The Warriors have a problem.
They lack a spark when the game goes off script.
And that will be the difference between lifting the trophy and watching someone else do it.
Their Round 26 clash with Newcastle exposed it perfectly, with the Warriors somehow finding themselves in a genuine arm wrestle against a Knights side that played with 12 men for almost the entire game following Jacob Saifiti's early send-off.
Newcastle entered the contest averaging just 26 points per game before Round 26, the second-lowest attacking average among the top eight sides.
Yet they scored 22 points against the Warriors while playing a man down for the majority of the afternoon.
Sandon Smith also missed two conversions, meaning the Knights could have realistically finished with 26 points.
For a team with genuine premiership aspirations, that should be a major warning sign.
The problem was not simply that the Warriors conceded points. It was the manner in which their defence began to unravel once the Knights forced them away from the game they wanted to play.
The Warriors have shown they are too heavily drawn towards the first receiver, particularly through their edge defence.
When the ball was in the hands of Smith on the left edge, defenders became too focused on stopping that initial threat, compressing the line and leaving themselves vulnerable when the ball continued moving.
This was not a one time thing.
Their 28-12 win over Penrith was arguably the Warriors' best performance of the season, but even in that victory there were glimpses of the problem.
Nathan Cleary was able to draw the Warriors' defence before creating space for Jaxen Edgar, while the Panthers also exposed their scramble defence when Jenkins made his break.
And that is the scary part for the Warriors.
What happens when someone like Cleary decides to turn it on? Because that is what elite players do in finals football.
They find moments. They change the tempo.
They see something that perhaps nobody else sees and force a defensive line to make a decision..
If the Warriors continue to get sucked in by these playmakers and fail to trust their eyes when the ball moves beyond them, a player like Cleary will eventually make them pay.
If they can't make it work against a side on the bottom of the eight with one less player, they will struggle to do it against a top tier side hungry for the shield.
Now it's easy to understand they had the most inexperienced halves pairing in NRL history, however that one man advantage should've overruled this deficit and senior players needed to step up and add that spark and control.
In a finals game, when an elite playmaker decides it is time to take control, those moments are the difference between winning and going home.
They were also unable to adapt and execute scramble defence with this advantage.
After Sharpe made his break against Newcastle, the Warriors were caught on the back foot and struggled with their second-effort defence as the Knights continued the play.
The same vulnerability appeared against Penrith when Jenkins created an unexpected opportunity and led to a Nathan Cleary try.
The Warriors are incredibly well drilled when they can defend within their systems, this was shown through the middle in that same Panthers game smashing them in their own half.
But finals football is rarely that simple.
The opposition is going to break the structure. Sometimes a ball will bounce somewhere unexpected. Sometimes a player will make a break that forces everyone to turn and react.
That is where the Warriors need to become better at playing eyes-up football.
They need to recognise what is happening in front of them rather than automatically falling back into the system they have spent the entire season perfecting.
In some ways, Newcastle's one-man disadvantage actually exposed this perfectly.
The Warriors had an extra player for almost the entire game, yet they looked awkward because the situation was in the territory of the ‘unknown'.
Having an extra man should make the game easier.
The Warriors however appeared to lack communication and leadership in those moments.
There appeared to be confusion over who was taking responsibility, particularly on the edges.
Their right edge leaked line breaks, while their left edge struggled to recover when the ball moved across the field.
The space outside Kurt Capewell was particularly concerning, with Jermaine McEwen able to get through untouched despite the Warriors having 13 players on the field compared to Newcastle's 12.
That is where the Warriors need their leaders to step up, and it makes Luke Metcalf's return all the more important.
His performance alongside Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad in the Warriors' win over Penrith a few weeks ago showed exactly what this side can look like when structure is complemented by individual creativity.
Metcalf was the spark.
That is exactly what they will need in September.
The Warriors have the attack to win a premiership. They averaged 29.6 points per game before Round 26, the best attacking figure among the top eight, and have already shown they can beat the best with their 28-12 win over Penrith.
They have the structure. They have the discipline. They have the attacking weapons.
But finals football is about more than having a system and executing it perfectly.
Because eventually, someone like Cleary or James Tedesco is going to decide to turn it on and they will need someone to do the exact same.
The minute Metcalf is fit he must be re-injected back into that team.
Someone that they can fall onto in those times to create something that will be shown in highlights for years to come.
If he isn't, they will struggle.
As I said, the Warriors are still premiership threats.
But they need to look at their defensive efforts beyond their enforcers and find their spark on the field in big game moments.
As an honorary New Zealand fan for finals football, I'm just really hoping the hype doesn't hit them on the way out.
