"From a distance, it looks like he has taken his foot off the pedal," says former Kiwi Richie Barnett. "It might be down to attitude but he needs to focus on getting back to where he should be. If he is a bit underdone, then the judgement will come in the next month or so."
"At the moment, I'm not sure opposition teams are as worried about him as they used to be," says former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan. "He's just not producing regularly; he's not like a Glenn Stewart at Manly, where other teams are on edge every time he gets the ball."
Warriors coach Matt Elliott defends Mateo's slow start to 2014.
"I've been asked a few questions about Feleti so obviously people out there are making assumptions that he is way off," says Elliott.
"Feleti is just like the whole team - as a team, we would prefer to be playing better but what no one really knows is that he had a knee operation in December that really knocked into his pre-season and he hasn't been free of that."
Surgery on his meniscus disrupted his off-season, meaning Mateo has struggled to get to optimum fitness levels so far in 2014.
"He came back in great shape, then had knee surgery," says Elliott. "There are all kinds of different players that you have and Feleti falls into the category - like some of our guys - who are at their best when they are running.
"Some guys you can condition in the gym but we have a whole host of guys who need to run ... like Konrad [Hurrell], Ngani [Laumape], Ben [Matulino] and Feleti ... they respond best when they run."
The effects of surgery might help to explain his lack of spark this year - but what about last season, which in terms of bare statistics, was his least productive since coming to the Warriors? For much of 2013, he wasn't the player fans had hoped for, the dynamic back rower who had been touted as a potential New South Wales Origin player at the start of the campaign.
Remember the anticipation when Mateo arrived at the Warriors?
He was one of the biggest signings in the club's history, the player to take the Warriors to the next level.
In his first season, he delivered on that promise, providing an incredible 88 offloads, as well as 13 linebreaks and running for almost 120 metres per game.
He also showed an ability to adapt to circumstances - in the epic preliminary final in Melbourne in 2011, Mateo didn't attempt a single offload for the best part of an hour as that game became a territorial tussle.
Before that, in the run to the finals, Mateo was often the focal point of the attack, with James Maloney and Shaun Johnson able to create havoc running off his clever passes.
In 2012, he struggled, along with the rest of the team, to maintain any form of consistency, though he still led the NRL in offloads and delivered more than 100 metres per match with ball in hand.
Last year was the most mystifying yet; he played well for a period of games, turning in some stellar 80 minute performances, but across the season his impact - and statistics - were down on what you would expect from a marquee man.
"Feleti is an exceptional player on his day but we are just not seeing it often enough," says McGahan. "We all know what he can do but we are just not seeing it at the moment."
"It's a difficult situation," adds Barnett. "No one questions his talent but in the NRL, the levels and standards go up every year and Feleti doesn't seem like the kind of player who is dedicated to constantly improving. In the end, it's up to him how good he wants to be."
