- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
If you speak to Australian rugby union fans, the general consensus seems to be that the sport is in trouble.
Australia has not won the Bledisloe Cup in 15 years. Headlines like ‘how do we fix Australian rugby’, ‘Australian rugby greats call for crisis summit to fix rotten system’ and ‘Waratahs explore the bottom of the barrel’ have become commonplace.
The solution? It depends who you ask.
Suggestions have included sacking Daryl Gibson as the coach of the Waratahs (although I’m not sure how this fixes Australian rugby other than perhaps helping the Tahs), getting rid of one of the Australian franchises (at the moment it looks like the Melbourne Rebels are on the chopping block), reconfiguring the way the Super Rugby conference is structured, and some suggestions as extreme as overthrowing the ARU board.
After watching the Warriors on the weekend, I couldn’t help but wonder whether rugby league in New Zealand is going through a similar slump – though perhaps the situation is not as dire.
You know that old saying ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’? When it comes to the Warriors, I’ve been guilty of being fooled more than twice. In fact, I am fooled season after season into thinking that they will turn a corner.
But ahead of season 2017 who could blame me for thinking that the Warriors were a shoo-in for the top eight?
‘Problem coach’ Andrew McFadden was removed in 2016 and Stephen Kearney – who apparently ‘understands’ the Warriors’ style of play and the characters in the team – was installed as coach. With one of the most naturally gifted teams in the competition, featuring players like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, David Fusitua, Kieran Foran, Shaun Johnson, Issac Luke and Ben Mautalino, I had high hopes.
But the Warriors continue to disappoint and after watching them play the Penrith Panthers on the weekend, I solemnly swear that I will never tip them again.
[latest_videos_strip category=”rugby-league” name=”League”]
To use one of my favourite footy clichés, it was a game of two halves.
The first half was the Warriors at their attacking best.
Foran reminded us he was once among the best halves in the game, scoring the opening try after just five minutes.
This was the first of five tries that the Panthers conceded in the first half. Two of those tries came in ten minutes during which Waqa Blake was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul.
The final try came just on the stroke of halftime, courtesy of Fusitua, who intercepted a Nathan Cleary pass and ran 80 metres to score and put the Kiwis in front 28-6 at the break.
So dominant were the Warriors that Panthers fans booed their team off the field at the end of the first 40 minutes. Those boos would turn to cheers of jubilation in just 40 minutes.
The second half saw the Warriors collapse spectacularly.
Penrith’s performances over the last couple of weeks have been extremely disappointing, particularly for a team that was tipped to be a premiership contender this year.
The Panthers scored 30 unanswered points in the second half, with four tries coming in the opening 12 minutes.
Bryce Cartwright set up two tries, Isaah Yeo made Johnson look like a speed hump when he strolled over for four points, and Matt Moylan made Foran and Tuivasa-Sheck’s defence look flimsy as he weaved through for a try.
Of course, all teams have off days (I’m looking at the Parramatta Eels after the weekend), but collapsing into a heap is something we have come to expect from the Warriors. The fact that very few fans expressed surprise after this game speaks volumes.
This is a team that has run out of excuses. They have the squad and apparently have the coach – or simply cannot use the coach as an excuse, because they have changed coach several times. It is simply unacceptable that this team has not played finals football since 2011 and has such a poor record on the road, which has seen them only manage to win seven games in Australia since 2015.
AAP Image/David Rowland
Consistency in performance is not just an issue that the Warriors face though.
New Zealand’s 30-12 loss to the Australian Kangaroos last weekend was the Kiwis’ 17th loss in 18 mid-season Tests. The last five times these two teams have met, the Kangaroos have won 120-34 collectively. New coach David Kidwell has only managed one win out of six games since replacing Kearney last year.
What was staggering about this particular performance though was that going into the game, many commentators called this Kiwis team one of the strongest ever, featuring players like Tuivasa-Sheck, Jesse Bromwich, Johnson, Jordan Rapana, Foran, Kevin Proctor, Jason Taumalolo and Martin Taupau.
The reality was that, despite such a strong squad, the Kiwis were unable to match it with the Kangaroos. In fact, I would go so far as to say the scoreline flattered New Zealand since all their points were scored in the second half when the game was well and truly out of reach.
With the news that Bromwich and Proctor will both be unavailable for selection for the Rugby League World Cup at the end of the year, things are not going to get any easier for New Zealand. They need a significant change in fortune to even challenge Australia at the end of the year.
Rugby league in New Zealand is in a slump and it’s going to take a monumental change in attitude to fix it. And, for the moment, this rugby league fan is definitely going to stop tipping the Warriors.