General Warriors: From obsession to apathy

[kurgal]

a very harsh realisation I've had about this game recently: individual talent is never enough

the current Warriors team has plenty of individual talent, but everything else seems to be wrong

 

[Swanley]

I'm fairly lucky living in the UK. It has been easier for me to "switch off" from this team.

I went for about 5 years not watching a game as I either refused to pay Sky or they didn't show it and I ended going via some dodgy Russian dating site to get a live link to the match.

I now can watch relatively cheaply (£8 per month), all NRL games including tests and SOO(don't watch that as it's boring and have no connection to the games), but as I either need to watch at 5am to 10am in the mornings, I'm very selective now. Generally I avoid watching live away games, the Perth game and cannot watch the Friday games due to me being at work.

I watched the Penrith game and knew after about 15 minutes in the 2nd half, we would lose it. Didn't bother watching the Dragons match and deleted it due to watching the comments posted on the forum!

I have been thinking about this a lot and there are a few points I think the club has been doing wrong:

1: Recruitment – this has been all wrong. We have spent too long trying to turn athletes into footballers. Auckland rugby league on the 80s and early 90’s had some of the biggest players around, where are they now? Are you telling me there are no massive cart horses in the Fox or even around the country that cannot be turned into Props just to hit the ball up? Where are the Frank Tiniteilas’ of this world? And more recently Iafeta Ps….Most “old timers” understand the myth of a “massive” Warriors pack, because it used to be real! Now I think we are the smallest, as the saying goes, a good big man will always beat a good little man…..and that is the issue with our forward pack.

2: Kiwi only recruitment is a myth and should be tossed into the “greatest franchise in the southern hemisphere” bucket. Time and time again when we have made finals, we have had a good selection of good old fashioned aussie pros playing for us, I’d go on record to say Kevin Campion was the best. Whether it’s the bro culture, Polynesian culture or something in the drinking water at Penrose, we just lack a hardened edge and mental toughness to compete. I’m guessing it comes back to always being the best at junior level expecting the same at senior level and finding out your just as average as everyone else, hellloooo Tui….

I’ll keep supporting them, but until they sort out the playing roster and putting a decent effort in each week, I’ll be very picky about how and when I’ll be watching games. The sad thing is they are the only team I have any remote interest in, and it’s depressing.

 

[InsideBall]

I don't know if anyone else has made mention of it, but...

You know damn well that people at Warriors HQ read this forum. If this is the feeling amongst people who genuinely care and have invested themselves (in myriad ways) in the club, the real hardcore supporters... what would be the attitude the "bandwagon" or "casual" fans towards the club right now? Warriors struggle enough as it is to retain mindshare when battling against rugby... I wonder if people at HQ are getting worried about this stuff.... I'd be curious to see how the ratings of Warriors games trend in NZ.

 

[bruce]

I don't know if anyone else has made mention of it, but...

You know damn well that people at Warriors HQ read this forum. If this is the feeling amongst people who genuinely care and have invested themselves (in myriad ways) in the club, the real hardcore supporters... what would be the attitude the "bandwagon" or "casual" fans towards the club right now? Warriors struggle enough as it is to retain mindshare when battling against rugby... I wonder if people at HQ are getting worried about this stuff.... I'd be curious to see how the ratings of Warriors games trend in NZ.

There was a post here showing a fan tweeting about an encounter with SK at Hamilton. I don't know if it was genuine or not but the story goes he was sitting in front of the coaches box at Hamilton and at the final whistle stood up and mouthed to SK "not good mate"...apparently SK mouthed back "fuck off".

Again I don't know if the story is true, but if it is the club is genuinely in crisis, they all know it, and even worse don't seem to know how to fix it.

The silence is deafening on this one.

 

[brightman]

Again I don't know if the story is true, but if it is the club is genuinely in crisis, they all know it, and even worse don't seem to know how to fix it.

How the hell does that equate to a crisis..

 

[jonno]

How the hell does that equate to a crisis..

Telling paying fans to fuck off, while giving under-performing players guaranteed first grade spots = Crisis.

The avalanche hasn't hit the town yet. But we can all see it coming, if we just take a quick look up at Mt Smart above.

 

[jonno]

It feels like this club is continually asking guys who this songs about:


To fund the lifestyle of guys this songs about:


It's not going to happen anymore.

 

[Inruin]

Telling paying fans to fuck off, while giving under-performing players guaranteed first grade spots = Crisis.

The avalanche hasn't hit the town yet. But we can all see it coming, if we just take a quick look up at Mt Smart above.

unsubstantiated story

 

[brightman]

Telling paying fans to fuck off, while giving under-performing players guaranteed first grade spots = Crisis.

The avalanche hasn't hit the town yet. But we can all see it coming, if we just take a quick look up at Mt Smart above.

I'd also tell that guy to f@#k off, but let's not forget that even stories on twitter have 2 sides..

 

[Paleaaesina2the20]

There is absolutely no way the players don't feel it. And when something like this is going on there are two ways you go, you either start playing every game like its State of Origin or you give up as soon as the other team scores the first try. The Warriors of old went through patches like this, but in the back of your mind you were excited because you were thinking "boy I wouldn't want to catch the Warriors next week" out of the gate they would fly, massive hits, gang tackling, offload induced tries that would send the Sydney media into a frenzy of "the Warriors are unbeatable on their day". No chance of this anymore, boring team that has given up. More passion in your average post on here than the average 80 minutes on a Sunday.

