Those Worrying Warriors
9From The Spotter
Once again fans of the NZ Warriors in the NRL have been left feeling desperate and confused. They’ve now been witness to a three-year term of relative failure (by relative I mean by what their team could potentially have achieved with some of the magnificently-athletic talent in their squads). In giving wildly fluctuating performances since their unlikely run to the 2011 Grand final against Manly, have they become ‘the wearisome Warriors’? One more season of unfulfilled promise and horrible inconsistency and a moniker like this will certainly not be far off the mark.
It’s vexing as to why they often can’t rise to the occasion when we all oh so want them to. About the only thing I’ve come up with so far on this exasperating condition is a migraine-inducing zero.
So without much of an enlightening diagnosis at hand all I’ve got to offer is some advice about what the Warriors might consider for next year:
1. Do not move Shaun Johnson from halfback (unless Johnathan Thurston or Cooper Cronk were coming, which ain’t happening of course). I’m aware he’s not in the top echelon of halfbacks yet, and yes, he probably needs to take more control more often rah-di-rah, but the guy is still exceptionally good when he’s playing well and I ask you these two things: Would anyone else bar a proven superstar have done a better job as the club’s number seven in 2014 and where would the Warriors have finished in the NRL with another player on their roster in that position?
I mean, they struggled did they not those few weeks Johnson missed near the season’s end. And by the way, if you saw the look on his face during the onfield interview after the last game loss to the Panthers, there was a man who looked highly cheesed off at their defeat and he sounded it too. At least we can be assured there is a steely determination that lies within his make-up. Oh, and the man is as quick as a cheetah on steroids, too.
2. Should Captain Mannering fall injured for any length of time in 2015, give the captaincy to Ryan Hoffman. Proverbs originated for a reason and the one which states ‘success breeds success’ would apply to Hoffman. A multiple title winner with the Storm and Australia, Hoffman has the kind of week-in, week-out consistency of performance that a flaky team like the Warriors need. He plays above his weight and I would see him as a Kevin Campion or Steve Price-type player that puts his head down and gets on with it no matter the circumstance- a natural leader that others instinctively follow. His ball skills are none too shabby, either.
3. They need more of a ‘money ball’ selection policy for the run-on side. Style will only get so far over substance and it probably won’t take you to a Premiership unless you have an inordinate amount of luck along the way. Throwing the ball around like a hot potato might land you a Nines title but it doesn’t cut the mustard in a five and a half month grind in the NRL. Selections based on cold hard statistics, lowest possible error rates and well-defined and well-honed skill sets and roles in each position on the field would surely give them a better chance of becoming a genuine top-four contender season by season, instead of the usual saga of hanging around seventh to tenth spot near the end of every regular season and hoping that they can squeeze their way into the September play-offs.
I am a paying member and have been for years. Every year that the Warriors fail, talk back radio consistently generates discussion in a lack of mental application in pacific island players – this is not being racist at all. Every year this topic is talked about and reality needs to sink in to those who think it’s being racist. The Warriors club is far too dominated by Pacific Island players and I’m sorry but “mental application” amongst this group is the defining factor in why the Warriors are just so inconsistent. Coach after coach the same area of concern is haunting this club – the only fix is to balance out this team with 50% Aussie based players and these individuals don’t even have to be superstars – they can also be ex pat Kiwi players who have developed in Australia; ie; Dean Whare, Steve Matai, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jeremy Smith, Sam Perret. They are brought up in a far more competitive environment and they clearly understand the competitiveness of week to week football. You simply can’t have players that decide to perform for a period of time and then decide to take it easy – a regular feature within the Warriors camp. At the end of the day sure this is a NZ team representing its region and country, but it’s part of the National Rugby League of Australia. There is no chance in hell that Rugby League will dominate in NZ right now – it’s all Rugby.
I think this club needs to focus on sending its scouts to Australia more often and bringing Aussie based players to NZ. Something else to consider would be scouting South Island Ruby Union players – if you’re going to find mentally tough players with no fuss attitudes then you can’t go past them. Every South Islander dreams of playing Rugby and for the All Blacks but the reality is that many talented players wouldn’t get the chance at all. Simon Mannering is born in Canterbury and its obvious why is good consistently!………………………………………….The Warriors will continue to fail year in year out if they continue to dominate their side with NZ based players.
Actually Jayden that is being pretty racist.
