Straight up; every game the Warriors have played this season feels exciting, funky and intriguing. So to say that this weekend's game against the Roosters at the Mt Smart graveyard sits in those categories, isn't all that insightful, but given what happened last time these two teams met and how they've gone since then, there's a unique splash to this contest.

I titled the Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan entry that week 'Causing A Roosters Implosion' and I honestly felt that way, I still do. The Warriors were near their best and when the Warriors are executing in such fashion, it has a decent impact on how the opposition can play their footy. There have been a few more examples of this in 2018, but the Roosters are continuing to build and should be considered a better team now, as their spine has more game reps.

We've also seen that it's low key difficult for the Warriors to maintain such pristine execution and high energy levels consistently, each and every week. That's the journey that the Warriors are on as they try to suss out how build that consistency and minimise the impact of when they aren't at their best.

And of course, we've seen that there's a 'next up' vibe at the Warriors where someone like Mason Lino steps up to do his job. This isn't just a case of stepping in to maintain the high skill level of starters, equally as important or perhaps more important is maintaining the work ethic, the desire and attitude.

All of this culminates to give this game a weird twist for me. The Roosters will be better than last time and how the Warriors deal with that, given a few injuries, will offer another test of their depth. Then you have the question of whether the Warriors can bump the Roosters off their own game plan, by executing their own game plan (high tempo, moving the footy, pressure defence) against a better Roosters team.

Plus we've got the Warriors coming off a strong win over the Tigers, which felt like the win over the Dragons. Before and after the Dragons win, the Warriors dipped in their skill and enthusiasm which shows the degree of difficulty in maintaining such levels. Now the Roosters hit up the graveyard after the Tigers game and we'll see if the Warriors have been able to adjust, or improve in backing up those good wins.

Other than Shaun Johnson's absence, this resembles a strongest Warriors 17. There are however a few individual performances to keep an eye on as we enjoy the overall vibe of whether the Warriors team can find consistency.

Gerard Beale is back at centre in reserve grade, joining Anthony Gelling and Blake Ayshford is named on the bench. That's three NRL-calibre centres (various degrees) in reserve grade and I reckon Peta Hiku is locked in at right centre, plus Ken Maumalo and David Fustua are in exceptional form so there's no need to shift Hiku to win and open a centre spot for example.

This turns a focus on Solomone Kata and he's now playing to keep his spot. Kata was strong last week against Esan Marsters and the ball is in his court to keep Beale in reserve grade. This week he is up against Mitchell Aubusson, who is primarily a defensive centre and Kata's offensive impact will be a funky watch.

Karl Lawton made a delightful Warriors debut last week, with Jazz Tevaga out of the team. This battle for the bench utility spot is going to be juicy as I've spent a lot of time highlighting how influential Tevaga was off the bench before he got injured, now Lawton's made a nice case for himself. Tevaga may still sneak in ahead of Lawton for this game and we'll have to wait and see who gets into the final 17, but either way, they will both be playing for that spot moving forward.

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Peace and love 27.