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Message: [QUOTE="Ari Gold, post: 2663381, member: 1917"] Hard to say what the Warriors strengths and weaknesses are so far as it's been a largely inconsistent and unremarkable set of performances thus far. IMO Tomkins has been a step above from last year and his absence will be notable, despite what Porthoz might think of him. Here's my observations of the Warriors, though some of these impressions are from last year: They like to push when the game is in the balance, the Warriors fight a lot harder than they did in the pre-Macfadden days. One of the features of their defence is that rather than just using line speed, they are specifically coached to have the first man hold up the ball carrier and then two defenders come in and push. Runs from dummy half or one up hit ups where there's only one guy lining up to take it will be punished if the game is in the balance. They also like to push from the scrum once per game. Usually went it's least expected or when the game is in the balance. They have a decent success ratio at it too. SJ has been horrible this year. He's also carrying a left arm injury. He's also worse when he plays without Tomkins. Their right edge attack is their go to area when Tomkins is in the team and Lolohea doesn't have the same chemistry, even if he is a half by trade. Allwood is also an average player and isn't the same threat that Hurrell is. Hoffman has improved their left edge attack. He's especially dangerous from fast play the balls as the threat is there to go wide to Vatuvei and that opens things up for Hoffman. Their right edge defence will be very weak this week. Allwood has 2-3 games experience and Jonno Wright isn't much chop. He's tall, so it's a bad idea to bomb to him, but you'd run down that edge all day if you're smart. I can see Glenn scoring a try this weekend. Lolohea is not a natural fullback or winger and his high ball prowess is not as good as a result. He spilt one last week against the Eels. Vatuvei lacks a bit of acceleration too. Ideally you'd bomb between Lolohea and Vatuvei to create confusion. Neither is nailed on to take it and putting it between them will just create more confusion and possibly expose any potential lack of confidence Lolohea has under the bomb. Their only centre is Kata who looks dangerous but is still a rookie. Needs to be watched in attack but Hodges could take advantage of him defensively. Leileui looks a bit more dangerous out of dummy half than Friend so poor marker defence is more likely to be punished. He set up a try on the weekend for Lolohea by taking advantage. All in all this is a very winnable game though. [/QUOTE]

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