If there was a Papakura style of footy, Jazz Tevaga plays it.

Life is beautiful. Life is even more beautiful when the Warriors are soaring at 4-0 and then welcome Shaun Johnson back, as well as giving Simon Mannering a haere mai into the top-17. For a long time, Mannering has been the barometer for the Warriors and whenever Mannering was absent, well, later bo.

I'll speak more about Mannering's return in the video preview as it's low key super funky and reflective of the winds of change through Mt Smart. The return of Johnson though has caught my eye after seeing how the Australian media reacted to the Warriors win over the Roosters and Blake Green's performance in that win. I refer to the Australian media frequently only because I want to highlight how little is known about the Warriors across the ditch; these are the same people who kept talking about the big Warriors forwards as a lazy stereotype.

Green was awesome last week, yet as I said after the game, everyone was awesome. Green's job is to offer control, composure and organisation and he did exactly that, while Mason Lino also played his role to perfection. Lino bombed to Fusitu'a after Green took a hit up, Lino forced a repeat set with a Thurston-esque dab and Lino ensured that there was no drop off in the potency of the Warriors right edge.

Some joker said that this Warriors team was Green's team, that the Warriors played better without Johnson and that's a wee bit crazy. Like the Green/Johnson combo wasn't 3-0 to start the season, or like Johnson doesn't average the most tackle busts per game of any Warriors player (4.3).

Mainstream media will highlight individuals because that's the easy thing to do and I just want youz to know as hearty Warriors fans, that this truly is a team that is performing at a very high level. There's no one carrying this team, no sole dominant half, no lone blockbusting forward, no relying on one x-factor player. Everyone is executing their role and not only that, the Warriors have genuine weapons throughout their team, which may be the most exciting aspect of their play; how the fuck do you stop the Warriors?

North Queensland Cowboys are the next team up to try and stop the Warriors. They aren't playing all that well and not only are they coming to the Mt Smart graveyard, the Cowboys are struggling to score points.

We have all seen how strong the Warriors defence is and only three teams have conceded fewer points this season (Sharks, Dragons, Tigers). On the other hand, the Cowboys lead the NRL in Tackles In Opposition 20m but are 11th in points scored which basically means that the Cowboys spend a whole lot of time in 'good ball' but don't convert it into points.

That's a great match up for the Warriors, at the graveyard. They are confident in defending their tryline and they come up against a team who is struggling to score points in good ball.

Watching Jazz Tevaga in his two games so far this season has been bloody fun and there's a nod to the greater shift in how to build a modern NRL forward pack in the success of Tevaga. Today, you need mobility, speed, footwork and enough mongrel to counter having a slightly smaller body. Some NRL teams are still caught up in having massive forwards, which was great a couple years ago when the wrestle slowed the game down, but now forwards have to be able to move swiftly.

I mean Tevaga has averaged 55.5mins in his two games.

Tevaga may be the smallest middle forward in the whole NRL (not hookers) and he's playing 50 minutes, while also being of great use. Tevaga isn't a beast, yet he averages a healthy 8.17m/run and leads the Warriors in tackles per game (31.5). You could say that Tevaga is the hype-man, he comes on to the field, plays with all sorts of energy either side of half-time and challenges the mobility of bigger forwards through the middle.

This is of note ahead of this Cowboys game because the Cowboys are vulnerable through the middle. During their recent few years of success, their weak point has been defending the middle and Brisbane Broncos exposed that a couple weeks ago. Ask Jason Taumalolo, Matt Scott and Scott Bolton to make repeat efforts, to chase passes and offloads across-field and then back that up with Issac Luke and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck running behind the ruck.

We saw Ken Maumalo go on that beastly run last week, darting back in behind the ruck and with the Warriors ball-movement, I suspect we'll see them plow through the ruck area with speed and footwork.

Having someone like Tevaga coming off the bench to at the very least maintain a high tempo, if not increase the tempo will be highly beneficial for the Warriors. Tevaga compliments the likes of Tuivasa-Sheck, Johnson and Luke as they are dynamic runners of the footy and Tevaga's probing style of running along with his passing means that he can probe, then hit a runner to expose a lazy middle forward.

The rise of Bunty Afoa is also symbolic of the Warriors mobility in the middle. Much of my excitement in signing Adam Blair, Agnatius Paasi, Leivaha Pulu and Tohu Harris was based on their mobility and skill, which has worked out all good by the looks of things. Tevaga and Afoa were already in the system, but now that the Warriors are better equipped to play a higher tempo, they are shining.

Afoa leads the Warriors middle forwards in metres, but more importantly he is averaging 10.08m/run. This is slightly behind James Gavet's 10.5m/run, yet for Afoa to be around the 10m/run mark is awesome and like Tevaga, Afoa is effective not because of his size but because of his mobility and effort.

Throughout my time writing the Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fans, I've reminisced about watching various Warriors forwards cart the ball up from the back fence and the energy that permeates from Mt Smart as 'insert cult hero Warriors big bopper here' runs with the footy. Not once in the past 12 months did I think that the current version of Iafeta Paleaasina would be Bunty Afoa, but it's Afoa that gives me that feeling.

Tevaga and Afoa will be crucial in the way the Warriors use what has worked wonders for them this season, to dismantle a Cowboys team that has struggled to handle power, speed and skill through the middle. We saw what happened when the Warriors put the Roosters under fatigue last week and I'm curious to see how the Cowboys deal with the pressure that the Warriors will put them under, at the Mt Smart graveyard.

How about that!? I expect the dismantling to take place. Against Jonathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Jason Taumalolo, Michael Morgan etc, I expect the Warriors to break down the Cowboys.

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Peace and love 27.