I'm confused about our Warriors team and their 4-0 start to the season, more specifically their utter dis-mantling of the Roosters. Please don't get this twisted as I fully understand how good the Warriors are and youz only need to look around the NRL each week to see inconsistency in effort/desire/attitude many teams have, leading to being only slightly off in terms of performance and thus being blown off the park.

The Warriors have shown no signs of that. They have also shown that they can defend their try-line and also in super duper low key fashion; while the rest of the NRL is conceding all sorts of penalties, the Warriors are balancing that fine line nicely. They are not going overboard in pushing the boundaries on their try-line and in the midfield, the Warriors are wrestling opposition to their backs and thus buying an extra jiffy to set their defence.

There is absolutely no way you can be confused about the Warriors attack either. Most of the NRL looks clunky, slow, rather crap with their attacking movements and they don't know whether to go with mostly second-man-block-plays or play hard and fast through the ruck. The Warriors have found the balance and they do so with more creative plays, while also leaning on offloads and passing to move the opposition defence, to get the defence slightly out of sync.

Other NRL teams don't have the players the Warriors have either. I'm trying my best not to go all-in on celebrating individuals because we are witnessing a Warriors team that has everyone, literally everyone playing at a high level, doing their job and contributing. Let me put it this way; there is no hooker in the NRL like Issac Luke, nor is there a fullback like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, nor is there an edge forward like Tohu Harris, nor is there a half like Shaun Johnson or a halves combo like Johnson/Blake Green.

The best thing from those paragraphs is the fact that Mason Lino came in for Johnson and Tevita Satae (I'm going to keep rocking with Tevita, not Chris) came in for James Gavet. There was a re-shuffle in the forward pack with Bunty Afoa starting, then late in the game, Tuivasa-Sheck left the field and Hiku moved to fullback with Anthony Gelling getting a taster of NRL footy at centre. With those changes - especially Lino and Satae coming in - there was no drop off in attack, defence or effort/desire/attitude.

This means that the mindset, skill and execution that gave the Warriors a 3-0 start, runs deeper throughout the club.

But I'm confused.

I really liked the Warriors performance and was buzzin' afterwards. The Warriors were brilliant, yet the Roosters, well they imploded and they imploded to such an extent that it felt as though the difference between the two teams was because of the Roosters' implosion.

Confusion comes when I ponder whether the Warriors played their part in the Roosters' implosion. The Warriors probably would have won if the Roosters did not implode, I'm just wondering if there is an effect of playing against the Warriors. That is ultimately what I'm trying to get at here; does the offloads/passing and high tempo footy shifting the opposition defence around, scoring points with relative ease, combined with defence that borderline demoralizes the opposition result in more errors, fatigue, penalties etc for the opposition?

My major takeaway from this win over the Roosters is that regardless of who you are in the NRL, if the Warriors play how they want to play, you'll struggle to keep up ... and you might implode. Can you feel that? That's pure confidence folks.

Observation time...

This week on Weird Big Chest we have the Warriors right edge:

Lattrell Mitchell scored, but this is an early example of the defensive jam from David Fusitu'a:

Nice attacking move here. Blake Green at first-receiver passing to Mason Lino and Lino has Tohu Harris as a flat option, Peta Hiku out the back. Lino goes with Hiku, who got on the outside of Mitchell because Mitchell stayed in-field to help Luke Keary on Harris:

No jam here. The Warriors are 3 vs 3 and have everything sussed:

Green got the footy on the left, shifted back to Issac Luke on the right and this may have been planned, or off the cuff as the Warriors took advantage of Boyd Cordner not being in the defensive line. Luke hits Harris short and it's Harris vs Luke Keary (yellow boot):

Luke lures Keary in, puts Harris through. Cordner is the white boot on the edge of the shot:

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scoots down the short-side here to get the Warriors on the front foot early in the set. Note his eyes are up watching the markers and he's stepping off his right foot, Blake Ferguson isn't square either so he can't make a play:

Loved this kick early in the game from Mason Lino. He dabs the ball low, into the in-goal area much like Jonathan Thurston and earns a repeat set:

This is the shape for Leivaha Pulu's try. Adam Blair laid on the pass to Pulu which is a crazy example of the attacking options for the Warriors. Peep that Luke and more importantly Tuivasa-Sheck are out the back, kinda unstoppable:

Take a moment to absorb everything in this snap:

Funky Luke scoot. Starting on the left edge:

Ends on the right edge, shifting the Roosters defence and they have to stay engaged that whole time, building fatigue etc:

Mean pass from Luke, bullet that cuts out Blair and into Fusitu'a's bread basket:

I thought the shape for Solomone Kata's try was kinda clunky. Until I watched again and it felt clunky because Green double-pumped his pass. He paused just long enough to get Cooper Cronk on his heels, worrying about Jazz Tevaga and Pulu:

Cronk is mobile, then Green gets him sitting still and hits Tuivasa-Sheck out the back:

Beautiful jam from Mason Lino, identifying Keary and jamming to reduce Keary's options:

Cronk marks where Luke starting his scoot, Luke went to the line then fires a long pass out to Lino. The Roosters have to cover Luke, creating space on the Warriors right edge:

Mandatory Tuivasa-Sheck try saver after Mitchell made a break:

After the try saver, Tuivasa-Sheck is with the trainer:

And that's because Tuivasa-Sheck's elbow that was already heavily strapped got munched in the try saver:

And then our skipper is defending at the ruck just after:

Peta Hiku has a jam on Mitchell Aubusson, who isn't skillful enough to execute a crisp pass under pressure:

The next few shots are tracking Blair's repeat efforts. There are multiple offloads and there's only two play the balls. Starting with a flop on Jared Waerea-Hargreaves:

Blair then chops Zane Tetevano's legs, but he can offload:

Blair and Ligi Sao (shout out Sao for his efforts also), follow up the offload to make another effort:

Keary gets the ball on the left, then runs back right and Blair/Sao are there, recovered, ready to go again:

Blair continues to push up after Keary passes to Cronk

Then Blair is there covering the inside, because he pushed up:

Same period late in the first half when the Warriors defended their try line. Joseph Manu steps off his right footy and Green, Luke, Pulu, Tuivasa-Sheck are their waiting for him:

Fusitu'a jams again. I love this because the timing of the jam is crucial - he waits until the pass has been made:

Ken Maumalo running behind the ruck, this is always going to make metres and earn a quick play-the-ball:

Fusitu'a jams again, this time he is only able to put Mitchell under pressure and the pass isn't as good:

In the first half Lino jammed on Keary and he does it again here:

Green takes a hit up on the 5th tackle, leaving the Warriors without a kicker. Until Lino stepped in and put up the bomb for Fusitu'a's try:

James Tedesco steps back in-field, Pulu and Tevaga are waiting:

These last two shots sum up the Warriors right now. Luke offloads to Pulu, who passes to Green and Green kicks long, on the 5th play:

Because the kick came after an offload, on the 5th play, no one knew the kick was coming. Look at this kick chase though and the Warriors consistently got up to the Roosters 20m line in their kick chase:

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Peace and love 27.