After last week's slip up against Melbourne Storm, we were treated to what must now be considered a status quo performance from the Warriors in their win over Wests Tigers. The most striking aspect is that the status quo of the current Warriors involves everyone playing at a high level and as long as this is the case, I will continue to celebrate the fact that there's much more to the Warriors than a few headline acts.

Regardless of who you think the headline acts are, or who you are told the headline acts are by the mainstream media, I find it reckless to identify certain players ahead of others when this is literally a case of everyone doing their job. The Warriors once again enjoyed fantastic service and job-doing from Ken Maumalo, Peta Hiku, Bunty Afoa, Agnatius Paasi, Isaiah Papalii and without them this Warriors team simply wouldn't be as dominant as they have been.

The status quo sits in the fact that these players consistently play at a high level, that the everyone in the team plays at a high level. This kinda makes it hard for me in highlighting players each week and I instead take the route of continuing to hammer home how emphatic the team contributions are.

Whether it's Hiku and Paasi leading the offloads with 3 and 4 respectively, or Maumalo's 18runs/180m, Afoa's 12runs/126m, Paasi's 18 runs/173m, or Papalii slotting seamlessly into start on the left edge with Simon Mannering doing an immense job through the middle. There are gems throughout the Warriors team from that Tigers game and then on top of that status quo level of performance, you have the leaders of the team playing at their own high level.

We were once again treated to a new player plugging a hole, without any drop off in performance as Karl Lawton stepped in for Issac Luke. Lawton was the major benefactor of the Tigers middle being under great fatigue, yet Lawton also showed an eagerness to run and genuinely took advantage of the Tigers fatigue. I was also impressed with his service out of dummy half as he flung slick passes left and right, plus there were a few instances where he showed up on the inside in defence, as we have come to expect all our Warriors to do now.

Lawton proved himself more than capable of filling Jazz Tevaga's spot, while enjoyed a greater role in Tevaga's absence. Mannering played 60-odd minutes and settled into his shifting role, alongside Adam Blair that Tevaga had previously done; Lawton absorbed the loss of Tevaga by being there for Luke's injury, while Mannering played Tevaga's middle forward role.

As much as I loved watching the Warriors roll through a status quo win and there really is nothing better in kiwi sport right now, this result and performance does need a wee bit of realism.

If the Warriors have 58 percent of possession, 10 more sets than their opposition and 10 more minutes inside their opposition's half as well as their opposition's 20m, the Warriors should be winning 26-4. This is exactly what happens when you give the Warriors that much footy and while this is the status quo in terms of every Warriors player doing their job, operating in alignment, this was not the status quo in terms how their opposition performed, or how the Tigers have performed in 2018.

20 minutes with 12 men on the field is not the status quo in a footy game.

But even then, I am reminded of how a few teams have stumbled against the Warriors and this resembled the crumbling of the Roosters a few weeks ago. Something happens when teams play the Warriors as they deal with greater fatigue, they have to chase the footy more, they get wrestled to their backs more and they lose the plot.

Two sin bins ain't normal, yet the Warriors force those sin bins by ticking their own boxes; play fast, offload, shift the footy.

Benji Marshall and Luke Brooks taking some terrible last tackle options and release any pressure they had built on the Warriors, is not normal for them. What role did the Warriors play in this though? There is something to be said about how opposition teams are unable to execute their own plans, when the Warriors are simply playing how they want to play.

Too many times this season, opposition teams have crumbled against the Warriors, for it to be a fluke - the Warriors make you implode. That's the soul-snatching element of the Mt Smart graveyard and if that can become the status quo throughout the season (as I've said many times recently, it's bloody tough to maintain this energy, enthusiasm, aggression every week), I don't think NRL is ready.

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Here are some observations...

Do the Fus:

You do not want to be in this position against Tohu Harris, Tohu shimmied to the outside:

Standard Warriors working hard on the inside to shut down Kevin Naiqama:

Lord Mannering in front of those who worship him:

Esan Marsters couldn't make his right foot steps work because there were always Warriors covering the inside, ready for him to pop back in-field:

Issac Luke is amazing and this is his signature pass, where he moves on way and passes back the other way without looking, he's got Elijah Taylor in his web:

Great shape around Blake Green as he has three passing options at the line, here he hits Bunty Afoa on the inside and Afoa makes a break:

The set before David Fusitua's first try, Green hit Tohu as the lead runner with Shaun Johnson out the back and nothing major came of it:

The Warriors got a repeat set after that Tohu carry and then in the next set, they shift to the right again with a slightly different shape. It's the same idea though, yet this time they use Tohu as a decoy and hit Blair, who then hits Johnson and he passes to Fusitua for the try. These two plays were the only times in either set when the Warriors went to the right edge and it's brilliant footy as they set up the try in the previous set by hitting Tohu, then using Tohu as a decoy for the try:

Solomone Kata did a nice job on Marsters, here he is making a 1 vs 1 tackle on Marsters:

Last tackle, Benji can't do what he wants because Luke and Blair put him under pressure:

Theme of the week is Ken Maumalo's left foot step. Example A has Maumalo running hard, forcing the defender to brace for contact and at the last moment, Maumalo steps:

Example B has Maumalo stepping earlier, into space:

Johnson and Green suss out some footy stuff:

This pass didn't work for Johnson and in commentary they said how if he plays short, then it's better as the defence doesn't have time to slide. Very true, but it was also a crap pass:

Mannering wrapping up Marsters:

Mannering making a repeat effort afterwards:

Maumalo passing to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, to get the ball to the middle of the field:

Mannering doing the shifting, passing to Green who then dropped a pass in Maumalo's bread basket for a try. Peep how Mannering goes all the way to the line, with a short option in James Gavet:

Green and Stacey Jones sharing footy knowledge:

Now it's Tuivasa-Sheck making a huge effort to get to the middle. This (and Maumalo's pass) are low key crucial as they get the Warriors starting their sets in the middle:

Just another Tuivasa-Sheck try saver:

Fusitua jams to shut down the Tigers attack, with the Tigers having a 2-man overlap. Look closely and you will see a faint shadow on the right side (right of Peta Hiku #3) and that's Tuivasa-Sheck, who had made the try saver on the previous tackle and then scampered all the way across to almost get in this shot:

Maumalo left footer:

Tohu in another 3 vs 2 situation and there's nothing better for the Warriors:

Great shape around Green once again. Green hits Mannering back on the inside, but these shapes low key add more fatigue for the defence as they have to suss out the situation and use more effort to cover every option:

No try because of Hiku's obstruction on Brooks, but it's crazy how Johnson got this pass out with two Tigers pouncing on him:

Maumalo left footer:

Chance for Tigers shut down by Tohu, who shuts the hole on Corey Thompson and forces an error in the process. This sums up the defensive effort of the Warriors:

This play finished with Green putting a grubber in for a repeat set, I was interested in how it came about though. This appeared to be un-planned as Mannering passed to Blair, who passed to Tuivasa-Sheck, who then passed to Green and Green had the class to sum it all up and grubber, on the 4th tackle:

In the next set after that grubber, Green puts Paasi through a hole on the inside. Look at all the action/shape outside Green though as that makes it seem as though the ball is going there:

And again Green goes inside, this time for Lawton for his try. This wasn't planned though, unlike above, but Green kept testing the Tigers on the inside:

Good grab:

Peace and love 27.