Writing from Christchurch by any chance?
Mate I am a NZ born Samoan……………………………………………….what else could the Warriors constant failures be?
Steve Price, Kevin Campion, Michael Luck, George Gatis, PJ Marsh, Ian Henderson, Ivan Clearly for example: consistent, competitive, hard working and delivered impact.
Current crop that stand out and even show competitiveness are: Simon Mannering, Jacob Lillyman, Nathan Friend (tackle machine, very little miss)……………………………………………..There is a certain trend here and I am very sorry but it is very obvious.
“The Warriors club is far too dominated by Pacific Island players and I’m sorry but “mental application” among this group is the defining factor in why the Warriors are just so inconsistent”.
Yours Please……
There’s no doubt about it whatsoever the mental focus by the Pacific Islanders in the Warriors team is appalling & just don’t want to do the hard yakka consistently.
FYI, Mannering was born in Napier, raised in Motueka, schooled in Nelson, moved to Wellington before signing with the Warriors. No where near Canterbury. This is the only part of your comment I wish to address – the rest is embarrassing.
The Warriors team simply is not as good as the fans wish to believe it is.
People wank on about how great this team is on paper blah blah blah. Pretty much every NRL squad can name a sexy team on paper, even the Sharks could name a great team on paper at the start of the year. The difference between the good teams and the bad teams is mostly consistency, consistency from their players, consistency in their approach to games, consistency in selections, consistency in their effort. That is what makes the separation in the NRL (and of course a bit of luck, we saw injuries decimate a couple of teams through the year).
If your players aren’t consistent, then sorry but they aren’t that good, despite how fast, strong, skilled they may be.
Johnson isn’t a halfback, he’s a five-eight who wears number 7. That’s perfectly fine, he should be free to float in and out of the game, inserting himself on attack as he sees fit, but he needs a halfback to steer the ship that he can play off of. Townsend was showing signs of potentially being that guy, then he got the chop for a bloke, who while I am a fan of, has no kicking game at all.
As for pacific island players, the NRL is becoming increasingly more and more Polynesia influenced, that’s because A: more pacific islanders are making the jump to Aussie not just Auckland. B: Australian sides realise there’s a wealth of talent to be harnessed in these Polynesia players. It isn’t about race, it’s about the club culture. The All Blacks have been using poly players for years, they seem to go OK.
The mix of PI/Maori/Other in the Warriors have been around since the first kickoff versus Broncos way back when. They have regularly made top 8, on occasion top 4 and once a finalist. The issue isn’t just about the head space of the players, it starts at the top and filters down. The coach can only do what he can do with the squad he has.
I think the argument about head space of PI players is a cheap shot and utterly racist. Manu Vatuvei is the top try scorer and his head space for scoring is great. Given he can go west on defense but that applies to most players in the team. On attack, all the squad have (and has had) the ability to rock teams. But when you come up against a team that just clicks on the paddock, and you find yourself defending all day you’re bound to be criticised and wrongly. Kudos for that attacking team is rare, instead NZ public takes glory in picking a Warriors losing performance to bits.
We have to remember that this season was in three parts. Poor performances early on had them scrambling to make top eight. That they scrambled enough to get close is credit to one thing. Dropping a deadweight coach and getting one in the players could thrive under. Injuries have been a problem and close losses could attributed to key players sidelined. And was it any consolation (or a revelation) that when Shaun Johnson was injured Townsend came in and the Warriors won three on the trot (and not easy opponents). Johnson back for the last few games to guide the team to top 8 and he misfires in all three. I get the impression with Johnson he is show ponying and not handling stardom too well. Needs a dose in lower grades to rekindle his team focus. The third reason they failed. In days of old, the Warriors were feared because they had very big strong and fast forwards, more especially 11 and 12. Ali was huge in the game, always a threat and probably in my books the best ever Warrior to done the jersey (by the way he was a PI too). We have never had “great” centres, Koni is the exception and growing but left edge has always been deficient. Coaches could do well in getting an above average centre to both do the hard yards on attack and defense and also be a better ball distributor for Manu.
Anyway, that’s enough for now.
[…] Unfortunate that since I last wrote a piece at length on the club two and a half years ago (one which needed some replies in light of the mostly very good feedback posted, but when I was too imbecilic to be able to log in correctly in order to tap out a response), the Warriors are still stuck in the same malaise that prevailed back then. […]