In six rounds of NRL footy, Aotearoa Warriors have managed to pick themselves up after losses and bounce back. That in itself is rather nice for Warriors folk and after two consecutive losses, the Warriors snatched a hearty win away to St George Illawara Dragons.

Completing 40/41 sets vs Dragons, the Warriors at least put themselves in a competitive space. Intangibles like attitude, effort and intensity are always important, but in facing a Dragons outfit that plays simple footy with vigour, the Warriors showed up well in this regard. This is far more variable than completion rates because well, the Warriors have completed their sets well for a few years now.

This basically aligns with Stephen Kearney's arrival. Between 2013-16, Warriors never ventured into the top-eight for completion rates and in 2016 they were 14th - 75 percent. In 2017, Kearney starts as coach and the Warriors finish 2nd in completion rate with 80 percent. In 2018 this takes a minor dip down to 78 percent (5th) and 2019 also has the Warriors at 78 percent (6th). In a crazy ol' 2020, the Warriors complete 80 percent of their sets and are ranked 4th.

This year, the Warriors are 1st with 83 percent completion. What's weird here is that in Kearney's first year in charge, only two teams completed at 80 percent or higher. Right now there are five teams over that 80 percent mark and of these five teams, the Warriors are the only top-eight team after six rounds. That makes it niggly to suss out how completion rates correlate to winning games, although we should all bask in a Warriors team that has worked its way to this cosy spot where they hold the footy pretty well.

That's a seed from the Kearney era and while Nathan Brown has come in as coach this season (tied for second best Warriors winning percentage with 50 percent - tied with John Monie, Daniel Anderson's the best at 55.4 percent), along with a few new signings; most of the Warriors stuff feels like seeds growing. Various folks came to the Warriors when Kearney was coach, led by Peter O'Sullivan and we have seen Paul Turner develop to now settle into NRL reps or players that O'Sullivan has brought in contributing to a genuinely competitive 30-deep squad.

In just six games, 25 players have been used by the Warriors.

Played

Bunty Afoa, Leeson Ah Mau, Tom Ale, Josh Curran, Wayde Egan, Kane Evans, Addin Fonua-Blake, Tohu Harris, Eliesa Katoa, Jack Murchie, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Bailey Sironen, Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, Jazz Tevaga.

Euan Aitken, David Fusitua, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Peta Hiku, Ken Maumalo, Marcelo Montoya, Kodi Nikorima, Sean O'Sullivan, Adam Pompey, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Paul Turner.

Not Played

Jackson Frei, Rocco Berry, Hayze Perham, Pride Petterson-Robati, Reece Walsh.

The young crop of Ale, Katoa, Harris-Tavita and Turner have come through the Warriors system to build out this squad. There are players who I'd suggest are of the cheaper variety in Curran, Taunoa-Brown, Murchie and Pompey who have come to the Warriors in recent years to develop nicely. Then we have all the new recruits who have come in and found a niche, whether that's a brief niche due to injury or covering those absences. Aitken, Sironen, Evans, Montoya and O'Sullivan have bolstered the squad around the rest of the established players.

In defeating the Dragons, I pondered how this feels like the deepest Warriors squad in recent years with a lovely blend of high-end talent and job-doing value players. Consider the round one team that defeated Gold Coast Titans and how different that team is to the team that enjoyed a win vs Dragons...

Players from round one who didn't play vs Dragons: David Fusitua, Euan Aitken, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Addin Fonua-Blake, Eliesa Katoa, Bayley Sironen.

Six from the top-17 from the first game and Hiku only played 5mins vs Dragons, so for 75mins of the round six game vs Dragons the Warriors were without three of their round one back-five. All of which is interesting because the Warriors are still competitive despite the selection shake ups and digging deeper into their squad. At the very least this highlights a different vibe in the Warriors from a time when such changes would make wins rather tricky.

Tohu Harris has played all six games and as the leader of the forward pack who has made 40+ tackles in every game this season, Harris also has 2 tries, 2 try assists, 13 tackle busts and 8 offloads. Harris is yet to play over 20 games a season with the Warriors, having played 25+ games in each of his first four seasons with Melbourne Storm and as long as Harris is jacking up games he will find ways to be effective.

Last week Roger Tuivasa-Sheck had 6 tackle busts and 259m, yet the Warriors weren't as funky in attack as one would hope. This week Tuivasa-Sheck had 7 tackle busts and 257m, to go with 2 linebreaks and a try. The first game the Warriors lost, next game Warriors win. I’m keeping an eye on where Tuivasa-Sheck is most effective and while there is nice variety between left and right edge, Tuivasa-Sheck was busy on the right vs Dragons in a Warriors win.

Against Manly, Tuivasa-Sheck still had a linebreak assist as he put Jack Murchie through a hole that led to Ken Maumalo's try. Tuivasa-Sheck got the ball out the back from O'Sullivan and ran at Waikato's Morgan Harper to create the gap...

Against the Dragons, Tuivasa-Sheck's work was most impressive on the right. Nothing complicated in either instance, just the edge forward (Harris/Murdoch-Masila) running a decoy and Nikorima hitting Tuivasa-Sheck out the back...

The Dragons still have good numbers in coming up against Tuivasa-Sheck - Jack Bird is lined up with Turner in both instances. The beauty here is getting Tuivasa-Sheck into space and the Warriors force Corey Norman to make a decision, then it’s a nightmare of trying to stop Tuivasa-Sheck without much help and plenty of wiggle room. This may be a seed to watch out for as Tuivasa-Sheck highlighted a need to be more effective in his work and that may be as simple as creating space and getting Tuivasa-Sheck the ball in space.

We’ve had all sorts of Warriors attack this season. Clean and crisp set-plays have been well executed. Razzle dazzle has been a factor, especially when ideas such as shifting after an offload or pushing up in support are starting to be evident. With momentum, the Warriors can also play hard and fast through the middle. A couple tries have been scored from pre-planned grubbers with a chaser in hot pursuit. They have also struggled in patches, looking a bit lost for ideas or going away from what typically works.

After six games, development and bouncing back have been present though. Players are getting better and as we saw with Tuivasa-Sheck, there’s an intention to figure out a better way. Regardless of who is playing or how deep the Warriors reach into their 30-man squad, they have quickly found a win to get back on track and it all makes for an enticing start to this season.

Peace and love.