Right now, this round, this weekend is probably the best time to play Penrith Panthers of any round of the NRL season. There's a high chance that the Panthers rally behind their adversity and use their current predicament as their, but the Warriors should be chuffed that they are heading to Penrith to take on a team without Nathan Cleary or James Maloney and have lost their last two games.

Things aren't exactly honki-dory with our Warriors though, which only makes me that wee bit happier that Penrith are without their starting halves combination. The more I thought about the loss to Cronulla Sharks last week, the more I settled in brushing the referee stuff aside and pondered how the Warriors couldn't score another try after the two-try flurry in the first stanza; the referee stuff definitely impacted the result, after the Warriors had given up all their control they had via their own standard of performance.

From that game, Tohu Harris and Bunty Afoa are now out injured for a month or so. They join Leivaha Pulu on the sidelines as three forwards who I'd have in my top-17, who aren't available and this Warriors depth that I've been celebrating since before the season is again at work. Last week it was the depth to absorb the lack of our two best wingers in David Fusitu'a and Ken Maumalo, now it's depth to absorb the loss of an 80 minute edge forward and one of the best performers each week in Afoa.

Simon Mannering moves to the edge, replacing Harris, made possible by the timely return of Adam Blair. Replace Harris with Mannering? Yeah, sweet.

Replacing Afoa is a tad more niggly as that requires diving into the bag of middle forwards, promoting someone on to the bench. Ligi Sao is the lucky fella and as fabulous as Afoa has been this season, I'm excited to see Sao back in action after a nice opening to the season and then not getting another crack for whatever reason. 

Don't expect Sao to be as efficient running the footy as Afoa has been. James Gavet and Agnatius Paasi have to shoulder more responsibility in that regard, as does Tevita Satae - who was a victim of a strange ref decision last week, which was a fine example of Satae's impact in carting the footy up as he fell flat on his belly and won a quick play-the-ball. Losing Afoa also coincides with the returns of Fusitu'a and Maumalo, who will remind us of how helpful they are in getting the Warriors out of their own territory and/or speeding up the ruck in general.

Sao is still the only Warriors player to average 2 offloads/game and Sao still goes about his core jobs as a middle forward with solid output. With Sao in the team, the six players who average the most offloads/game will be playing; Sao, Peta Hiku, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Paasi, Jazz Tevaga and Blair.

Don't solely judge the inclusion of Sao, replacing Afoa, in terms of Sao's impact running the footy. Watch how the Warriors control the tempo of the game around half-time when Sao and Tevaga are on the field together, alongside Luke and Blair. The Warriors are likely to slide back into their shifty style of footy in Penrith and this could go to another level when coach Stephen Kearney goes to his bench. Moving the footy and hammering the ruck area with quick feet could be very effective against the Panthers forwards, especially as they won't have Cleary and Maloney to control the game with their kicking.

Who knows what Kearney will do with Gerard Beale's spot on the bench, but if Beale does stay in the top-17, Beale could add to this. Perhaps Beale might pop up in the middle of the field where his footwork good trouble the Panthers and Beale rips in, don't worry about that. Perhaps Beale might just get a run in the backs, perhaps Kearney won't even use Beale.

Despite not having Harris, this starting 13 still looks full-strength, it feels full-strength and there's a different angle to the bench that doesn't have me too downbuzz about losing Afoa. Having lacked any control in the loss to the Sharks, the work of Blake Green and Shaun Johnson will be an undercover narrative to keep an eye on, especially as they are coming up against two inexperienced halves. 

Last week they were put in the shade by Chad Townsend's simple, but effective halves play. This week Green and Johnson could flex, on the back of the rest of their team getting back to Warriors footy.

Hit an ad to support the Diary Of A Warriors Fan.

Or jump on Patreon and support the Niche Cache directly, we drop bonus stuff for the Patrons and take care of the homies.

Peace and love 27.