Aotearoa Warriors stumbled to victory against Wests Tigers last week and now face off against Brisbane Broncos in another clash of ho-hum footy teams. Broncos were reasonably crappy in their loss to North Queensland Cowboys and could bounce back in hearty fashion, or continue along their path of mediocrity.

Not only are Broncos coming off a funny loss, they now travel less than 40km to Redcliffe for an 'away' game against Warriors. Now is not the time to get overly dramatic about Aotearoa Warriors because they don't play home games - there is no home advantage. Everyone seems to forget this when assessing Warriors and playing a 'home' game in the wider Brisbane region is a clear example of the forces working against Warriors.

Meanwhile the Kiwi-NRL takeover continues and Warriors will return to Mt Smart at some point. Aussies have no idea of Aotearoa's presence in the NRL. For the Warriors and Warriors folk, visions of a rowdy Mt Smart Stadium will be manifested. The flipside here is that Broncos were horrible on home turf against Cowboys and now have a clear advantage in facing Warriors in Brisbane.

Broncos will either bounce back and channel Brisbane vibes in victory over Warriors. Or Broncos will fumble and replicate Los Angeles Lakers; not much doing on the field, but plenty of media attention. Warriors can either gift Broncos a lovely win or deepen their woes.

At the time of writing, Shaun Johnson is a chance of returning. Jack Murchie replaces Bayley Sironen on the bench and after last week's check in with Sironen's mahi, he backed it up with 7 runs - 53m and 5 missed tackles. Murchie can cover edge and middle, while Ben Murdoch-Masila has low key been starting at prop in reserve grade. A couple different bench forward options here, especially with Eliesa Katoa battling niggly injuries.

If Johnson returns, I suspect a straight swap with Kodi Nikorima. Nikorima was solid like most Warriors against Tigers but didn't do anything fresh. Maybe the coaching directive is for Nikorima to be a typical halfback in distributing the footy while Chanel Harris-Tavita and Reece Walsh provide attacking funk. Otherwise Nikorima is averaging 42 run metres per game this season and that's his lowest since 2016.

Nikorima may be playing a Johnson type of role and that's fine. No one should be expecting razzle dazzle Nikorima if he is starting in the halves, in the same way no one should be expecting razzle dazzle footy from Johnson. Regardless of who starts, the team needs a bloke landing kicks in open pasture, dictating where the game is played and steering the team around.

Last week the South Auckland Rhino Jason Taumalolo led his forward pack to victory over Payne Haas and his Broncos pack. Now Addin Fonua-Blake leads the Warriors pack into battle against Haas and his forwards.

This is the fourth season in a row with Fonua-Blake averaging 160+ run metres per game. Fonua-Blake also has three seasons with less than 25 missed tackles prior to 2022 and after 4 missed tackles vs Titans, Fonua-Blake has back to back games with 20+ tackles made and no missed tackles. Whether it's the eye test stuff like Fonua-Blake bursting through a defensive line, or stats like 67 post contact metres per game; Fonua-Blake is one of the best props in the NRL.

Fonua-Blake, Matt Lodge, Josh Curran and Wayde Egan have quickly formed a crucial quartet for Warriors in the middle. Lodge can be equally as dynamic as Fonua-Blake, while Curran is more of a freestyler with a wide range of skills. This trio of middle forwards combined for 47 runs vs Tigers, with Fonua-Blake averaging 10m/run while Lodge and Curran averaged at least 8.5m/run each.

An area of weakness could be defending through the middle. These three have decent individual tackling stats, but against Tigers there was an example of a poor decision in defence from Lodge that led to James Tamou's try. Lodge was lined up against Tamou, but opted to support Egan in defending Jock Madden - as if Madden needed two blokes to tackle him.

The positive is Curran's mahi to cover Lodge's inside shoulder. Broncos may throw different plays at the Warriors middle/ruck area and this is more about attitude or effort in defence rather than tackling.

Egan averages 58m/game, with 96.6 percent tackling efficiency and he has already scored 2 tries which is already nudging his career-best mark of 3 tries last season. Don't over complicate Egan's mahi and the basic premise of what this middle quartet is doing provides a seed that could blossom if looked after.

Junior Warriors Mahi

Fresh developments with Sefanaia Cowley-Lupo starting at fullback to Redcliffe Under 18s last week and again named this week. No Tamakaimoana Whareaorere this week, Jacob Laban starting in the middle again. On top of Cowley-Lupo's emergence, we have the first round of Under 21s.

Redcliffe's team features Ali Leiataua starting at centre and Zyon Maiu'u named on an edge. Kina Kepu is named in the wider squad which isn't a fair reflection of his standing with Warriors as he is also named on the Redcliffe bench for reserve grade. Junior Ratuva and Edward Kosi are getting plenty of reps as starting wingers in reserve grade, Peesi Kepu is starting at prop and Taniela Otukolo continues to come off the bench.

Keep an eye on the Under 16 Shaun Johnson Shield and Under 18 Dean Bell Cup footy in Auckland this weekend as well. Grand Finals in both competitions are to be played on Saturday, as well as more fixtures on Sunday. Plus the NZRL National Under 20s competition continues and while I can't share every Warriors junior in any of these competitions, Warriors juniors are playing as well as lads aligned with other NRL clubs.

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Peace and love.