Monday Buzz: Woeful New Zealand Warriors holding back NRL

THE New Zealand Warriors are holding the game back and the NRL needs to ask what they bring to the competition, PHIL ROTHFIELD writes.

The Warriors have been a disappointment so far in 2017.

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THE NRL needs to start asking some tough questions about the New Zealand Warriors and what they bring to the competition. Right now they are holding back the rest of the game.

A check with Fox Sports reveals the Warriors have been a ratings ­disaster on the network this year.

Only the Newcastle Knights have had fewer viewers, but they’ve had worse timeslots.

This was supposed to be the year the Kiwi team emerged as a genuine premiership threat.

Any side with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback, the steadying influence of Kieran Foran at five-eighth, Shaun Johnson at halfback and Issac Luke at hooker should be a top-eight side.

Throw in the biggest junior nursery of any of the 16 clubs and there are no excuses.

Add a new coach in Stephen Kearney who, despite limited success at his previous club Parramatta, had a great record with the Kiwi Test team and understands the Polynesian ­culture.

The Warriors have been a disappointment so far in 2017.

Still, their last 120 minutes of ­football has been nothing short of disgraceful.

They didn’t score a point in the second half against the Panthers and then were flogged 30-14 by St George Illawarra on Friday night.

The individual performances of Johnson and Tuivasa-Sheck were embarrassing.

Two players who are soaking up $2 million of the salary cap yet can’t even get the basic skills right.

Forward passes, dropped balls, knock-ons and shocking fifth-tackle options.

This team is seriously bad for the game. The Warriors’ matches in Sydney are always poorly attended.

Rugby league fans want to see a contest more than anything else at the grounds or on television. What was dished up on Friday night was unwatchable.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has been well below his best.

The same with the second-half ­capitulation against the Panthers.

Throw in the lopsided Brisbane-Wests Tigers debacle and it was the worst Friday night of football I can recall.

So what’s the Warriors’ excuse for being such a debacle? We can’t blame the team management because its chief executive Jim Doyle is better qualified than any other CEO to be running a football operation.

Last year Kiwi legend Graham Lowe caused a furore by questioning what he described as the “bro’’ culture that exists within the club.

“There’s a hard edge that has been missing for, basically, forever,” he said.

The Warriors were flogged 30-14 by St George Illawarra.

“A ruthless edge. And not just on the field.

“There’s a ‘bro’ culture that is obvious and unacceptable. That culture is in place of that hard edge. It’s just soul destroying.”

Despite the criticism he received at the time, Lowe’s comments were on the money. If this was a Sydney-based team the media would be all over it.

Questions need to be asked at NRL management level. Like the A-League soccer is doing with the Wellington team.

Would a second Brisbane team bring more to the NRL competition? Or a side in Perth? Anything would be an improvement on what the Warriors are offering at the moment.