Diary Of A Warriors Fan - Part One...
I feel vindicated. Over the past few weeks, the Warriors have allowed errors and stupidity to slide on into their games and have subsequently lost. But watching the Warriors in these recent weeks, smacking you in the face was just how far off the pace our lads are, in every aspect. It just feels as though the whole NRL has moved forward, while our Warriors haven't moved at all.
Our lads lost to the Gold Coast Titans. They completed 78% of their sets compared to 80% from the Titans, not too shabby right?
The Titans missed far more tackles than the Warriors; 49 to 22.
The Titans had more errors than the Warriors; 10 to 8.
The Warriors had more possession than the Titans.
The Warriors even got a few more penalties than the Titans.
But they lost. And we can't blame Konrad Hurrell for this one.
Many teams pride themselves on their defence in the NRL, but the Warriors serve up this tripe...
In was such a stinker of an effort, if you can mention the word effort in regards to this game, that I'm not going to single out any players. I might do that in Part Two tomorrow, but this was a loss for the club as a whole, as the past few games have also been.
The playing group have to wear plenty of the burden because their performance simply wasn't worthy of the money they earn nor the occasion nor of your attention. However, the coach and the coaching staff must also be held accountable as there's no real clarity, there's no clear game plan. While the rest of the NRL throws out creative plays with blokes running lines perfectly, immaculately timed and executing them to precision, the Warriors mumble and fumble their way to moments of individual brilliance to score points.
That's fine, but we've seen over the years how relying on individual brilliance has worked out for the club; horribly inconsistent football with highs like Grand Finals followed by lows such like being infamous for their inconsistency.
It's hard to pinpoint whether players simply aren't doing what the coach has mapped out for them, or whether the coach isn't designing plays up to par with the NRL. Whatever the case, it's failing.
The make up of the team and the use of the bench does rest with the coach, which is the most worrying aspect here. In no way is the bench used efficiently, nor is it simple; it's fucking confusing and clearly it's not working.
Who is the grub for the Warriors? Who pisses off the opposition and does all the shit that home fans love but other fans hate? Who is willing to push the boundaries of the law? Who oozes agro? No one, it's that kiwi-nice-guy-complex again.
Then we come to the defence. Look at the NRL, in all its glory where any team can pretty much beat any team. Can the Warriors stop these teams scoring 20 plus points?
Are you confident in the Warriors goal line defence?
Are you confident in the ability of these players to figure out what's in front of them and defend accordingly?
No.
No.
Hell to the no.
We had another off-season where we were told how hard they had been working. We saw how hard they had been working. They were apparently 'tortured' in a pre-season that apparently tested their limits, yet in the second half against the Titans, our Warriors looked like a tired group of schoolboys trying to kick it with NRL players.
Yeah, there were injuries. Notably one of our best players in Ryan Hoffman and obviously we are currently without our star fullback Sam Tomkins. But again, take a geeze around the NRL and check in with clubs who have been ravaged by injury, much worse than the Warriors and they have held their own.
Injuries give players an opportunity. Our players don't appear to either want to grab that opportunity or they aren't able to.
We came close to defeating the Titans, but this game should never have been close and let's be fair, all that matters is who gets the W. Our club finds a way to register L's.
As I said, these last few weeks have reflected the position of the club in this big, bad NRL. Remember when the owners held a press conference to tell us their wonderful plans of world domination? Apparently we should be fighting to keep this side at Mt Smart, I've tried, but what are we as fans supposed to do when the club can't even put its best foot forward?
Yeah, well, I'm going to let this simmer for another night and come back with Part Two tomorrow