Entries Tagged 'Warriors' ↓

Just a note about the crowd at the Warriors v Titans match over the weekend. A little over 20,000 punters made the trek to the industrial waste land that is Penrose to watch the lads play.

This was the biggest crowd since 2003. That’s right, 4 years ago. Much has been said about why the crowds have been so poor, but you don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you why.

It’s because the Warriors have not been playing well enough to attract the fringe supporter. And it’s fringe supporters that love a winner.

We also know that Mt Smart stadium is a horrible venue in the middle of no where.
We also know that the weather is damm cold for many Warriors home games.
We also know that the club has been through some horrible times since 2003.

But what’s real important is that since 2003 the Warriors have not managed a winning streak of more than 4 games. That lack of constancy has kept the fringe fans away. Say what you like about fringe or ‘fair weather’ or ‘lunch time’ supporters, the Warriors need them, rely on them in fact.

Now, they have lost 1 of their last nine, and are riding high. The vibe in Auckland is very positive about the Warriors at the moment, not unlike 2002 and 2003. Those on the fringe can’t help get caught up in the moment. The Warriors are playing an entertaining game, with many tries being started in their own half. It’s better to watch than the Air NZ Cup, thats for sure.

If they beat Canberra this weekend, I promise that more than 20,000 will turn up for the fixture against Manly which is their last home game of round robin. If they get a home semi final, then serious consideration must be taken to move the game to a bigger venue. Not that I am getting ahead of myself or anything like that.

The Warriors have lost 1 of their past 9 games.

The loss was against the Cowboys where they received the worst referring decision of the year (so far) which ended a three match winning streak.  The next week they played in front of a paltry 10037 supporters against the Dragons.
 
But how many more fans would they have got if they went into the Dragons game with 4 straight wins?  For arguments sake, lets say they got another 2000 punters, each paying an average of $30.  That’s 60 grand down the gurgler because of a dodgy call.  And what can we do about it?  Nothing.

This is quite a conservative estimate, considering they had a crowd of 20,000 to watch them beat the Titans.

Since the start of 2004 the Warriors have not managed to put together a winning steak of 5 games or more. This is a key factor in their inability to attract large crowds.
 
Two things to note here:
 
Firstly, it was the video referee made the decision. Steve Nash had plenty of time and camera angles to use; yet still made a monumental error.
 
Secondly the Warriors received an apology from Robert Finch, the referees’ boss.  This in itself is an admission that they got it wrong.

The game is lucky this was not a semi final, or even a grand final, where the consequences would be huge.

Lets not forget the NRL are happy to dish out $10,000 fines to clubs who criticise referees. Now it’s time they acted in a professional manner and compensated clubs when their staff make wrong calls that impact a clubs revenues.

Running a professional sporting team is not cheap and most of the clubs in the NRL sustain heavy losses. The NRL must accept the impact it ’s referees can have on a club’s revenue and compensate clubs for blunders like the one the Warriors were a victim of.

They Warriors were average against the Cowboys in losing 18-12, but one fact is clear. The video ref, Steve Nash denied the Warriors a try under the posts in what is by far and away the absolute worst refereeing decision this year. And the season is far from over!

Wade McKinnon scored a brilliant individual try, but Steve Nash decided that Wairangi Koopu had obstructed a defender and penalised the Warriors. It was plain to see this was not the case.

So the ref cost us 6 points. We lost the game by 6 points. The math is so easy my unborn child could do it.

The Warriors played poorly, and probably did not deserve to win. But really, that’s irrelevant. They lost by 6 and the ref cost us 6. Sometimes in sport the better team loses.

Referees very rarely cost teams games, but in this case, the worst refereeing decision of the year cost us 6 points. It maybe cost us the game as well.

Grant Rovelli and Michael Witt are average.

Their main issue seems to be guiding the team around on attack – neither one of them can do it well, if at all. When the Warriors are camped on the opposition line, the other backs don’t seem to know what is happening.

The attack seems to resort to off loading the ball, in an attempt to get second phase. Good in theory and in practice, but we need more than that. We need halves that can own the game.

