KEY POINTS:
Tradition has it that you win league games if you have the better players in jerseys one, six, seven and nine.
It also suggests that games are won up front, that you make ground straight ahead before earning the right to go wide.
Sunday's Warriors-Sea Eagles game promises two confrontational forward packs which boast explosive players.
Behind them are line-breaking centres and two of the best fullbacks this season.
The Eagles have the more experienced game-runner in halfback Matt Orford. He missed Monday's loss to the Rabbitohs and neither stand-in Michael Monaghan and five-eighths Jamie Lyon nor the Warriors' Grant Rovelli and Michael Witt against Canberra operated behind dominant packs.
The Eagles' usual kicking game was shortened because their kickers were put under pressure and did not have time and space.
The Warriors' backline manoeuvres were stifled and they rarely ran the ball to their wings, so they could not employ the speed of Michael Crockett nor the power of Manu Vatuvei to best advantage. All three of their tries came from chip kicks.
This game will be different - both teams out to make amends after dropping matches they could have won. It promises to be close, with a torrid forward battle right from the start as both seek to assert dominance.
There are any number of players on either side who could come up with the winning play and it may not be one wearing a one, six, seven or nine.
Two excitement machines meet. Brett Stewart may have more pace, Wade McKinnon may be the better broken-play runner. The advantage McKinnon gives the Warriors on kick-return is huge, not just in ground-gain but in threat - opponents cannot let him run because he is a long-range, try-scoring expert. Statistics for both fullbacks across the season are remarkably similar. Both know when to inject themselves into the attack and it will be the team that provides its fullback with the better opportunities and off-loads that will determine which number one wins this contest.
Simon Mannering is becoming one of the Warriors' best attacking weapons. He made a schoolboy error at the start of last Saturday's game in being thrown over the sideline on tackle one and is sure to have digested that and will be determined to make amends. He is a powerful ball-runner, hard to tackle, with a good off-load as well as the ability to stand in the tackle and bring in defenders, which then opens holes for others. Opposite Steve Bell is a great line-breaker but in Mannering he may meet his match on defence.
Michael Monaghan loves scooting around the ruck or scrum, providing short passes for support players. He's also a useful short chip-kicker as well as a solid defender.
So is Nathan Fien. Fien likes to run more - what he needs is back-up once the initial probe and half-break is made. And he'll be able to create more opportunities if the Warriors win the go-forward.
Both are fierce competitors so their attempts to get on top of each other will add plenty of spark to the game.
Anthony Watmough is a workaholic who hits hard in attack and defence. His off-loading rate is near the stats leaders. He is ably assisted by Glenn Stewart. Where Ruben Wiki has an advantage is in experience. Wiki has changed his game as he's aged so as to pop up at crucial times, marshalling the defence, providing try-saving tackles and the timed big hits that lift teams at times of hardship. On attack, he picks his time to inject himself on power runs. As with Price, his ability to inspire the younger team members is invaluable.
Steve Price is the game's best metre-gainer and a terrific leader. He carries not only the opposition's tacklers - his charges relieve pressure at crucial times, set their platform early in the tackle count and inspire the younger props, Sam Rapira and Evarn Tuimavave.
Brent Kite does not carry the same mana. Price was the better when the pair last packed down against each other in State of Origin. Whichever side can gain the quicker play-the-ball will have gone some distance towards victory.
