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SMITHY: Warriors still five years away from NRL success

13th August, 2015
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The Warriors have plenty of talent, but they never seem to be able to harness it. Photo: www.photosport.co.nz
Expert
13th August, 2015
24
1861 Reads

It’s completely understandable that people everywhere watching the Warriors crumble last weekend would feel some déjà vu.

Too many times now this fade in the latter part of the season has caused many to wonder how a club with so many talented players can crash and burn in such a simple fashion.

While recognising that Shaun Johnson and Ryan Hoffman were missing last Saturday, think also of the Dragons team hit by injury to a centre in the warm up with no back substitute.

Then in the first part of the match they lost another back who wouldn’t return. They still managed a huge victory with two forwards playing on the right edge and only a two-man bench for most of the game!

I felt it highlighted a really long term problem in the most embarrassing of circumstances. Losing to nil, by such a margin, to an opposition in such dire straights with in-game injuries says so much.

Part of the problem is expectation. With such physically imposing and talented people abundant in Auckland and the whole of New Zealand, we all expect they will produce wonderful teams.

But more than that they have high expectations of themselves. Lots grow up capitalising on a style based on that phenomenal physical prowess that so many of them display. It’s a core element of playing rugby league almost everywhere of course but I think there is an over emphasis on it in the development mentality of Kiwi players, even more than in other parts of the world of footy.

In some cases that need to create mayhem physically might mean an underdevelopment of all the other skills for footy. Is enough time spent in developing the game awareness levels of their young players? I think the evidence suggests not.

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I can’t offer you the name of a Warriors player since Stacey Jones with problem-solving abilities. Someone who could spontaneously and successfully manage the game by exposing that depleted right edge of the Dragons was needed last weekend. An edge defence with two middle type defenders playing next to each other with a winger playing his first NRL match in a very long time has no chance – let alone not conceding a try in the entire 80 minutes.

But it’s not just last weekend or this season. These sorts of losses have been the curse of the Warriors for many years.

The try from dummy half by Mitch Rein, a noted dummy half sneak close to the line and a good one, also suggests a general naivety of the basic tactics and principles of professional standards. It’s just an example that happens way too often.

These guys lack the craft, the deep understanding of the many combinations of communication and skill applications needed to beat their opponents.

How has Manu Vatuvei managed to play all those seasons, yet still not understand how to execute defensively at a high standard as a left winger? I haven’t got the stats but my gut says the total of tries scored versus conceded around him would be close. And that’s before we get to errors on kick catching, one of the easiest skills to coach with a willing student and hours of practice.

We all know there is so much more to footy than being big strong and fast. But in today’s world of sport the little guys no longer have a mortgage on the footy smarts. There are countless examples of big strong fast and smart players in every pro and amateur footy club.

But not enough in that Warriors club.

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Coaches of the Warriors over quite a period of time have tried to Australian-ise the roster. Combine that with instituting rigid playing structures that are alien to Kiwis and I think they are going down the wrong path. Most Warriors players don’t perform best under rigid structures. A looser framework with more of a reliance on playing what they see suits their talents.

Some incredibly poor recruitment of Aussies – as well as the highest-paid import in Sam Tomkins – hasn’t helped them recently. Even bringing in the ultimate professional Ryan Hoffman doesn’t appear to have worked well enough.

I feel that’s because the process of becoming a true NRL player doesn’t start when a player reaches the NRL. To correct myself, I think it probably does at the Warriors but it should start much earlier in player development. Learning how to be footy smart on the job in an NRL match is way too late – and very costly.

Winning NYC comps with huge, athletic and physically dominant wonder kids without a top line footy education and a pile of game sense won’t get them the players with the things that are needed to improve their NRL team performances.

They need to change that thinking process as a club or they will continue to get what they have already got.

Like all super competitive businesses and industries with a problem, they wish they had started five years ago. Right now as an ambitious and progressive business they could ask themselves the question “is it still going to be this way five years from now?” Not sure I like the answer to that, Warriors fans.

So given they can’t and won’t give up for five years while they fix the problem, what can they do?

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They must compete at the very high level of NRL right now and still build to overcome their long-term problems.

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