Richie Barnett: Onus on Warriors to dominate Roosters

Simon Mannering in centre stiffened the edge defence. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

If the Warriors are to stand any chance against the Roosters tomorrow night they'll have to be physically dominant. They'll have to get up in defence with plenty of intent and smash the Roosters over. They'll have to dominate in the tackle and win the yardage game. If they don't, the Roosters have the weapons to do some serious damage.

If the Roosters are allowed to get into their groove they could run up a score.

That said, the signs from the Warriors were good last week. The changes worked.

Sometimes when you've been playing a conservative style of football and you're given the chance to break the shackles it can have a big impact on your enthusiasm. That was there to see against the Sharks.

Putting Simon Mannering and Shaun Berrigan in the centres really stiffened the edge defence. Both of those players make tremendous defensive reads, which makes all the difference.

And Feleti Mateo was impressive at five-eighths. He had a huge impact. You know what you are going to get with Feleti. He is going to make some errors but he is also going to make things happen. He just needs to find the right balance. He made three errors against the Sharks. Ideally, you'd like to see him get that down to one a game. And it's not all about the number of errors. Often it's about where you are on the field when you make them.

While it was great to see Glen Fisiiahi prove what a talent he is, I also thought Jacob Lillyman was outstanding against the Sharks. He was completely dominant. To me he is getting back close to his Origin form of a few years ago, which is a great sign for the Warriors.

The selection of Kevin Locke on the bench looks a strange one to me. Against the Sharks he came on to the wing for the last 20 minutes when Berrigan went to hooker. I'm not sure the Warriors can afford that luxury against a Roosters side that will stack its bench with forwards.

The likes of Jason Ryles, Mose Masoe, Frank-Paul Nuuausala and Daniel Conn will provide a massive impact off the bench for the Roosters. The Warriors really need to be able to match it. If they don't, the likes of Todd Carney, Mitchell Pearce and Braith Anasta will do some real damage.