Matthew Lodge of the Warriors is sent off during the round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and the New Zealand Warriors. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Matthew Lodge of the Warriors is sent off during the round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and the New Zealand Warriors. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
OPINION
Two or three years ago, pre-Covid, the frustration of Warriors fans was encapsulated by an on-air caller to Radio Sport after yet another poor loss: "I don't know what happened," he said. "We were right in that game, right in it…and then they kicked off."
It was a laugh-out-loudmoment involving a rugby league club which provides precious few – pretty much the hardest watch in New Zealand sport, even if there are legitimate reasons.
Covid-19 is one; being trapped in Australia, without a home game for two years, would shackle any sporting side. Losing their best player and captain, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, to rugby didn't help – his calming presence was missed in that ugly scrap marring an even uglier 44-0 loss to the Titans to wrap up yet another woeful season.
You fear for the Warriors and their ability to keep vital corporate sponsors on board – but even before Covid-19, they backed up season after season with only the vague optimism of "next year" to show for it.
That phrase has become an irritating buzzing noise, a bit like tinnitus – only tinnitus doesn't occur at the same time every year.
Warriors fans remain the best thing about this ailing club, even if they are inevitably tagged as "long-suffering". Attending a home game is to be part of a diverse and happy crowd, among the most expressive and entertaining in the country.
Warriors players look on during the Round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and New Zealand Warriors at CBus Stadium on the Gold Coast, Sunday. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Six home games are pencilled in for next year. The team will be headquartered in Queensland and the virus has been so hard on the Warriors that it is difficult to think of six home games as anything but a mirage.
The last six home games (in 2019) weren't flash either: four losses, two wins (over Manly and the Sharks), with three of the four defeats big losses to the Raiders, Storm and Rabbitohs.
There's a case to be made the Warriors don't deserve their fans. They'll be forgiven for the last couple of years because of the extenuating circumstances but, honestly, the Warriors are a bit like my web browser – 21 tabs open, four are frozen and I can't tell where the music is coming from.
Much will be made of the decision to re-hire Shaun Johnson after all the backbiting and chest-thumping intimating he was the problem, not the solution. Now, aged 32, he's the solution again.
The attachment of rugby league guru Phil Gould as a consultant was a fizzer. His "exciting challenge" was to lift the Warriors from mediocrity, to become one of the best for the next 10-20 years. His role was reduced by the club because of the pandemic; Gould is now at the Bulldogs. The Warriors are still where they were.
They are the Bermuda Triangle of the NRL – a place where good players and hyped recruits disappear, often emerging for another club and looking very good indeed.
This time round, everyone said the pack didn't have enough muscle, so the club imported some big boys with tough reputations. Didn't work, Addin Fonua-Blake and the injured Tohu Harris aside.
Mediocrity stuck to the Warriors like peanut butter on a picnic blanket. The big pack was big only on hard-man high hits, late tackles and judicial appearances.
The club now looks more Australian than ever before – Australian management, Australian coaches and mostly Australian players (nine out of 13 in the starting side last week).
Meanwhile ex-Warriors, many homegrown and shifted out for Aussies, have been sparking. Former second rower Isaiah Papali'i has had a stellar season for the Eels and three other Warriors outcasts (Patrick Herbert, Sam Lisone and Erin Clark) played well for the Titans in their big win.
Warriors supporters cheer during the round six NRL match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the New Zealand Warriors at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Photo / Getty Images.
Perhaps the worst thing is the paucity of a league club philosophy tied solely to winning, rather than the wider goals of safeguarding and growing New Zealand rugby league. If success is winning, where is credibility when winning isn't successful?
The Warriors need to reconnect to (or maybe re-establish) their culture, to Mt Smart, to the goodwill that astonishingly still exists in their fans. But, even with six home games, how do you pull that off if you're not winning and are lodged in Australia for another season?
