Graham Lowe: Warriors' problems can't be measured

Attimes the Warriors looked like the steering wheel had fallen off, writes Graham Lowe. Photo / Getty Images

The NRL is now obsessed with statistics, most of them are readily available for anyone to look at, and some coaches in the modern game would be totally lost without their statisticians.

Statistics have been around since the year dot, just not to the extent the laptops produce during each game now.

Virtually anything you can think of is analysed not only during a game, but also at training as well. There is no doubt in my mind, some over analyse.

But if I was the Warriors coach Andrew McFadden, I'd not be taking too much notice at the moment of the stats reports for the answers he needs.

I'm certain the reason for the Warriors' poor performance won't be found with the statisticians because the problem can't be measured.

This in itself is strange because there are actually two critical factors that feature at the top of any player performance.

Player confidence is critical and always has been, but it is impossible to measure, so it doesn't have a place on the stats sheets.

Players can gain and also lose their confidence very quickly.

The Warriors look to me that they are lacking confidence and this is restricting their ability to reach their potential.

The good thing is this problem can be fixed very quickly. Once the fun returns so does the form.

Can he play? It may sound silly but it's a key question. Sometimes, and I've seen it happen at all levels of the game, players are selected because they meet certain statistical Key Performance Indicators.

But this does not necessarily mean they are good players in my view. Usually they are robotic in everything they do.

And there are also certainly many good players not considered because they don't meet some ridiculous statistical measurement.

For example, some players are ruled out because they do not feature highly on the tackle count, but, if given the chance they can win the game with their natural flair, vision and importantly love of what they are doing.

An example of this can be found at any suburban park throughout the country.

Children play with a reckless abandon in anything they do and they do it with a smile on their faces. Put those kids in a structured environment with rules they don't like and the joy of play soon disappears. And so does their talent.

Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the structures the Warriors are putting in place, but it was very obvious, as their coach has been reported saying, there was a lack of energy from too many of the Warriors players against the Titans on Saturday afternoon.

On the positive side, this is a very fixable problem and can be done quickly.
But Saturday afternoon's game against the high flying Titans was always going to be tough to win.

However, at the end of the 80 minutes it was nothing special that beat the home side at Mt Smart, it was simply a matter of some players lacking the right mentality.

Like everyone, I can come up with all sorts of statistics that would justify the Titans win and also explain the Warriors loss.

But really the Warriors looked out of balance, not only positionally but also mentally.
Uncertainty played a major part in the result, and at times the Warriors looked like the steering wheel had fallen off.

McFadden is a good coach and I'm sure once he has got over the disappointment of Saturday night he will recognise that their preparation had probably been good and the players understood the high expectations on their shoulders.

So what was the problem, what caused this lack of energy?

I think he will see there is a lack of confidence that is being hidden by statistics telling the wrong story.

Maybe he needs to sit down give them and ice cream and tell them a good story, I would if I thought it would help.

Some of the Warriors players are too anxious and others aren't good enough; it's as simple as that.