https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11703723
Three stats that will make Warriors fans cry
By Alex McLeod
2:29 PM Monday Sep 5, 2016
Another NRL regular season passes by, another season where the Warriors have frustrated, infuriated, and, most of all, disappointed their fans by missing out on a playoffs berth.
The heights reached by the club in the 2011 season where an Ivan Cleary-coached side made the NRL grand final for just the second time in the franchise's history have not been close to being repeated by the crop of players and coaches who represented the Warriors between 2012 and 2016.
The club has become a graveyard for coaches, with Andrew McFadden being the fourth coach in that time period to try and emulate the success of Cleary's class of 2011, and with no success in achieving that objective, there is speculation swirling around suggesting he might be the fourth head coach to be shown the revolving door at Mt Smart Stadium.
As these Warriors sides from over the past five years that have continually embarrassed themselves, statistics have developed and formed highlighting just how poorly the Penrose-based side are, and for players, coaches and fans alike, they do not make for pretty reading.
Here are three key numbers that represent how the Warriors have fared in the NRL over the past five seasons:
0
The number of times the Warriors have made the playoffs since their 2011 heroics. Although many will consider this to be a poor statistic to have on the Warriors' track record, some may believe it not be that bad of a statistic, as surely the Warriors aren't the only side to have not played finals football over the past five seasons? Wrong.
Aside from the Eels, who would have qualified for this seasons playoffs had they not lost 12 points due to the salary cap scandal they were embroiled in earlier in the season, the Warriors are the only side in the NRL not to have qualified for the playoffs since 2012.
Even the likes of the Newcastle Knights, who have had arguably the worst NRL season on record this year, made the playoffs in 2013.
The closest the Warriors have come to making the playoffs in that five year period was in 2014, where if they had scored just 13 more points in any of their 24 matches from throughout their season, they would have snuck in at eighth spot ahead of the Brisbane Broncos. Instead, they had to settle for ninth.
601
The number of points the Warriors have let in this season against opposition sides. This is the third worst points against record by any team in the competition this year, with only the Tigers (607) and the Knights (800) leaking more points than the Warriors.
This is a fair reflection of the woefulness of the Warriors' defence this year, with the most points dumped on the Warriors in matches this season being the Rabbitohs' 41-22 drubbing at Mt Smart Stadium two weeks ago, closely followed by the Eels' 40-18 thrashing last night at the same venue.
The only Warriors side over the past five seasons to have surpassed this year's side in most points conceded was Brian McClennan and Tony Iro's squad of 2012, who allowed 609 points to get past them.
20
The percentage of games the Warriors have won in the remaining five games of the season over the last five seasons. This is perhaps the most worrying statistic for Warriors players, coaches and fans, as the Warriors have only managed to win a measly five games of the 25 last five games of the season they have played since 2012.
This shows the home run to finals footy, the most important period of the season where wins need to be secured in order to claim a spot in the top eight, is the period of the season where the Warriors choke and perform at their worst.
In 2013 and 2014, they won two of their last five games, while this year, they won just one (a 24-14 win over the Titans four weeks ago).
In 2012 and 2015, they won none of their final five games, and looking further into their final games of those two seasons, both of those Warriors sides finished their last eight matches with eight losses.
The last five matches of the season for the Warriors often results in some of the largest losses of the year as well.
In 2012, the Warriors lost their fourth-to-last match 52-12 to the Cowboys and their second-last match 38-6 to the Dragons.
In 2014, they were humbled 46-12 by the Roosters in their third last match, while in 2015, they were thrashed 36-0 by the Dragons in their fifth last match before falling victim to consecutive 50-16 losses to the Cowboys and Tigers, three and two games before the seasons end.
In the past few weeks, losses to the Rabbitohs (41-22), Cowboys (34-6) and Eels (40-18) emphasise just how poor the Warriors are in the last stretch of the competition, an aspect of the Warriors that needs to be fixed and fixed quickly, to ensure fans don't endure another five seasons of pain.
