Great roster but same old Warriors as NZ miss NRL finals yet again

NRL LOWDOWN: Another season, another finals series missed out on by the Warriors. So where did it all go wrong this time? STATS, STARS AND CONTRACTS

WHENEVER the Warriors miss the semi finals it’s disappointing but this time around it was especially grim given the upgraded roster given to Andrew McFadden.

Sure, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck only played a handful of games but if we’re being real the players they had at their disposal should still have been good enough to create a side capable of making the finals.

What makes it all the more depressing is that the club was in prime position to make the finals — they were sitting in eighth spot with four rounds to go and only had to win twice to ensure their first trip to the playoffs. Three of the matches were at home. As if on cue, they Warriored all over the place and lost all four.

This is how Warriors fans felt too.

There is unbelievable talent at the Warriors. Multiple premierships type talent. But it is going to waste. Shaun Johnson will be 27 by the time next season starts and he hasn’t played finals football since his rookie year. In Issac Luke, Tuivasa-Sheck, Ben Matulino and Solomone Kata they have the players to build a title around. But they can’t get out of their own way.

The players have to shoulder some of the blame given their appalling attitude on the field this season but the coaches aren’t blameless either. McFadden has shown an inability to be the disciplinarian the club needed and his continued preference for the likes of Blake Ayshford and Jono Wright ahead of some of the superb Polynesian talent coming through is not only baffling, its beginning to ruin the development of players like Tuimoala Lolohea. Things need to change and they need to change now.

BY THE NUMBERS

	PLAYER	FIGURE
MOST TRIES	SOLOMONE KATA	15
MOST TRY ASSISTS	SHAUN JOHNSON	22
MOST ERRORS	SHAUN JOHNSON	40
MOST TACKLES	SIMON MANNERING	961
MOST METRES GAINED	BEN MATULINO	2643
SUPERCOACH	SHAUN JOHNSON	(69.5av)

THE STAR

The Warriors do not deserve Simon Mannering.

The tireless workhorse had another stellar year at the back of the scrum and continued to thrive despite losing the captaincy.

Shaun Johnson also tried to drag his team into finals contention despite being troubled by an ankle injury that limited his potency in the closing stages of the competition.

Shout out to David Fusitu’a and Solomone Kata, who both continued to progress strongly as first grade footballers.

THEY SAID IT

“It’s disappointing to end our season the way we have,” Shaun Johnson said.

“I’m over it, obviously. It is frustrating. It feels like crap.

“We all put in so much effort. We know the talent we’ve got. We know the roster we’ve got and we expect a lot more of ourselves.”

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT?

OFF CONTRACT: Ali Lauitiiti, Mason Lino, Sione Lousi, Marata Niukore, John Palavi, Jonathan Wright.

GAINS: None.

LOSSES: Raymond Faitala-Mariner (Bulldogs), Konrad Hurrell (Titans) Jeff Robson (Eels), Thomas Leuluai (Wigan), Shaun Lane (Sea Eagles).

2017 FORECAST

There is no team in rugby league history who have done less with more than the Warriors. Unless they bring in Ivan Cleary, who is the only man who has managed to get consistency out of the New Zealand club on a long-term basis, or somebody like Geoff Toovey, their 2017 season will read something like this: a poor opening to the season, a rebound around Origin time when everyone else loses their players, a lot of “are the Warriors THE REAL DEAL THIS TIME?” talk before another terrible fade out.

The Warriors promise so much but deliver so little.

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Originally published as Great roster but same old Warriors as NZ miss NRL finals yet again