"These days club rugby is not the centrepiece of the community," Hollister said.
"That's the way it is, there are so many more sporting and entertainment options for young people.
"The silver bullet might be to pay players but that does not guarantee results."
Harbour have not had much to applaud this season but they did renew their sponsorship yesterday with QBE Insurance and signed on promising five-eighths Matt McGahan, who has been at the Melbourne Storm.
Now Harbour have to find a new coach to replace Liam Barry, who resigned after four wins in a three-year coaching stint.
Do they promote Alex O'Dowd, who took the Bs this season and helped Barry, cast the net elsewhere in New Zealand or seek a coach with a serious reputation who would come at some cost with no guarantee of results?
An answer, Hollister said, would be delivered by the end of this month.
Mistakes have been made and the moderates say the inability to look after local talent such as Nick Evans, Luke McAlister, Mike Harris, the Mayhew brothers and Ben Botica point to some of those frailties.
Importing players such as Jimmy Gopperth instead of fostering local talent was foolish.
Young players were ambitious and it was a constant problem trying to retain those who might not be ready for Super 15 in NZ but got tempting offers from across the Tasman. Harris, James King, Grayson Hart and Jack Whetton are some who have played for Harbour and taken that trail.
"The solution, I'm sure, is that we should build from the bottom," said Dr John Mayhew, a former board member and former All Blacks and Warriors team doctor.
"We have to keep developing players and keep them in the area. Financially we have been prudent and done well there but we do not have any big-name players in our region."
Foundation coach and life member Peter Thorburn is more strident in his criticism. He is not a fan of the administration and is highly critical of its coaching appointments.
His disapproval is aimed at Hollister and a core of the board which he says has stayed unchanged while Harbour continue to swap coaches and flounder in the ITM Cup.
"Coaching is both technical and tactical and the recent problems have been about talent identification of coaches and players. They have picked people without enough experience as head coaches. Players do not necessarily make good coaches."
Thorburn believes a director of rugby is needed to lead Harbour instead of a chief executive but until the council of clubs become more hardnosed about the provincial mishaps, change will not happen.
While there is a flurry of concern in Harbour and at the NZRU about the province's performance, there is also a sense that some of their troubles might be halted if they became a Super rugby franchise.
At first glance that seems irrational but it is a suggestion for the rejig of the competition from 2016.
Albany has the stadium and training facilities, the region is sprouting growth and taps into the commercial opportunities in Auckland.
"The consensus is there are a whole lot of things which have to improve for us to get better," Hollister said. "There were some games this year when we were in a position to win and we did not close them out. We did not do well enough."
Unfortunately for Harbour, that has become a recurring conclusion for too long.
