryan Hoffman, Sam Lisone and Issac Luke. Things ain't so bad huh?

Many people viewed that loss to Penrith as an epic shock; how could the Warriors give up that lead to a Penrith team that's currently shit? 

It was more of a shock that Penrith were super mediocre up to that point and after their win over the Warriors, they moved from 14th (6 points) to 9th (18 points), going 4-2 in the six games afterwards. 

The Warriors weren't exactly on fire leading into that Penrith game and that two week period (losses to Panthers and Dragons) saw a reality check handed out in harsh fashion by a team that should have been playing better than they were and a Dragons team that simply did what they had done to many other teams. Not to mention that the Warriors are 1-7 away from home, so now that Penrith have found themselves and sit equal with the Warriors on 18 points, they come up against a Warriors team at Manu Vatuvei Stadium, where the Warriors are 6-2. 

Conveniently, the Warriors welcome back Solomone Kata, Issac Luke and Sam Lisone. Nathaniel Roache is out, giving Ata Hingano another run off the bench and Bunty Afoa will start in Ryan Hoffman's place on the left edge. Ligi Sao gets Albert Vete's bench spot and the bloke we need to keep an eye on in the extended squad is Tevita (Chris) Satae.

Satae is someone to watch because we haven't really seen Sao offer much impact off the bench this season. Sao is a typical Coach Kearney type of player in that he takes care of the one-percenters, which offers nice balance to the impact offered by Lisone and James Gavet on the bench, plus Sao could cover an edge spot if need be. There's just not that many minutes to be had for Sao though as Lisone and Gavet cover the starting props and Simon Mannering plays 80 minutes, hence we've seen Sao in spurts.

Those spurts are probably better off going to Satae who is oozes energy and enthusiasm. We'll most likely see Sao stay on the bench, just keep an eye on Satae though as him being named in the extended squad signals that he's not too far off getting a chance. With Albert Vete and Charlie Gubb hunting contracts whilst being injured (and Jacob Lillyman's off-contract), Satae could get his opportunity to show that he offers better value than Gubb and Vete.

Savour Hingano playing through the middle folks. We have a half who is capable of defending in the middle of the park and I'll keep reminding y'all that not too many halves are given that job; Hingano's special.

Against Manly, Bunty Afoa's defensive combination with Kieran Foran was targeted and produced a few opportunities for Manly. This week Afoa lines up against Northland's Corey Harawira-Naera who has snatched his opportunity gleefully and he's a bigger body than Afoa, who looks impressive running direct off of Nathan Cleary and Matt Moylan. Foran got a nice break to rest any niggles, so we should expect him and Afoa to work better together and they would have spent plenty of time drilling their defensive plans, unlike the Manly game where Afoa was a late call up.

Don't sleep on Kata's return and he'll be eager to test out Clearly's defence. As I've said a few times of late; Fusitua is a better winger than he is a centre, so Kata's return has the Warriors rolling out their best possible back-five. This should ensure that the Warriors start their sets on the front-foot as Kata will add a strong carry into the first few tackles along with Fusitua, Maumalo and Tuivasa-Sheck. 

What are we expecting from the Warriors? Grinding footy #Duh.

Penrith will be eager to play an up-tempo style of footy and they tore the Warriors up by shifting to their edges on the back of quick play-the-balls, offloading (6th most offloading team) and backing their skill. Which is understandable given the resources they have in their team, yet they are also 2nd in missed tackles while our Warriors are 13th in missed tackles - fuck yo stereotypes.

Grinding footy simply means that the Warriors control the pace of the game and dictate where the game is played. We know that the Warriors are selective with their offloads (they have a habit of scoring from offloads) and they've shown a willingness to kick long, early in the set and follow that up with a strong kick-chase. If they can peg Penrith down their own end and patiently wait for opportunities to get in 'good ball', Penrith won't be able to stop the Warriors scoring points. 

As the game goes on, expect to see the Warriors send more speed around the ruck. Having spent the opening stanza coming deep out of their own territory, going set-for-set with the Warriors and having their edge shifts shut down by aggressive edge defence, Penrith are likely to encounter fatigue and won't work as hard on the inside. At Manu Vatuvei Stadium, the Warriors ramp up their aggression and physicality, if they can grind Penrith down in the first 60 minutes, they'll shine in those last 20 minutes.

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