They will win us games, when the team goes well and they may even take us to the finals. But they won’t take us much further than that.

Wade McKinnon. He’s a great support runner – the best in the NRL for sure. Even on TV it’s easy to see how many times he runs past a ball carrier in the hope of getting an offload. He makes it a numbers game – the more times he supports the more ball he will get. He’s also hard to tackle; he can fend and spin his way out of a few before getting caught.

My issue with Wade McKinnon is his attitude, which pretty much sux. He’s already been suspended for two matches this year after he pushed a ref. This followed a running verbal battle he had with him during the match.

A few times, he’s blown up at team mates for doing the wrong thing. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a tough sport played by tough people, but it’s still a team sport, and you just don’t’ give your mates verbal sprays like McKinnon.

Epalahame Lauaki. He is playing so much better at the moment, and I think it’s because the coach Ivan Clearly has told him to play his natural game. For much of this season, he’s looked like he was scared to make a mistake.

Simon Mannering – the guy is a good player, but he is no centre. Manu Vatuvei has struggled this year because Simon Mannering has been unable to get the ball to him.

Patrick Ah Van. A fantastic player, who makes few errors, is excellent under the high ball and has a great temperament. He may lack the X factor, but this year he’s also lacked opportunities. That’s due to having Tony Martin inside him. Tony Martin is a solid player, but lacks the ability to get the ball to his winger.

Ok, we are 13 rounds into a 25 round season. This is where I see the Warriors at the half way point and things are not looking good.

After winning 4 from the first 7, things have turned to custard in the form of a 6 game losing streak. They are currently equal last with 3 other teams. Here are a few reasons why.

The halves are average. Rovelli, Witt and Ropati have all been playing ‘OK’. But none of them has been able to own the attack and direct the plays. They were rudderless against Melbourne.

The back row is average. Aside from Luck, the stand out tackler, Swann, Lauaki, Anderson have offered little. We expect at least on of these players to be able to throw a few passes.

The centres are average – Simon Mannering is ineffective at centre. Tony Martin has been better but has little to offer on attack. Lance Hohaia is also poor at centre – he belongs in the halves. The performance of the centres is mirrored by the wingers who have been starved of possession.

Poor discipline – too many turnovers, have resulted in the Warriors making a ridiculous number of tackles. Not to mention the silly penalties and the crazy action of Wade McKinnon when he pushed a ref.

All up the Warriors have been average – not bad, but clearly not so good either.

So can they turn it around? As in previous seasons, the line about a few consecutive wins getting us back into the top 8 may be true, but actually doing it will prove difficult.

Coach Ivan Cleary has challenges ahead. Does he keep the faith with the players he’s been using? Or does he drop players who are not performing?

His options are limited though – there are apparently some players in Premier League who could make the step up such as Sonny Fai. He could switch Jerome Ropati to either lock or maybe centre, and stick Hohaia at stand off to partner Witt in the halves.

Whatever the case he needs to do something. 6 straight losses is testament to that.

OK, so we signed a current Queensland Origin and Australian test centre in Brent Tate. That in itself is a coup for the Warriors.

But is it a mistake on Tate’s part to play for the Warriors? Let me put on my pessimist’s hat for a minute . . .

You see, in his career to date, he has pretty much always played in strong successful teams - Brisbane, Queensland and Australia.

The service those three teams get from their halves out through the back lines is pretty damm good - think of the ball he’s been getting from the likes of Lockyer, Thurston and Berrigan etc.

In order for him to perform for the Warriors he’ll need quality ball to show his wares. And that my friends is where the problems begin.

With halves currently made up of Witt/Rovelli/Ropati he simply will not get as much quality ball as he’s used to. Should this be the case, then he’ll be an expensive passenger in our backline.

The optimist in me thinks that things could go well for him if our halves start performing with consistency. If that happens we might get some ROI on the (reported) 400k.

What ever the case, expectations will be high. He’s a marquee player and the pressure will be on him to deliver.  The same sort of pressure existed at Brisbane , but of course it’s spread round fellow marquee players such as Lockyer, Hodges and Hunt.

Hope he likes pressure . . . .

