Rugby League: Warriors will finish last: NRL pundit

An NRL pundit is predicting the New Zealand Warriors will pick up the wooden spoon with a 16th placed finish this season.

Phil 'Buzz' Rothfield, a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and regular guest on NRL 360, doesn't rate the Warriors at all in 2018 and isn't impressed by their new recruits.

"Sadly, Stephen Kearney has a wonderful record as an assistant but not as head coach," he wrote for the Telegraph.

"They've picked up Adam Blair, Blake Green. Tohu Harris and Gerard Beale. They'll add experience but they're not game-breakers."

The New Zealand TAB is listing the Warriors at $21 to win the club's maiden title, the 12th best odds out of the 16 teams.

Rothfield, who is picking the Cowboys to beat the Storm in the grand final, said the draw doesn't favour the Warriors.

"It's a tough start, with a long road trip to Perth to play the South Sydney Rabbitohs at the new stadium. From rounds four to eight they've got the Roosters, Cowboys, Broncos and Storm," he wrote.

"Don't be surprised if Kearney is under pressure early, especially with Des Hasler and Michael Maguire waiting for an opportunity. Halfback Shaun Johnson is again the key but he's too inconsistent."

Earlier this week NRL great Wendell Sailor told Radio Sport the Warriors' playoff drought will continue.

The Warriors haven't made the NRL playoffs since 2011, when they reached the grand final, and Sailor isn't expecting the side to make the top eight this year.

Sailor, who scored 510 points in 222 NRL games, told the Radio Sport Breakfast that they'd finish between ninth and eleventh on the NRL table.

"Every year they let me down," Sailor told Radio Sport.

"I looked at them when they brought in Roger Tuivasa-Shek and Issac Luke, wonderful young talent there but for some reason it just doesn't work. I said something last year and Stephen Kearney took offense to it – look I hope for New Zealand and I just hope for the league that the more the Warriors play in the finals, I think the better it is.

"I just don't trust the Warriors. A bit like their fans at the moment. Until they show me something I'm going to have them missing the eight. I'll have them in ninth."

The Warriors finished 13th last year and have seen the departure of five-eighth Kieran Foran as well as forwards Ryan Hoffman, Charlie Gubb, Jacob Lillyman, Ben Matulino and Bodene Thompson.

Listen to "Wendell Sailor: Warriors will miss the playoffs" on Spreaker.

They go into the new season with recruits Blair, Harris, Blake Green, Agnatius Paasi and Leivaha Pulu and a boost of confidence after winning both pre-season games against the Storm and Titans.

Sailor said the hype often builds around the start of each Warriors' season but they don't deliver.

"New Zealand sometimes, a bit like the New South Wales Origin team, the media, we get so excited about what you see because you buy Issac Luke and Roger Tuivasa-Shek and all these guys and you have Shaun Johnson, you all get excited about making the finals," he said.

"But as you know it's an endurance race not a sprint. It's about that balance through the season. There's a bit of maturity in that Warriors team I hope now with the players coming through, they understand what it takes to make the playoffs."

The Warriors open the season against the Rabbitohs in Perth on March 10.