Home games vs Dragons and Tigers, an away game vs Storm, already two games vs Roosters and a 1-1 result; yet through my meditations I have come to believe this game vs Rabbitohs is the most interesting game of the season so far.

The Warriors genuinely sit in the NRL's top-tier, so all of those top-tier clashes had me bloody excited prior to the games. I don't know about youz, but in all honesty I have been bloody excited ahead of every single Warriors game this season and I've been basking in that feeling as we've waited a long time to even get a whiff of such vibrations.

Get it! 👏🙌😆🗣#LetsGoneWarriors

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This Rabbitohs is exciting, exciting on a level like those top-tier clashes and obviously exciting because it's a chance to see how awesome Warriors do their thing. In this Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan entry though, I'm excited and incredibly interested or intrigued about this Rabbitohs game. As a sports nerd, I'm eager to see how the Warriors go about executing their own game plan and thus breaking down the Rabbitohs as well as how the Warriors stop the sublime attacking plays of the Rabbitohs down the edges.

Perhaps the hottest team in the NRL right now, the Rabbitohs have enjoyed fantastic service from their middle forwards, they have one of the best edge forward combinations in the league (John Sutton and Angus Chricton), they have a hooker with lightning speed to benefit from any momentum, they have control and creativity in their halves, and oh, look who just happens to be at fullback this week; Greg Inglis.

I don't even want to go too deep into match ups and individual players in this preview because I'd never stop typing. What coach Stephen Kearney does with Simon Mannering will be the most intriguing move though, as Kearney has played the same trick a few weeks in a row now, but the best ploy may be to have Mannering marking Chrichton on the left edge instead of Isaiah Papalii starting and playing most of the game on the left edge.

Mannering/Tohu Harris vs Chricton/Sutton has me fizzing and that's the level of match ups we are talking about here. The overall vibes of either teams is perhaps a more succinct way of outlining the match up battle as this can simply be narrowed down to the big, powerful, gritty Rabbitohs forward pack coming up against the nimble, skillful, energetic Warriors forward pack.

The power and go-forward of the Rabbitohs is the reason why Damien Cook is in Origin contention and why they can then shift to their edges with such potency. Their forwards and outside backs getting out of dummy half etc, create the time and space for their attack.

I have consistently hammered home basic points of the Warriors style this season and even though we still have Shaun Johnson out, may even have no Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, I'm confident that the Warriors style of footy can cause problems for the Rabbitohs. Especially at the Mt Smart graveyard.

Two things happened in the second half last week vs Eels, when the Warriors came back and sealed the win; they settled into their style of footy with Jazz Tevaga on the field and their superior fitness saw them finish as the stronger team.

Even without two of their best players, the Warriors can still snatch the soul of their opposition by playing fast, offloading, passing and listening to Blake Green. All of which matches up nicely against the Rabbitohs, who aren't overly fast or agile in their forwards and lack genuine impact off their bench. It's gonna be tough and a legit test of the Warriors soul-snatching ability, but if the Warriors play with high energy and enthusiasm, the Rabbitohs look a wee bit vulnerable.

Round 12 has New Zealand Warriors hosting the Rabbitohs, two good teams going to battle at the Mt Smart graveyard. Maybe it's the speed and skill of the Warriors, maybe it's the Warriors edge defence vs Rabbitohs edge attack or maybe it's just what Stephen Kearney will do with Simon Mannering - I'm excited.

One kinda weird note to finish with...

Make an effort to focus on the passing and feet of the Warriors.

Everyone watches the offloads, but the passing of the Warriors is just as important (as I continue to say) and the Warriors will be eager to shift the footy around through those passes. You'll notice the offloads easily, but really focus of who is passing and how the Warriors use the pass to work over the Rabbitohs middle.

It's easy to focus on the hands (offloads and passing), but switch your attention to the feet of the Warriors. That means footwork; Agnatius Paasi's right foot step, Ken Maumalo's left foot step for example, or the shimmies of Tohu Harris and Simon Mannering. It also means foot-speed that is best evident in Bunty Afoa, who runs straight but very quickly and also the weird running angles of Tevaga, Adam Blair, Peta Hiku etc.

Who ever has the footy, pay attention to their feet and how they run. Their footwork (steps, shimmies and just generally the work of their feet) will be crucial for the Warriors as it's a major advantage against the Rabbitohs. And as you just read in the paragraph above, nearly everyone in the Warriors has some kind of footwork and the variety is crazy, meaning that every tackle is a challenge.

Watch the feet.

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Peace and love 27.