The New Zealand Warriors are charging to an inevitable premiership thanks to the whole club coming off contract at exactly the same time.
The league’s hibernating giant has been one of the darlings of season 2018, with Stephen Kearney’s team virtually unrecognisable as a competent first-grade football side.
But while many analysts have attributed their stunning success to talent and hard work, most of us remember this is a club that once sought help from Jeff Robson.
The Warriors are coasting not because of MVP Alex Corvo or because they go into group labour after every try, but because of a collective desire to reward the most treasured aspect of all football clubs – its sale price.
Owner Eric Watson’s decision to place the club on the market has the whole joint scrapping for a new deal, preferably something long-term so they can get back to putting their feet up.
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For those new to rugby league, a rapidly expiring contract has been known to emotively tickle a footballer more effectively than other factors like letting people down, personal pride and contractual obligations.
From shock premierships to regrettable long-term endorsement deals, career-best football is usually borne from the terror of losing swathes of disposable income, right before the player secures a new deal and retires on full benefits before the ink dries.
A similar concept exists in the interstate dynamic, where incumbent Sydney-based Queensland representatives have been known to clock-off for nine months of the year before digging deep in May.
In the Warriors’ case, livelihoods are being threatened for everyone from Issac Luke swearing off the cheeseburgers all the way down to the 25 guys employed to strap Solomone Kata’s thigh, and what a feelgood story it is.
While confusion reigns as to how this mass renegotiation could occur, many assume it’s probably just Isaac Moses.
I’m sure Warriors fans would love to shake his hand and thank him for the best two months in the club’s history, if he can spare time from shopping for another catamaran.
The key to sustaining the success is to now sell the club once a year, and watch the premierships flood in.
In further good news, the off-contract Warriors are now also linked to the Roosters and French rugby.
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