NRL 2023: Warriors reveal the depths of Covid years, how one decision saved NRL from $20m disaster

After enduring three years of Covid hell, the game owes the Warriors a significant debt. But the Kiwi side almost threw in the white towel after finding themselves at rock bottom.

Warriors art for Covid deep dive

The Warriors have revealed they were just six months away from pulling out of the competition — a dire predicament that would have cost the NRL $20 million.

Second on the NRL ladder and enjoying their most successful start to a season in five years, the Warriors’ rise from the smouldering ashes of almost three years of Covid hell has earned the applause and respect of every rugby league fan.

Yet amid a new dawn under rookie coach Andrew Webster and a rejuvenated Shaun Johnson, few are aware of just how close the club came to waving the white flag.

By the end of the 2022 season, the club’s second year of living in Australia and away from home, the Warriors were broken.

The faces of a Warriors resurgence: Star Shaun Johnson, coach Andrew Webster and CEO Cameron George.

They had endured immense mental and personal strain so that the NRL could deliver on their broadcast deal of showcasing eight games a week across both the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

“The NRL were pretty good to us, but they had to be,” Warriors owner Mark Robinson said.

“If it (remaining in Australia) went on for another six months I think it would’ve come to the point of packing up and pulling out of the competition.

“The morale was at rock bottom.

“But that would’ve cost the NRL a lot of money if we pulled out.

“It was worth $20 million to the NRL if we pulled out, due to TV rights, so we actually did the NRL a favour.”

SACRIFICE

The personal and mental toll of being relocated to Australia during the Covid pandemic, unable to see wives, partners and children was excruciating.

The Warriors went through four coaches in three years including Stephen Kearney, Todd Payten, Nathan Brown and Stacey Jones.

Johnson has declared his football had become an afterthought last season.

The extraordinary sacrifices asked of the Warriors players and staff led to the resignation of several staff members and players, including superstar Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

“Families were kept apart and it definitely took its toll on the staff and players and families,” Warriors CEO Cameron George said.

“You can take it as read that there were some significant personal challenges.

“You saw it time and time again, where players were getting off the phone from family and they felt lost.

“A lot of us didn’t want to finish work for the day, because you had no family to go home to.’’

Nathan Brown took charge of the Warriors for 37 games across the 2021 and 2022 Covid-affected seasons. Picture: Getty

MANLY, PENRITH COULDN’T DO WHAT WE DID

The impossible situation across two-and-a-half years saw players and staff live away from family and out of a suitcase under strict Covid isolation protocols and testing at temporary accommodation locations including Kiama, Tamworth, Gosford, Kingscliff, Redcliffe, Brisbane City and the Gold Coast.

At the club’s lowest point of their Covid relocation, players and staff loaned dogs from a Central Coast pound just so they could adhere to strict NRL Covid protocols that only permitted the team to step into the public, if they were walking a dog.

When they moved to Redcliffe for the 2022 season, coaches held team meetings in a room they rented above a shopping centre.

“I don’t think another club, that didn’t have the strong family culture that we have, say like Manly or the Panthers, if you told them to go and live in New Zealand for a year in a one building, with no family, half of the team would be back in Australia within a month, I’m sure,’’ Robinson said.

The Warriors were constantly on the move - and almost always behind a Covid bubble. Picture: AAP

THREE YEARS BEHIND

Since early 2020, travel restrictions meant the Warriors couldn’t field their own SG Ball Cup (NSW U-19) or reserve grade side.

This is the first season in three years that the Warriors have had lower grade teams playing in Australia.

Next year, they plan to add a Jersey Flegg (under-21) team to the national competition.

“What people don‘t understand is we’ve had no reserve grade, we’ve had no junior teams, no women’s team, because we had to shut them all down,’’ Robinson said.

“Now we’re having to start from scratch again this year.’’

Brown added: “From a footy club point of view, it certainly put the club back where it would be today, if Covid didn’t come.

“I know what the Warriors were trying to do four years ago with their pathways, but were unable too.

“Seeing what they can do now, I can see the Warriors in three or four years having a lot of good times.”

The early-season success of Shaun Johnson and the Warriors has been several years in the making - and could put them on the path to even greater results. Picture: Getty

PAIN OVER

Before a ball was kicked this season, George asked psychologist Rod Corban - who has worked with New Zealand Olympic teams - to spend a day with every player and staff member at the Warriors.

George said we’re seeing the results of that session in the Warriors performances.

“One of the key things we wanted to do this year is reset the club,” George said.

“I asked Rod if he could flush the pain away so we could reset and reconnect and commit to what we’re here to do.

“He hadn’t heard of an organisation that wanted to do anything like this.

“We got so much positive out of it.

“We realised that there were so many positives that came out of our experience.

“We all left on a major high and a connection with each other to go out this season and make every day count.’’

New Warriors coach Andrew Webster has made an instant impact at the club. Credit: Bodie Friend, warriors.kiwi

WEBSTER WINS

Robinson was glowing in his assessment when asked what impact Webster, who had stints with the Wests Tigers and Penrith as an assistant, before taking up the head coaching role at the Warriors.

“Webby coming on board is probably the best thing that has happened to the club in a long time with his positive attitude and no negativity in the club,’’ Robinson said.

George concluded the conversation by saying: “We’ve got no reason not to be good this year.

“We’ve got a good footy coach who has come in with some great ideas, we’ve got a great team and it’s a long way to go, but we’ve got the attitude of not leaving anything behind and just going after it.’’

Originally published as NRL 2023: Warriors reveal the depths of Covid years, how one decision saved NRL from $20m disaster