I’ve just finished watching the Warriors lose to the Eels, and while the result will eventually be forgotten, the fumbling, bumbling performance of Manu Vatuvei will not be.

This was the absolute worst display by a winger I have ever seen, the last 20 minutes of the game was torture for the winger, and torture for any Warriors fan watching.

His body language was awful, you could tell he just wanted to be somewhere else, and the Eels as you would expect did not let up with bombs and grubbers aimed straight for him. Things got so bad that the attacking Eels players did not always play for the ball – they were that confident he would fumble.

I felt really sad and sorry for Manu, because there is a high chance his confidence will not recover from the number of dropped balls and fumbles. I certainly hope it does, because when he is on song, he is awesome to watch. We’ve just not seen it for a long time.

Ivan Cleary was in a tough position – he could have benched him and run the risk of destroying his confidence even more . . .although the Eels ended up doing a good job of that.

If I were Ivan I would be having a quiet word Kiwi’s coach Brian McClennan, who has been able to extract some good performances from Vatuvei.

OK, right, let me get this straight.

In order to soak up time and get the ball back and minimise the chances of the Warrior’s winning the Cronulla Sharks decide to miss a penalty on purpose. . . .

This resulted in a goal line drop out, from which the Warriors regained possession with all of 5 seconds left. The game goes to the Sharks.

So is it dodgy to miss a penalty on purpose?

I read a few opinions about it on a Sharks forum, some interesting comments there.

It’s a sign of the times. In the same way that players were taking dives to milk obstruction penalties, this is simply the demonstration of a win at all costs attitude.

That don’t make it right though. The Sharks should have been penalised for missing on purpose. Sure they Sharks had just received a penalty; there should be an adequate reward for this. But if the two points was not sufficient, then why not tap and go, and use the six tackles?

What they did sets a silly precedent - imagine if this happened in a test or origin match - the fans and media would be going nuts.

I wondered what my thoughts would have been if the Warriors had been the team to miss on purpose. I can confirm my opinion would have been the same. This sort if action is bad for the sport and needs to be sorted now.

At the Warriors v Eels game last night, three occurrences re-enforced the fact that the people running Mt Smart stadium are amateurs.

First, my friend’s ticket does not scan properly so he’s sent to another gate on the other side of the ground to see the event manager. If your ticket does not scan, someone at the gate should be able to verify it is a legit ticket then and there. You just do not send your customers to another gate.

At the other gate, my friend noted that a person purchasing a ticket for the game was given a ticket to the Broncos game . . .which is a week later. Poor form, by the Mt Smart team again.

On the way out, a main gate is closed, so hundreds of people have to get through a gap the size of my front door. Eventually a staffer opened the gate, but jeez, you’ve go to wonder about the lack of professionalism of the event team.

I am also reminded of an incident I saw in 2005 at the Kiwis v Kangaroos tri nations match. Some people in the stand refused to move from the seats they were in, even though they should not have been there. They had seen some mates sitting there, so thought they would join them.

Eventually the real ticket holders came along. The people refused to move. It did not help that they were sitting at the end of the row next to the wall, making access tricky. An usher came along, and the people refused to move. A bigger usher arrived and they refused to move. Finally a security guard came along. No movement.

The people who had the real tickets were given other (better) seats, but you could tell it had ruined their night. Like the above incidents, these things should not happen.

Mt Smart event staff, get it sorted please!

After 15k turned up to the trial match against the Bulldogs , you would expect the same amount, if not more to show up to the season opener against the Eels.

While I was at the game, I guessed there was 20,000 people there, but that just shows I ‘aint to flash at guessing crowd numbers.

Instead there were 13,500 which surprised me. Maybe the fact that the Warriors had not won an opening games since 2002 was a factor?

Alternatively, fans think the ticket prices are too high – well this is just what I think. Based on the performance over the last 3 seasons, paying hard earned cash to watch them is just not a value for money proposition for fringe fans.

They are in the entertainment business and over the last few years, for the price of a couple of tickets folks can get entertained just fine elsewhere.

What fringe fans want is a winning team, and then they will show up. So until the lads put on a bit of a winning streak the big crowds may not eventuate.