 

[Hadyn]

There's a couple of problems at the Warriors as I see it. This is one of them.

Watching Shaun Johnson's efforts before he signed his $1 million dollar contract, and his games since.

He was putting big shots on with his defense, in the Storm game. You could almost say he was lifting the team. We looked competitive against the best in the biz.

April 28 he signs his new contract. We beat the roosters with some freak goal line defense, and nothing more. Johnsons game play was shocking. Absolutely crap. And it's continued to be crap.

How was he not sat down after the first 40 mins of his shocking play and had the fuck yelled out of him. Sadly the rest of the team has followed him down.

Yes that's right Pawn Shop Johnson, the highest paid player is the leader of the team, even if he's not the captain.

The players are looking at you Shawn, and your tiny little soft as fuck Johnson, and wondering "what do I have to do to make $50gs a game?" Then when they see zero effort and zero skill on display it fucks everything. EVERYTHING.

Shaun Johnson: Take a fucken pay cut, or start delivering,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or else you'll be remembered as an absolute cu** of a human being by everyone in the RL community. Does that even come into these guys thinking at all?

Or do they just go for the Orrrrrrrr feel sorry for me factor,

And then pull out the "he's a real nice guy when he's at home with the family" line.

Maybe we should just accept mediocrity and let the club die quickly?

Good points about comparing Shaun Johnson's defensive performances before and after his contract signing.Before hand he was one of the most enthusiastic defenders and I was even impressed that he had upped his physicality and work rate lately not so much.
Being completely cynical ( which happens when you are a fan of these jokes) Shaun Johnson has worked out he gets just under 50K gross per game if they don't make the finals but It drops to about 40 K gross if we go onto the finals and actually win it.(which at the moment is never going to happen).
This fact actually give our mugs a perverse incentive to play poorly.Far better to play less games per season and milk the gravy train by taking the easiest path possible...........typical Warriors player attitude.Less sweat,less work,less injuries,more time off over summer.,
Fuck yeah bro what's not too like.........too easy churr bro skuks
Said it once and will say it again the only way to get these pricks to perform is to backend their contracts so that they don't get their full contract value until they make the finals..........not hard to implement and if you don't accept that condition we don't want you.
If you don't like it we don't care ,thems the rule........all the great coaches/captains practise toughness in leadership.
Hanson,Ferguson,Mourinho,Bellamy,Bennett,Waugh,Ponting,Ian Chappell,Border,Sean Fitzpatrick.......if you don't buy in or you don't like it fuck off.Simple rules for simpletons.

 

[Makasene]

Im like alot of others i use to scream at the tv when the boys were playing shit.
I use to jump up and scream when we made a break down field.
.

In years gone by that Roger Tuivasa-Sheck forward pass out of dummy half would have seen the remote through the back of the TV!!

But when it happened on Friday night I burst into laughter! Because that is how I see a lot of their efforts, a joke.

 

[Centurion]

Where are the Frank Tiniteilas’ of this world?

Frank the Tank! Original beast!

 

[facefacts]

Iv'e been fairly apathetic towards the Warriors for a few years now, which has definitely changed how i support the team, i have little to no emotion when watching them.

The part that is most disappointing for me is the lack of interest i now have in watching other games, i used to watch them all, working out all the calculations and permiatations of each result and how they would effect the Warriors, now i try to watch but it just doesn't seem to matter, which is flat out sad because it's such a great game.

 

[bruce]

How the hell does that equate to a crisis..

Your team performs like shite you hang you head in shame or just look away. Although it is an unsubstantiated story as in Inruin posted.

Good points about comparing SJ's defensive performances before and after his contract signing.Before hand he was one of the most enthusiastic defenders and I was even impressed that he had upped his physicality and work rate lately not so much.

I believe Shaun Johnson is a totally committed pro, the same as MOST of the team. You don't need too many slackers to cause a collapse like that in league. It is the lack of depth that is some of the problem.

The defensive malaise seems to be spreading and who is JD rumoured to be after? James Maloney, WTF, just what we need, a weak forward pack and another back who cannot tackle. He did all right at the Roosters and the Sharks because they had hard working forwards.

 

[brightman]

Your team performs like shite you hang you head in shame or just look away. Although it is an unsubstantiated story as in Inruin posted.

Perhaps that works for you bruce but obviously it's different ranging for the likes of Bellamy and Bennett. So many opinions, too many poo shutes and that's not directed at anyone personally but the daft idea that everyone else knows better..

Fans, yeah right..

 

[bruce]

Perhaps that works for you bruce but obviously it's different ranging for the likes of Bellamy and Bennett. So many opinions, too many poo shutes..

Remind me the last time Bellamy or Bennett coached a side this bad.

 

[brightman]

Remind me the last time Bellamy or Bennett coached a side this bad.

Remind me how long SK has been coaching the Warriors..

 

[brightman]

People were shitting all over "Mary" the last 2 seasons at the Dragons, now what..

 

[Worried2Death]

From a fan's point of view we're in a similar place to the Eels and Souths fans we felt sorry for in the 90's. Back then those games seemed like guaranteed 2 points every week and the Warriors were expected to become an elite level franchise to rival the Broncs.

From a business perspecive, everything is pretty sweet. Eric Watson virtually saved the club from liquidation in buying it, and it still makes a nice profit, no doubt with a few tax writeoff benefits. The business model is no more or less emotive than Hanover Finance. For Eric, winning competitions is not the point. Everything is sweet as bro.