Much like after the Melbourne Storm hiding, there's no need for me to feature my observations from the hiding that the Roosters gave the Warriors at the Mt Smart graveyard. The Roosters came to the graveyard as a gang of grim reapers out for revenge and caught the Warriors, kicking back sleeping and having a korero about the good ol' days, instead of being alert and aware of the ambush that was coming.

There are many wrinkles to this loss that came to mind during and afterwards, led by the reason why I don't find it all that insightful to offer observations as I usually do in such losses. I could highlight specific moments, poor defensive reads or even a couple of good things that the Warriors did, but that would only take away from the point of it simply not being the Warriors game to win.

Errors, penalties, injuries and the predicted up and down nature of that NRL simply meant that the Warriors weren't going to win this game. I have stated many times and will continue to point out that the NRL is not Super Rugby, it's an insanely competitive competition and as the Warriors have shown this season, you only need to be a few percent off your best and you'll lose; look around the NRL at other results from the weekend.

The Warriors weren't just a few percent off their best, they lacked that energy and enthusiasm that I've consistently talked about but on top of that, they had crappy execution, defence, skill and they were missing two rather crucial players ... and they were up against a very, very eager Roosters team.

When you're down two experienced spine play-makers against an eager Roosters team, you don't want to be making 16 errors. 

It's obviously not good, but I like that these losses are being sprinkled into the results right now. We as the Warriors community (club and fans) need these results, as they keep a lid on the hype and offer insights into how the Warriors need to build. Keep the bigger picture in mind and know that everything is about the Finals, to be the best in the Finals, our Warriors need to keep learning, adapting and improving.

The way these losses are going down isn't ideal though. The Warriors haven't just lost to the Storm and Roosters, they've been given legit hidings and those two losses have exposed a gulf between the best and worst of the Warriors in 2018. 

Again, I take the positive route and I like how that has been exposed. This will be a major work-on in the coming months and I'll keep remind youz when the Warriors are winning and looking slick, that we need to see how they go in a bad performance - mandatory bad performances. Right now, those bad performances have been hidings and ideally those bad performances can graduate into close losses, or even gritty wins.

Right now, those bad performances have been hidings and the Warriors are 3rd in the 2018 NRL. 

The third wrinkle is how the Warriors have gone L, W, L, W, L in recent weeks.

They went 5-0 to start the season, beating up on weaker teams; Titans, Raiders and Cowboys are all outside the top-8, while the Rabbitohs and Roosters have steadily improved since those opening rounds. Other than the loss to the Broncos, the next five rounds have had the Warriors playing top-8 teams in the Dragons, Storm, Tigers and Roosters; the draw got harder.

The draw got harder at the same time as the Warriors having to consistently re-shuffle their line up from game to game. I expected the plateau and despite the hidings, I'm somewhat satisfied with how the Warriors have handled their injuries etc, during this period. There should be long-term benefits to the past five rounds, especially with the wider squad getting tastes of how tough NRL footy is and what it takes to perform consistently.

Rounds 11-20 is Origin season and that's bloody exciting for the Warriors. It will however, be my duty to maintain the context of Origin season and while watching the Warriors play footy and ideally sealing a top-8 spot during this period will be lovely, we won't actually know what the Warriors are about as they'll be playing against weakened teams. 

That obviously means that if this plateau continues through Origin season, we've got an issue. If they roll through it looking awesome, enjoy the vibes, enjoy the Warriors looking awesome, enjoy the certainty of Finals footy, but know that shit will get real after round 20.

Also; these headlines about the Warriors not performing in big games are a wee bit weird. The Warriors smoked the Dragons and Tigers in, big games. Understandably, like many other teams in the NRL right now, backing up those big performances is proving to be difficult.

Hit an ad to support the Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan.

Or jump on Patreon and support the Niche Cache directly. There's some bonus content on Patreon and we look after the homies.

Peace and love 27.