Two games between Aotearoa Warriors and Penrith Panthers this season; one almighty win for Penrith at home and a slick win for the Warriors at Mt Smart. That in itself makes it incredibly difficult to envision how this game will play out, then sprinkle the James Maloney factor on top and we've got the type of dish that you think will be tasty but the truth is, you didn't really fully understand the description in the menu.

Maloney has been absent for both games against the Warriors this season. The first encounter saw Jarome Luai and Tyrone May enjoy success during State of Origin, then a few weeks ago Maloney was out injured and it was up to Nathan Cleary to steer the Panthers around by himself. It's only right that a club which changed coaches as late in the season as Penrith did, have rolled out such variety in their halves combinations and the Warriors have experienced all that variety; except Maloney.

There aren't too many players in the NRL right now who wield that sort of power, the power to have me nervous. Maloney is a proven winner and the situation is such, that we can throw nearly everything learned from the two previous meetings, down the long-drop. Add Maloney and the Panthers immediately become a different proposition.

Finals footy is already a different proposition and the Warriors have developed nicely since that loss in Penrith. All those factors are in play when pondering this game, but Maloney is the most interesting and limiting the influence of Maloney, then the Maloney/Cleary will be a key defensive job for the Warriors. 

Any time I'm talking Warriors footy with a casual fan, I tend to go nek level and break into a yarn about the beauty of the Warriors attack. These are things I have written about all season and as good as other teams have been this season, no other team has the attacking weapons and options like the Warriors. I'll try to keep it as simple as possible:

Structure. The Warriors have a creative play-book, that is deep with different variations of their attacking schemes.

Unstructured. The Warriors offload, then react. They react to the defence mid-play. They do so through the skill of all players and knowledge of their game plan to move the footy. 

Wildcards. The Warriors have the best players to pounce on opportunities that come through unstructured footy, or turnovers. Mainly Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Shaun Johnson and Issac Luke.

The Warriors can go around you via structure or unstructured footy. And they can plow through you up the guts.

Plow through you up the guts, not neccessarily with Agnatius Paasi's runs or the power of Ken Maumalo, also with speed and footwork.

All of that combines to make the Warriors who can snatch opposition souls in a number of different ways. As long as everyone shows up with their execution undies on, ready to catch and pass at the level required, I love the Warriors attacking schemes.

I'm also low key confident in the defensive ability to limit the influence of Maloney and Cleary. The Warriors have consistently shown that they can execute their defensive game plan to shut down opposition halves and most notably, good halves, or top-tier halves. Funnily enough, it's when the Warriors come up against slightly lesser halves combinations that they can get carved up - dunno why, those games usually featured a dip in energy and aggression from everyone, in attack and defence.

This starts with the kicking game and then, the intent to win early tackles deep in opposition territory. The ability of the Warriors to get good contact and then drive - usually an outside back - backwards as their opposition tries to get out of their own 10m zone, has been immense this season, at its peak during this nice run into the Finals. 

None of this should be a surprise given how efficient the Warriors have been with their wrestling ability. In the mid-field they get players on their backs, peel off and set their defensive line. After a good kick, they are more aggressive, but still use an aspect of the wrestling technique to drive the opponent backwards. Subtle difference between the slightly more passive defence in the mid-field with the emphasis on winning the tackle by slowing it down and winning the tackle after a good kick, by being aggressive.

Then we can start to envision the edges jamming up on the Penrith play-makers, because the ruck speed is slightly slow. I reckon this should be a wee bit easier against the Panther as Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is at fullback and as much as I love his work as a wing and fullback, he lacks that extra bit of play-making class.

When jamming, the Warriors have done a great job in recognising who is going to get the footy out on the edges. With Watene-Zelezniak at fullback, he offers a threat in backline plays, but the style of the Warriors defence is going to do a better job of jamming up on Maloney or Cleary, than cover the options. 

As always we have to wait until the game to see how Stephen Kearney tweaks his team, or the bench more specifically. Gerard Beale has been named on the bench and with Beale and Jazz Tevaga on the bench, a faster style of play could be expected, especially with Isaiah Papali'i there as well. Bunty Afoa's not exactly a massive unit either, so that bench does look a little small but if those four players are on the bench, the focus isn't on size and instead centres around speed, mobility and skill.

Alternatively, Leivaha Pulu could slide on to the bench at the expensive of Beale. Pulu is still very mobile and skillful, just a bit bigger and obviously a typical forward. Maybe Tevita Satae comes back into the mix with his size, the plan will most likely be to be as mobile as possible to counter the Panthers threat around the ruck and ensure that the cover defence, defensive efforts on the inside etc is always there.

Even through the ups and the downs of the 2018 season, the core fundamentals of Warriors footy have been there. Hence the downs were never really that worrisome as the fundamentals, or foundations of Warriors footy ensured that losses didn't pile up. An elimination final vs Penrith Panthers in Sydney isn't scary, based on the foundations that have been laid this season. All that matters now is execution.

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Peace and love 27.