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The Warriors can win this year’s NRL title, and their chances have never been better.
In 2002 and 2003 they were the best team in the comp, yet lacked one vital ingredient to go all the way and claim the premiership.
In 2011 the Warriors played in the grand final, however few could argue they were the best side in the competition that year – that title, quite rightly, belonged to Manly.
But rewind back to the 2002/2003 era, where the Warriors set a new precedent for ad-lib, off-the-cuff, Harlem Globetrotters-style rugby league. With players like Stacey Jones, Brent Webb and PJ Marsh calling the shots the Warriors became the envy of the league.
Who can forget the 48 points they posted on a hapless Broncos outfit in 2002 in front of a packed ANZ stadium? Evarn Tuimavave’s try under the sticks after a Sione Faumuina no-look, over-the-head speculator pass rounded off a 70-metre movement in that match.
But history has taught us that the side who plays the most attractive football does not always win the competition. There is a vital piece of the jigsaw that, if lost beneath the couch cushions, leaves a puzzle that is close, but not quite the finished picture.
Defining what that key missing ingredient is no easy task, but I think coaching has something to do with it.
In Daniel Anderson, the Warriors circa 2002/2003 had an intelligent, thoughtful coach who in the space of just two seasons transformed the Warriors from the NRL outhouse to the penthouse.
Perennial under-achievers to the real-deal. Well, almost.
The Warriors of the 2011 vintage had, in Ivan Cleary, a future NRL super-coach in the making but one who’s flower had yet to truly blossom. Cleary will no doubt lead an NRL side to a premiership, but in reality he was still in training wheels when the Warriors made their march to the grand final.
Following the resignation of coach Matt Elliott after just five rounds of the season proper, this inexperience issue has again reared its head at the Warriors.
One gets the feeling though that this time it’s different.
New coach Andrew McFadden is fresher than Todd Carney’s breath before a trip to the urinals, however he projects the sort of inner calm and confidence that’s become synonymous with successful coaches.
Just think of Wayne Bennett, Michael McGuire or Trent Robinson. McFadden is a keeper. In just a few months in charge at Penrose, he has transformed the Warriors from potential cellar-dwellers to bona-fide top-eight certainties. The Warriors under McFadden have a measured and confident look about them.
The key difference has been substance, and not of the variety likely to earn the ire of ASADA investigators.
Substance, backbone and resilience. Whatever you choose to call it, it is evident in the Warriors’ play that this is now a side that teams will struggle to beat.
In Konrad Hurrell the Warriors have uncovered a bull-dozing superstar. He is the best attacking centre in the NRL.
Jamie Lyon or Justin Hodges may be more complete centres but would either of those two, or indeed any other centre in the NRL, be capable of brushing off would-be defenders as nonchalantly as a cattle-driver swats away a horse-fly?
The answer is no. Hurrell is a freak, and one whose star is only going to continue to rise.
Potential opponents are already nervously scanning the NRL draw to identify when they will likely encounter this rogue force of nature.
Despite not playing the opening rounds of the NRL, Hurrell still leads the NRL comfortably in tackle busts and is equal first in line-breaks alongside Canberra’s Anthony Milford and Manly’s Steve Matai.
In barging his way over the line last weekend he made fellow powerhouses Jamal Idris and Josh Mansour look as though they had been studying the Chris Sandow academy of defense. He makes good defenders look average.
The ever-improving, future-international David Fusitua ensures the Warriors right side is as strong as any in the competition, while Shaun Johnson has taken his game to another level this year.
The attacking flair and intercepting abilities he has become renowned for are still well and truly intact, however Johnson is choosing when to engage them now with the nous of any of the game’s great halfbacks. He has added substance to his game. He is Andrew Johns’ favourite player and that speaks volumes of his ability.
Johnson’s kicking game and consistency of option-taking has improved beyond sight, and in Chad Townsend he has found a wily foil.
Townsend may only be keeping the number six jersey warm for the incapacitated Thomas Leuluai, but on current form Leuluai’s return to the side may be better suited to coming off the bench. It is a welcome luxury for McFadden to have.
The forward pack have been outstanding this year and the often-maligned captain Simon Mannering is in rare career-best form. The Warriors have unearthed their own Fui Fui clone in the Tongan juggernaut Suaia Matagi and Jacob Lillyman’s superb week-in week-out efforts have seen him rewarded with a Maroons starting berth in State of Origin.
In Nathan Friend the Warriors have a Rock-of-Gibraltar in defence who leads the NRL tackle count comfortably, with Cameron Smith a distant second.
On the left edge Ngani Laumape has developed into a weapon whose defensive efforts have not received high enough praise. Together with Manu “the Beast” Vatuvei the Warriors left edge has been statistically superior to any other left-side defence over the past seven weeks. One blip in the second half against Souths aside they have been rock-solid.
Vatuvei is a polarising figure, all rocks and diamonds and gold teeth (with the odd questionable hairstyle to boot). But love him or hate him Vatuvei is the Warriors’ talisman and the side are better for having him. Like Hurrell, he is a man opposition players fear playing. He made Beau Ryan’s retirement decision that much easier to make.
Manly and the Roosters have valid title claims but I will leave it to more qualified scribes than myself to promote the claims of those two sides.
The Warriors have a favorable run to the play-offs, with five of their remaining nine games to be played in Auckland. Add to that away fixtures against the struggling Knights and Raiders and it’s not unreasonable to expect them to push hard for a top-four berth.
From there they are every chance of going all the way to the big dance, and they will bring their best dancing shoes this year. Third time lucky? You wouldn’t want to bet against it.
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