Plenty have called for Andrew ‘Cappy’ McFadden’s head but have those calls been warranted? Have the fans brought out the pitch forks and called for the axe to swing a little early?
While a coach inevitably sinks or swims based purely on the results of the team, it’s often a case where things don’t always seem as black and white as they appear. Let’s not forget, that as far as ‘learning your trade’ is concerned, I think all fans, and likely the man himself, would admit that Cappy was given the reigns to this squad a little under done.
It’s no secret that the best are taught by the best – Craig Bellamy being Wayne Bennett’s understudy between 1995 and 2002 being the prime example. Straight from his apprenticeship, Bellamy successfully took over the Storm outfit in 2003, a team that boasted a strong line-up, including Cameron Smith, Matt Orford and Billy Slater. Not a bad side to walk straight into, right?
Do we honestly think McFadden has been afforded the same luxuries with coaching mentors and his playing roster when he took over as head coach?
If we take a look back to Cappy’s time as assistant coach, both with the Warriors and also the Raiders, it’s fair to say the club threw him in the deep end when he wasn’t ready to swim and we’ve collectively stood back asking each other, “Why is he drowning?”
McFadden spent three years under David Furner as an assistant coach in Canberra, and in that time Furner only had a winning record of 43 per cent. McFadden was then appointed assistant with the Warriors when Matt Elliott took over, a man with a winning record of 44 per cent both with the club and over his entire NRL coaching career.
Not exactly the best in the business to be learning from, are they?
When Cappy was eventually given the keys to the kingdom and replaced the departing Elliott as head coach, he was essentially taking over another man’s team. All coaches will tell you that they would prefer to work with a bunch of players they’ve hand picked themselves as opposed to ‘hand me downs’ from their predecessor, especially when the roster is lightweight in both depth and talent to begin with.
After missing the finals the previous season under Elliott and after a somewhat sluggish start to the 2014 season under the same coach, McFadden did a commendable job once taking over the squad with the playing group he had at his disposal, winning ten of the remaining 19 games (52.5 per cent).
The side missed out on the eight only due to for and against, which can either be blamed on the poor start under Elliott at the beginning of the season or the horror last month, which saw the club win only one game from their last four.
Either way, from the way the Warriors were playing early in the season under Elliott, it didn’t look like they’d get anywhere near the eight, so for Cappy to get as close as he did only to come up short on points difference is a stellar effort.
2015 looked set to be the year the New Zealand Warriors were back playing finals footy, although, as history reminds us, it wasn’t to be.
The major factor to again missing out on the finals was due to a horror injury toll that eventually brought the team to its knees. The calibre of players who spent extended periods on the sidelines throughout the year included Tommy Leuluai, Manu Vatuvei, Sam Rapira, Glen Fisiiahi, Ben Henry, Ngani Laumape, David Fusitua, Ryan Hoffman and Sam Tomkins.
With that in mind, is it a surprise that things will inevitably begun to unravel? Then you add Shaun Johnson’s injury, Chad Townsend playing with not only injury, due to the lack of troops, but also a preoccupied mind, then you’ve got the mid-season release of Suaia Matagi as well as a struggling Konrad Hurrell just for good measure.
The fact the Warriors were so high up for so long should be applauded instead of being frowned upon for falling away in the back end of the season. When a team is missing as much talent as the Warriors were throughout the season, even the best coaches would struggle to get the team up.
With the new signings coming to the club in 2016, everyone thought the glory days were upon us. What we neglected to take into consideration was that, like us, the players are merely human.
Johnson was always going to take some time to get over the mental demons of his serious leg injury and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was coming from a well-oiled machine who’d won the last three minor premierships as well as a premiership in that time.
New combinations were being forged within the spine as well as on the edges and the most important thing that was overlooked, that, like winning, losing can become a habit which is exactly the predicament the Warriors found themselves in to begin the year.
Why is it that it takes a player meeting for the protocols, set plays and game plans to become effective? Those weren’t changed and then learnt by the team overnight, they were already in place. Does that not suggest that McFadden is, in fact, heading in the right direction when his instructions are actually followed by his players?
Is there still this ‘player power’ within the club that is slowly being taken back by a coach and administration team who have the courage to make the hard calls and remind those playing in the squad they are not in control and will not dictate terms anymore as has been the case in previous seasons?
As was mentioned in the beginning of this article, a coach will live and die based purely on results. I’m not one that normally likes to consider ‘what ifs’ and ‘could’ve beens,’ but looking back over the last two and a bit seasons under McFadden and to take all things into consideration, is it fair we dish out so much criticism toward him?
With a current career winning ratio of 46 per cent (2014: 53%, 2015: 37.5%, 2016: 50%) and a relatively friendly run home for the Warriors in which they should get four to six wins along the way, Cappy could well finish the season off as our second most successful coach as far as winning ratios are concerned (behind only Daniel Anderson and bettering the golden child, Ivan Cleary).
Do we still want him gone if that’s the case? Or will it take a premiership, a feat no other Warriors coach has been able to achieve, to silence the critics?
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