The unbeaten Dragons left Mt Smart without their footy soul that had served them well during that unbeaten stretch. Playing the Warriors at the Mt Smart graveyard is quickly becoming a nightmare road trip for Australian teams and despite last week's hiccup in losing to Brisbane Broncos, the status-quo was restored.

As the Dragons are a legit top-tier footy team, the level of soul snatching wasn't quite as profound as it would be against weaker teams. However, it was still very much in action as the Warriors relied on their stingey defence to repel consistent Dragons raids and when the Warriors spent a set or two down the Dragons end, they got a positive outcome. The first half was a fabulous example of the soul snatching Warriors; the Dragons were camped down the Warriors end to no avail, then the Warriors got a set in good ball and Mason Lino scored, the Dragons spent some more time trying to crack the Warriors defence, then Blake Green earned a repeat set and Anthony Gelling scored in the third set that the Warriors had in good ball.

That's the level of footy we are enjoying from the Warriors. There is an efficiency to their attack that allows them to score 20 points with just 48 percent of possession and there are multiple layers to their defence that fit together to stifle opposition attacking movements.

Much has been made about how awesome the Dragons attack is (/was) and as I highlight in my observations below, the Warriors literally swarmed the Dragons in broken-play, they jammed up the edges, worked excessively hard to help out their comrades and slowed the game down brilliantly without the ball.

There's no better way to describe 'we stop you multiple times and we score fairly easily' other than soul snatching.

Understandably, given how well Mason Lino has performed in his two games this season, there is now a focus being given to how well the Warriors play with Lino in the halves. Some dramatic click-bait folk would even go as far as saying that the Warriors are better with Lino in the team than they are with Shaun Johnson.

It's a plausible idea, yet still dramatic and attention seeking. Johnson is better at being an NRL half than Lino is, which is to take nothing away from Lino and that's where my difference in perspective comes into this equation. Lino is showing that he's a fine half who, most importantly has shown the ability to develop as a player and when you think about how well Lino is playing along with someone, like ... Ken Maumalo, there is some serious player development happening at Mt Smart.

Lino, Ken Maumalo and Bunty Afoa have made steady improvements and are now executing their roles to near perfection.

My point however is that this is less about Lino vs Johnson and more about having Lino, Johnson and Blake Green in the squad. In the past 15 years, the Warriors have never had such depth in their entire squad and to go deep into the Finals, or win a Premiership, your squad has to be able to absorb the inevitable injuries/suspensions that an NRL season will dish up.

Depth means competition for spots and that's evident throughout the squad. In this case, I'm more interested in being able to go with the flow and not suffer. Playing against the unbeaten Dragons without Johnson, Lino slots in and the Warriors literally lose nothing.

Why stop there?

No Solomone Kata and Anthony Gelling steps in without any drop in team or left edge performance.

Tohu Harris leaves the field and Isaiah Papalii comes on to left edge forward, Simon Mannering shifts to right edge and there is no drop in performance.

Why stop there?

No Leivaha Pulu.

No James Gavet.

No Gerard Beale.

No Nathaniel Roache.

Whatever the situation is in terms of player availability week to week, or during games, the Warriors have the depth and style of players to deal with anything. That is far more funky than discussing Johnson vs Lino, because Johnson is always an easy target for any slice of negative vibes; as if people always have to slide in some negativity about the Warriors.

And even then, a Kata vs Gelling discussion would be a lot more interesting than Johnson vs Lino.

This was our first look at Gelling as an NRL centre and while he was solid in attack with a try and decent carries, his defence against Euan Aitken was kinda crazy. Gelling monstered Aitken a few times and in my observations you'll see instances where the Warriors line is pushing up and Gelling was the right move to rush up as well, thus shutting down the play.

One game, small sample size etc. Gelling slotted in seamlessly, just as Lino has done twice this season, just as Jazz Tevaga has done since getting his chance and I could go on.

Enjoy some observations...

