Graham Lowe: Fresh young talent is the key

It was a damp miserable drive back along the motorway after the Warriors game on Sunday. Caught in the crawling traffic in wintery mist as early darkness fell made the Warriors loss against the Cowboys seem even worse.

Once home I turned on the television to catch the Tigers playing the Rabbitohs and what a contrast to what I had seen at Mt Smart. Enthusiasm and desperation seemed to be jumping out of the screen from both teams. It can't be denied that a better brand of football was being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

A couple of hours earlier the Cowboys had ridden into Mt Smart expecting a "last-stand-at-the-OK-Corral" fight against a desperate home side. They left their deep attacking game in Townsville and circled their wagons in a tight bunch prepared for short hand-to-hand engagements.

It was the only time this season I've seen the Cowboys fight for two points this way, usually they follow a riskier gameplan.

As it turned out, the Warriors never fired a shot, in fact it looked as if they were using pop guns. Against Johnathan Thurston, who is the quickest gun in town, that can only mean one result.

While it was always going to be a tough afternoon for the Warriors against Thurston's mob it was made even more difficult because the Warriors appeared sluggish. What should be the easiest thing in the world for the Warriors to deliver appeared to be the hardest thing for them to find. Enthusiasm!

The fans arrived at Mt Smart with plenty of it but it seemed to be lacking in the Warriors effort. Coach Ivan Cleary has had to watch some ordinary performances at times, but this must rank among the worst.

However, looking at the remainder of their season the Warriors have some good options left open to them. But time is their enemy.

The Warriors see Lance Hohaia as an impact player and I agree he does make a huge difference.

However I'd have him starting in every game, and he'd be one of the first picked in the halves on a permanent basis. He continually proves he is the "go-to" player who can turn the game. But with the season starting to shrink, I can't see how you can afford to have potentially your best attacking player not in the frontline.

The less time Hohaia is on the field, the less chance the team has to take control of their own fate.

I thought Nathan Fien was the Kiwis' best player in the World Cup last year but his form this season has been mixed. The speculation surrounding his future wouldn't have been helping him, but now both he and the club can move forward. Uncertainty breeds uncertainty and that is what we saw on Sunday.

This will have been a tough call for Cleary to make, because no one likes delivering the not-wanted notice especially to someone who is a good bloke. Fein is one of the best professionals I've seen at the Warriors and I wish him luck in the future. But Hohaia would add plenty to the attack and that needs to be found quickly because apart from a cross-field kick to Manu Vatuvei there doesn't seem to be much on offer at present.

There is also now a bit of pressure on Stacey Jones now because the magic seems to be missing. But I'd expect he will now find himself again as he accepts the role of directional responsibility for his team.

Both fullback Wade McKinnon and skipper Steve Price are below their best.

McKinnon looked as though he was trying hard to get into Sunday's game but it wasn't the type of match in which he could get on to his front foot.

It would be a big call to put McKinnon on the bench and start with Kevin Locke but timing is everything. The young Under-20s fullback has a Billy Slater look about him and certainly doesn't lack confidence.

The dilemma facing the Warriors coaches is that a third of the season has now gone and although it won't take a lot to get the Warriors into the top eight, it also wouldn't take much to put them right out of the running.

Trying to weigh the balance of youth and experience is not an easy job.

During my first year at Manly we had been going through a very tough spell and faced the Balmain Tigers in a mid-season fixture at Leichardt Oval. No one was giving us any chance and the Tigers were running hot.

But they didn't reckon on Frankie Stokes, the young 17-year-old I plucked from the lower grades to play fullback.

A small player, this little Aboriginal kid produced the game of his life and played a major part in our win that day, receiving man of the match.

But apart from his natural talent the big thing he added was enthusiasm. I can still see his big smile as he stepped through this star-studded Tigers team.

Warren Ryan was the coach of Balmain at the time and listening to him in the coaches' box next to me barking orders to try and stop little Frankie was priceless.

Warren was a master tactician, but one thing any coach struggles to plan against is an unknown kid who is full of talent, confidence and enthusiasm.

As the game progressed Ryan ordered an aerial attack on young Stokesy that you had to see to believe. Standing under colossal bombs and hearing the footsteps of the giant Paul Sironin charging down on you was not an easy task for this young bloke. But he was up to it time and again.

There are any number of kids who will jump at the chance to show what they lack in experience, they make up for with natural talent, confidence and enthusiasm.

So against a Raiders side this Sunday, bristling after Monday night's flogging by the Storm, the Warriors need to be on their game.

If they are to survive they need to find where they left their enthusiasm and show it to the Raiders.