Early on in the 2017 Telstra NRL Premiership, a noticeable deficiency on the part of the Warriors has emerged, which is the lack of a dominating front line.
The old hands say what is needed is an enforcer, a player with the size and enough of a nasty attitude to make the others sides’ forward line respect that of the Warriors.
What is lacking is someone along the lines of Andy Fifita and Paul Gallen at the Sharks, or Jason Taumalolo (when he plays) at the Cowboys.
When the Warriors met the Bulldogs recently, they did manage to sustain possession and hold territory, but they could not seal the deal when it truly mattered.
Lacking stamina in the second half, the Warriors’ defense in the second half had little response to Sam Kasiano, who put the hurt on a tired group and lock David Klemmer was putting over 200 metres on the clock, whilst the Warriors could manage just 115 m from a paltry 12 carries.
Melbourne coasted to an easy 26 – 10 win and the Warriors desperately need someone to bring a radical change to the pack if they are to be any sort of factor in the 2017 competition.
Albert Vete has the size. Sam Lisone the aggressive attitude and Ben Matulino needs to get healthy. Warriors Coach Stephen Kearney seems to feel that he has seven or eight players who could add a dash of nasty to the front, but as yet, the dash has been mostly absent.