KEY POINTS:
One of a coach's hardest jobs is to make a judgment call on a player he may never have met. In the course of a season, a bloke can demonstrate to a coach he's a genius, a jester, a jerk or a gigolo. Most of the players I had responsibility for, could boast a little bit of each.
In dealing with the personality traits of different players, 12 games is a long time and 12 months is an eternity. I had blokes turn from Tarzan to Jane, and Superman to Lois Lane in the space of seven days. Finding the turbo button was the key to getting the best out of guys you worked alongside in mostly mundane circumstances, seven days a week.
Before last weekend, the Warriors had won eight of their last 12 NRL games but circumstances dictated it meant virtually nothing. Then the Warriors battered tenacious Parramatta to extend that run to nine from 13.
New season, new team, new attitude. And the tremors of that result are already running through the NRL.
The four points the Warriors were penalised for salary cap indiscretions last year will be safely in the bank after just two games this time.
Reigning premiers Brisbane Broncos come to town on Sunday - and they'll go home with two losses from two starts in a season which promises to one of the most exciting yet.
I can't recall a more powerful start than the Warriors' first 40 minutes against the Eels. There was everything good in abundance - speed, strength, power and commitment. All rolled out with a measured calm which is the trademark of their coach Ivan Cleary.
It's early days, but Cleary is already showing the potential to be coach of the season.
Various commentators say the Warriors may lack the finesse in their playmakers to go all the way. My view is that their power forwards will give their little men plenty of time and space to weave their magic. And I didn't see a great deal of superiority in the halves of the other teams over the first weekend anyway.
My confidence about the Warriors' chances against Brisbane is not arrived at lightly. I'm well aware of their strength and depth across the park.
And Broncos boss Bruno Cullen provided me with one of the best stories (a true one) ever told to me. It was in 1980 at a pub in the mining town of Mt Isa, which in those days was a tough place full of tough men.
My Norths team had won the Brisbane Premiership and Tony Durkin from the RLWeek magazine and I had been invited to the Townies Club as speakers. This was apparently a big deal and we were welcomed in a way only a North West Queensland mining town can do. It seemed we had to have a beer with everyone in the town. Eventually a bloke came up to me and didn't look too flash.
He'd been bitten early that morning by a red-back spider.
He'd got up for a run and the spider was in his T-shirt. He was bitten under the arm and, after realising what it was went straight to hospital.
These bites can be fatal. Luckily it wasn't. But he told the hospital staff he needed to get out as quickly as possible to get down to the pub to have a beer with me.
Eventually he got himself checked out and arrived at the pub with a decent thirst. I asked him if he was going to be Ok. He said "it's only a bloody spider bite, what's the panic". The week before in the same pub, a bloke had died after being bitten on the toe by a snake.
So if anyone is in any doubt that this Broncos outfit might be a bit soft at the edges with the loss of injured Darren Lockyer and Corey Parker, think again. Cullen now runs the most successful footy club in the game and I'd suggest spiders and snakes in the grass should beware.
But the retirement of front-rower Shane Webke has hit them hard and the Bronco forwards don't look anywhere near as formidable.
With their best player and captain Lockyer out with an ankle injury, they are facing a Warriors side injury-free and full of running and confidence.
The manner in which they put the Eels to the sword last week was very impressive. And off-season buys, winger Michael Crockett and the more experienced Wade McKinnon, were outstanding. I have never seen better debuts by any of the club's new recruits of the past.
Former Warriors fullback Brent Webb was always keen to back up but his replacement McKinnon is just as good, with more weight and height. He is a superbly strong returner of the ball and is already dimming memories of the talented Webb.
But it was the complete structure of the team's performance that was most impressive. There was a blend of power and subtlety which has been missing for years at the club.
The Eels were very disappointing. They lacked organisation and, even more worrying for their coach Michael Hagan, they seemed to lack enthusiasm.
It was a very good start for the home side and there was a wonderful atmosphere at the ground - but I did think there would have been more people there.
It will be a shame if the stands are not packed this week, because the new Vodafone Auckland Lions also looked very good in the first game in the Premier League, flogging the Eels, and, against the Newton Jets they will provide a perfect curtain-raiser to the main game.
It's worth the admission price to watch the consummate playmaker Steve Buckingham pilot a team of talented youngsters around the paddock with extraordinary skill and precision, equal to any NRL half.
Brisbane have always played an exciting brand of footy that fans in New Zealand love and you can be assured this Sunday will be no different.
Last Sunday at Newcastle, referee Tony Archer capitulated to the enormous pressure he was under to send off the Bulldogs' Kiwi second-rower, Sonny Bill Williams.
On the ground unconscious in front of him was, according to the opinion of many, the world's best player, Andrew Johns.
SBW had hit Johns high in a tackle but, from what I saw at the time, I don't think it was dangerous and he shouldn't have been sent off.
It was similar to many tackles we see each game. It was unfortunate that Johns was knocked out - but hey, it's not a game of marbles.
