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Let's call it now - the Auckland Warriors will make the NRL top eight playoffs this season. Easily.
It's a prediction we might get to make every now and then, or almost never. Are we witnessing a miracle or a mirage? Believe it or not, almost certainly the former.
The Warriors are used to being dogged by pessimism but won't thank the media for peddling premature optimism.
Coach Steve Kearney will fear the thought of complacency sneaking under the door. But after the latest victory over the Tigers, seven wins out of nine in a 16-team, 24-round competition tells its own story.
On average over the past five seasons, twelve wins get a team into the playoffs. On that basis, the Warriors need five wins from 15 games. On the bounce back theory alone, and these Warriors deal exceptionally well with defeat, they should survive a few disappointments.
It is all a very pleasant shock, like waking up one day and finding Clarke Gayford isn't in the news.
How the Warriors have reached this position is just as surprising.
Two of the stars are Bunty Afoa and Ken Maumalo. Seriously.
Runaway forward Afoa was brave but ordinary last season, to be nice about it. Now he's zooming around like something North Korea might fire near Japan.
Bunty Afoa - Warriors Rocket Man putting the Tigers to the sword. Photo / Photsport
Mistake prone Maumalo is the new metre eater. Maumalo is a huge wing with deceptive footwork which helps him make a lot of ground in the middle of the field. This follows a club tradition set down by Manu Vatuvei, although he had all the subtlety of a Donald Trump tweet.
There are some predictable aspects to the Warriors. Issac Luke has rediscovered the classic form which made him one of the best players in the NRL at South Sydney. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is playing how Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has always played - brilliantly in every regard. The superb Blake Green is a very traditional type of game director.
But a lot of what the Warriors are doing is in the spirit of a team, beyond pigeon holes and statistics, of turning up for each other, of someone finding a way to get the job done.
Ken Maumalo of the Warriors scores a try during the round nine NRL match between the New Zealand Warriors and the Wests Tigers. Photo / Getty Images.
Adam Blair is a maverick forward in the middle of the field, a big-money signing who is not required to over-work. He is the ignition, a fire starter. I don't remember seeing a Blair-type lock in the NRL before, or not for a long time.
The legendary Simon Mannering used to be an essential item. Centre stage for so long, he has been a cameo player this year and just one of the gang, when fit.
Half Shaun Johnson picks his moments to play like a brilliant attacking centre with fast feet and hands.
Emboldened by his World Cup form perhaps, David Fusitu'a is oozing confidence as a flying corner flag finisher, the best the club has ever had.
New signing Tohu Harris is surpassing his Melbourne form, particularly on attack. Very few players have improved after joining the Warriors and Harris was a terrific forward anyway.
Collectively, the Warriors' defence and scrambling is exceptional. The Dragons match will never be forgotten in this regard. Inexperienced players are stepping in and stepping up. These are not renowned Warriors traits.
The Warriors played in shackles last year. Now they are all spring lambs. It is very weird.
To be honest, a lot of us are still waiting for the bubble to burst, because we've been conditioned that way and still have trouble trusting this new team.
But hey, what is life if you can't celebrate a whopping great beacon of hope.
The clean out of erratic contributors such as two-time player of thee year Ben Matulino, power centre Konrad Hurrell and fan favourite Manu Vatuvei is finally bearing fruit, it seems.
They can now build the side with the odd key signing, rather than sweeping changes. Some of the poor individual tackling will still be among Kearney's chief concerns, although it wasn't a huge issue against the Tigers. Every team has issues.
Kearney has gone from being a coach with a very dodgy NRL record to a miracle worker. Some Aussie pundits picked the Warriors for the wooden spoon - that's how low their reputation had sunk after the 2017 season, Kearney's first in charge.
Too many amazing things have happened at once in 2018.
The NRL is a place of shifting sands this year. Nothing has shifted more than the Warriors image.
Most club fans would have been happy if they had snuck into the top eight. The prospect of them storming in? We must be dreaming.