First set and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck sets the tone for his personal performance in which he got back his beastly running best. Here he heads out towards an edge, towards two smaller blokes in Cameron McInnes and Ben Hunt:

After that first set with the footy, there's an early kick and this kick-chase. This sets the tone overall for the Warriors as there were many early kicks and the Warriors were great without the footy:

Lino's try came from an Adam Blair tip on, but before that Agnatius Paasi did some ball-playing to get the ball to Blair:

This is the defence that goes un-noticed by battlers in the media. Jack de Belin loves an offload and Paasi wraps him up with Bunty Afoa and Tohu Harris helping out to get de Belin to ground:

Lino getting up in the face of Ben Hunt, closely followed by Peta Hiku:

Blake Green jams up on the other edge, only a few seconds later. Love how the Warriors identify where the play-maker is and jam to shift any move to the edge:

Hiku had a tough night marking up against Tim Lafai and missed a bunch of tackles, none of which were detrimental. Lafai gets past Hiku here:

Hiku stays in the play however. The effort from Hiku to stay engaged is great and the effort from the other guys to help out is also great:

Gelling jams on Gareth Widdop. Same again, jam on the play-maker:

Matt Dufty scored a try vs Cronulla Sharks exactly like this, but not vs Warriors. Look at the Warriors line and how, as Dufty gets across field, the Warriors keep pushing up, swarming Dufty:

Warriors defended for most of the first 20mins and after exiting their half, Lino puts a grubber into touch. Was a smart play, peep how hard it is to pressure Lino when the Warriors are in the middle with Lino on one side and Green on the other side:

Bunty Afoa and Paul Vaughan, bust buds:

Stephen Kearney standing up, things must be good:

Peep where Issac Luke is in this play - inside Adam Blair (4th from touch line). Ben Hunt is outside Luke and Blair:

Lafai makes a break (Hiku keeps fighting, gets help, same as before) and Luke follows the whole play to put a shot on Widdop, who looks likely to score:

Warriors swarming again, they push up, like, they all push up and in the second shot you see Gelling come from deep to jam up and ensure that the ball doesn't get outside the Warriors line:

Hiku jams up on Dufty to force an error. Warriors jam on a play-maker, shut down the movement, again:

From a scrum, Warriors get the ball to Ken Maumalo out wide, but not on the wing. Very deliberate to get Maumalo on the charge against smaller blokes:

Last week I highlighted how Tuivasa-Sheck passed when he could have ran and this week he ran in those scenarios. This is almost exactly the same as a shot I used last week, but Tuivasa-Sheck runs here:

Many NRL teams barely use the wrap around and the Warriors have fantastic play-book of creative attacking plays. Here they use the fake wrap around, passing back in-field to Sam Lisone instead of Luke:

4th tackle and Green kicks early, earning a repeat set. That's great, also peep the shape Green has here with Gelling short and Tuivasa-Sheck out the back:

4th tackle in the set after the drop-out and Green has the same shape, this time he hits Gelling on the short ball. Green had the same shape, on the 4th tackle in back to back sets, first he kicks then he hits Gelling short for Gelling to score:

Bruh:

Bruh:

Time's up on the clock, Green is in the sin-bin and the Warriors still work super hard to push Jason Nightingale into touch:

The energy, enthusiasm that was absent vs Broncos is there in abundance vs Dragons:

With Green off the field, Tuivasa-Sheck defended in the line to cover Green's spot. That's Tuivasa-Sheck putting a shot on Tyson Frizell, ponder that for a minute:

Warriors were very deliberate (word of the day) in how they dealt with Green off the field. Stephen Kearney would have laid down the plan at half-time and then Tuivasa-Sheck is defending in the line, plus Ken Maumalo takes a casual stroll to the footy here:

With the footy, Lino stepped up to play on both sides of the ruck. First shot he's on the right side, then on the next tackle Lino goes over to the left:

Blair putting a shot on Kurt Mann. If a forward wants to try do some play-making, running then passing late, Blair will whack that guy:

Hunt's try came from a poor decision from Lisone. Hunt dummied inside to Jeremy Latimore and Lisone over-committed to cover Latimore, Hunt made him pay:

Long passes like this from Luke can be crucial to the Warriors as they quickly get them to the edges:

Lafai gets past Hiku and once again, Hiku keeps fighting and gets help from those around him:

Lino leading the kick-chase:

So you wanna get through the Warriors defensive line?

Afoa takes one of his many fantastic hit ups and ends on his front, for a quick play-the-ball:

From that quick play-the-ball, Luke has time and space to duck out for a 40/20:

Even when the Warriors were out-numbered, they are all scrambling hard from the inside and Maumalo ensures that Mann can't pass out wide:

To help set up Isaiah Papalii's try, Blair had to follow up in chasing a bomb. This is in the last 5mins and Blair goes out of his way to put himself in the right place at the right time: