SYDNEY - The New Zealand Warriors have a new name, coach and playing strip but it hasn't changed the attitude of the Sydney media, who say they are wooden spoon favourites when the National Rugby League season starts this weekend.
The sprinkling of support last year is non-existent this season.
Three major newspapers launched their season previews yesterday and every pundit forecast the Warriors and North Queensland Cowboys would battle it out for last and second last places. They said the only time either team would attract interest would be when they met in Auckland in the final round to contest the wooden spoon.
The Australian predicted that dubious honour would go to the Warriors, even though the appointment of new coach Daniel Anderson was a step in the right direction.
"The Warriors' season was over before it began," said the paper's senior rugby league writer Stuart Honeysett.
"The dramas of last year in which the club went bust, the management and coaching structure was overhauled and players were dumped will come back to haunt them in 2001."
The Daily Telegraph's Peter Frilingos wrote: "The Warriors have always had the talent, but producing it on a regular basis and maintaining their intensity for 80 minutes have been major stumbling blocks."
He said the big Warriors forwards would be especially unsuited to the new interchange laws where fitness will play a key role as players will be on the field longer.
The New Zealand club remains a source of snide humour to some, including The Sydney Morning Herald's Roy Masters.
"The toughest test anyone may confront in 2001 is this: you have 15 seconds to name as many Warriors players as you can," Masters wrote.
Even league good guy Laurie Daley, who retired from the Canberra Raiders last year, took a shot when giving his advice to punters entering a tipping competition.
"I used to do tipping quite differently but now I just go for the home team," Daley said. "All home teams except the Warriors that is."
There is an almost universal feeling that the Brisbane Broncos, the defending champions, last year's beaten finalists the Sydney Roosters and the Parramatta Eels are the teams to beat this season.
- NZPA
Rugby league: Warriors written off before start
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