Jackson Ford (centre) of the Warriors is sent to the sin-bin as Tohu Harris looks on. Photo / Photosport
Jackson Ford (centre) of the Warriors is sent to the sin-bin as Tohu Harris looks on. Photo / Photosport
Former Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle says the NRL are “desperate” for the Auckland club to succeed and any suggestions of prejudice against them are unfounded.
The perceived treatment of the Warriors by referees has been a flashpoint this week, after a series of comments made by OneNZ boss Jason Paris.
Though he backtracked from his initial allegation of cheating, Paris claimed the accumulation of incidents in recent weeks were evidence of an unconscious bias against the club.
His comments have generated widespread reaction on both sides of the Tasman, with some former players agreeing the Warriors have extra impediments to success.
He was Warriors boss for three seasons between 2015-2017 and before that held senior positions in the NRL, including chief operating officer. Doyle was also New Zealand Rugby League CEO between 2009 and 2012.
Having been both inside and outside the tent, Doyle has no doubts about sentiment within the NRL.
“You hear it all the time — the NRL don’t want the Warriors to win and that sort of thing,” Doyle told the Herald. “But I can tell you for sure, after working at the NRL at the highest level and then going to the Warriors, I can guarantee you that the NRL are desperate for the Warriors to win the premiership.
“The NRL has got no influence, obviously, over who wins the premiership, but if you ask the NRL who they would prefer 99 per cent of people there will say the Warriors.”
That’s because of the far-reaching impact — commercially and otherwise — that sustained positive results would bring.
“A successful Warriors team means more kids will play rugby league in New Zealand and more corporates want to get behind the sport,” said Doyle. “The ripple effect of the Warriors doing well would be big and the NRL know that.”
Doyle added that another benefit would be increased viewership, which could lead to a better television deal on this side of the Tasman, while success could also drive the argument for a second New Zealand-based club, which would improve pathways and development for all teams.
“It’s the complete opposite,” said Doyle. “The NRL want the Warriors to be successful — not to not be successful.”
Jim Doyle is a former Warriors and NZRL CEO and NRL COO. Photo / Getty
Doyle assures he isn’t taking a rose-tinted approach.
During his Mt Smart tenure he admits there were times he was frustrated with refereeing decisions or felt the club had been treated unfairly on the field or at the judiciary.
“When you are focused on one team, when you are losing games, you feel like things are going against you,” said Doyle. “But I knew that it wasn’t any conspiracy theory, it was just the rub of the green. Because I had been at the NRL – and I knew all the people really well – when things were going against you, even though you felt that everything was against you I never felt they wanted us to lose and were doing it on purpose. I knew that wasn’t the case.”
Doyle is also sceptical of the idea of an unconscious bias in favour of the heavyweight clubs and star players, which supposedly goes against more unfashionable teams.
“It feels like that, because the lesser teams lose games,” said Doyle. “Some of the big teams get bad decisions against them but they still win the game. Whereas the teams that are not winning, unfortunately, they can get some bad decisions against them as well but because they lose the game it compounds that.”
Doyle cited examples of bigger teams that overcome a bad decision, whereas the sides near the bottom have smaller margins.
“That bad decision can take them from just winning to just losing,” said Doyle.
Another former Warriors boss, Wayne Scurrah, took a similar view.
“I admire Jason Paris and his support of the club but as Andrew Webster and the players have said, you just have to take the odd rough call on the chin and learn to win regardless of those 50-50 calls,” said Scurrah, who was in the top job between 2005-2014.
“Generally, when we were at our best and our coach and players were at their best, we would find a way to win.
“Across eight games every weekend people can pick out calls that could have gone either way. You just need to get past it – you need to park them.”
Scurrah added that the Warriors’ success during his tenure “meant a lot” to the NRL.
“They loved it when the Warriors were going well and when we had all three teams in the finals in 2011 it was massive commercially. They know that when the Warriors succeed the sport throughout Australasia benefits as well.”
