Richie Barnett: Warriors bubbling under as pressure builds

Steve Matai's agent has stonewalled the Warriors. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

As the pressure goes on in the NRL some teams are responding - and some aren't.

My old club the Roosters have been the big movers. They are playing some amazing footy at the moment.

Their up-tempo style is reminiscent of the way they played in 2002 when they took out the Premiership. It really is just wonderful to watch.

With outstanding playmakers Todd Carney and Mitchell Pearce in the halves and Braith Anasta at lock they have a deadly three-pronged attack. They also have a great bunch of Kiwis who are standing up week-in week-out.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall's four tries against the Broncos two weeks ago were superb, while the likes of Sam Perrett and Frank-Paul Nuuausala have also been in fine form.

But while the Roosters are on a charge with some serious momentum behind them, other clubs are faltering.

The Dragons' slump doesn't really come as a surprise to me.

Some people are blaming Mark Gasnier's return as the reason they have dipped but I don't buy that at all. The Dragons are a good side and they have quality players across the board but they have remained at pretty much the same level all season.

They have been extremely solid but they don't appear to have much margin to improve. Teams have figured out their left side attack and they haven't been able to come up with anything new.

At this time of year when other clubs start picking up their games, the Dragons are again being overtaken.

It seems to happen to them every year. The pressure and expectation seems to get to them. They were just awful against the Broncos.

Every team will have a slump at some stage and the Dragons are having theirs now.

They need to get out of it quickly but they will sure have their hands full with the Roosters on Sunday in what should be a great match.

The Warriors are another team that badly needs to get going in the right direction again.

Their performances over the last two weeks have been pretty concerning.

The NRL is so tight this year that there are no givens, but you'd have to look at the Warriors' next two games, against the Sharks and Knights, as matches they should win.

It's all about getting their performance right. If they do that the results will follow.

Heading into the finals it's all about momentum. The Warriors had it just a couple of weeks ago and they badly need to get it back.

Losing Jerome Ropati to injury has really hurt them but hopefully Sam Rapira will be back soon. He is exactly the type of player who will give them the boost they really need.

You can't blame the Warriors for pulling out of their attempt to sign Steve Matai. Matai's manager not even getting back to the club about their offer was pretty unprofessional, but it tells you exactly where they stood.

There was plenty of debate about whether Matai would have been a good signing anyway. Personally, I think he would have been great.

Matai has plenty of knockers, mainly due to his disciplinary record. People wonder why you'd want a guy like that in your team.

Talk to the players and they love having Matai as a teammate. One of the reasons is that you don't have to play against him. Sure, he puts in a few high tackles and some people think that is stupid. It's not stupid.

It's scary. Guys like Quentin Pongia and Ruben Wiki went high a lot. They used to try to rip your head off and look at the careers they had. Players hated playing against them, but you loved it when they were on your team.