2017 - What's Gone Wrong?

As with any sports team, the buck stops with the head coach. If the desired results are not forthcoming then it is the coach who is first to fall on his sword, if the results are the desired ones the club is chasing then the coach is the one to reap the rewards. That is, plain and simple, the nature of the beast for coaches in a professional sports team.

Shoulder Surgery Ends Season for Mannering

As the NZ Warriors limp toward the end of the season, the club will now need to face the reality of playing their remaining games without the services of their best player in Simon Mannering. The untimely injury is also a massive blow to the Kiwis World Cup campaign at season end.

Rugby League Live 4: Gamers Heed Warning and Demand Refunds

The gamers within the Rugby League community have been eagerly awaiting the release of the new Rugby League Live video game since the announcement of its impending release earlier in the year. The wait is finally over for those who got in early and secured their pre order copies with the likes of EB Games and JB HiFi being swamped with couch coaches nation wide eager to use their wealth of knowledge they have for the game and lead their teams to virtual glory.

Kearney Reveals the Process

If it wasn't bad enough for the long suffering fans of the NZ Warriors having to deal with the clubs tired and old slogan of "Keep the Faith", which let's face it, is nothing more than a phrase that breeds an acceptance of mediocrity within the establishment, Mr 24% decides to bring his own catch phrase to the table, "Trust the Process".

Iro Explains Warriors Recruitment Process

One could be forgiven for thinking that the powers that be within the Warriors establishment haven't quite mastered the important and on-going task that is player recruitment and retention. As the 2017 campaign enters the final stages of the season, it's not only hard to stay focused on the number of players leaving at seasons end but the quality of player whom won't be returning in 2018.

Warriors Get The Job Done

After a couple of back to back performances that were nothing short of embarrassing from the Warriors, the NZ based outfit turned up and put on a show for the fans at Mt Smart, albeit to an under strength Broncos outfit. That being said, you can only play the team that's put in front of you and it was crucial that they got the job done. Anything short of a victory would have put serious pressure on the club and no doubt would have completely stripped away any confidence the players may have still had left within them. As the Origin period roles around for another year, the Warriors find themselves in an all too familiar position. Yet ANOTHER slow start to the season leaving them behind the pack and desperate to string some wins together.

2nd Half Assault at Pepper Stadium

With the opening 10 Rounds of the Season now behind us, let's take a look at just how well the Warriors are travelling in 2017. Before we delve into the important stats and figures, let's touch base on the game that has left plenty of Warriors fans feeling rather salty after the Pepper Stadium second half shocker!

2017 - Looking into the Crystal Ball

With the 4 Nations drawing to its conclusion, many a supporters focus will begin to drift toward the upcoming 2017 season with dreams of it finally being the Warriors year. With a new coach taking charge of the side brings new hope but will that hope turn into success or will it be another season of high expectations that slowly wither away and turn into despair and frustration for long suffering fans? To kick off proceedings, let's take a look at the 17 i predict to take the field come Round 1.

Faither Report Card - 2016. Part 3 of 5

As the 2016 review hits the halfway point with Part 3 of the Faither Report Card the NRL season has officially drawn to a close. With that, i'd like to extend a sincere congratulations to the Cronulla Sharks for taking out the 2016 Premiership. A long time coming for fans, let's hope as Warriors fans we don't have to wait quite as long.

Faither Report Card - 2016. Part 2 of 5

Continuing on with our 5 part series of the NZ Warriors Report Card for 2016, let's take a quick look back and briefly recap the grades that players received in Part 1.

Ryan Hoffman - GRADE: C
Bunty Afoa - GRADE: B
Matt Allwood - GRADE: C-
Blake Ayshford - GRADE: B
Raymond Faitala-Mariner - GRADE: N/A
David Fusitua - GRADE: A-

Faither Report Card - 2016. Part 1 of 5

As the 2016 NRL Season winds down to an end, it's a good time to look back over a season that offered so much promise for the NZ Warriors yet delivered that all too familiar feeling of let down come seasons end, leaving fans ponder what went wrong and wonder if we'll ever get it right. 

Only Time Will Tell With Stephen Kearney

The recent appointment of Stephen Kearney is a step in the right direction for the New Zealand Warriors. There was little doubt that the status quo wasn't working and even former coach Andrew McFadden admitted to being made head coach too early.

Kearney has his detractors and its been interesting to see a lot of fans baulk at the decision to hand him the top job. The main sticking point is his record at the Parramatta Eels. What people tend to forget is that

Time to step up Eric Watson. Again.

Huge fan of Eric Watson. Before he bought a 75% stake in the Auckland Warriors the club was in all sorts of strife on and off the field. Poor results on the field saw record low crowd numbers, sponsors ditching the club and owners unable to keep feeding the bottomless pit that the club had become. That was until a mystery buyer the media had dubbed the White Knight stepped in and offered to underwrite the club. The aftermath wasn't pretty.

Thomas Leuluai - We Wish You Didn't Have to Leulueave

A Tribute to Tommy - Warrior #105

As his 2nd stint with the NZ Warriors draws to a close, Tommy will always be remembered as one of my favourite players to pull on a Warriors jersey,  a bloke who punched well above his weight, a player who week in week out would roll the sleeves up and get through the "dirty work" that so many others tend to avoid, one of the best defensive halves in the game who could put on as big a hit as someone twice his size ON someone twice his size, a versatile player who could fill a number of key positions at an exceptionally high standard and one of the most under rated halves to play the game.

The Fall and Fall of Andrew McFadden

After three years at the helm of the New Zealand Warriors and three years of missing finals footy its time for Andrew McFadden to do the honourable thing and fall on his sword.

Ben Henry - Tribute to Warrior #171

I've always been a massive fan of Ben Henry. He's always come across as a real likable character in the game, a well spoken, intelligent young man who not only had a big future in the game, but a big future in his post footy life as well.

Flash Back Friday - Round 11 vs Gold Coast Titans 2014

**Flash Back Friday**

Date: Saturday, May 24th, 2014
Kick Off: 5.30pm (Local Time)
Referees: Gavin Morris, Henry Perenara
Venue: Robina Stadium
Crowd: 18,753
Score: NZ Warriors 24 def Gold Coast Titans 16

The Travel Bug

It is no secret that the Warriors have the toughest travel schedule in the NRL. As far as professional sports go, for a club side they would have one of the more demanding in world sport. Of course there are other examples of club sides that rack up the frequent flyer miles but it's not a common occurrence and outside of sporting teams from NZ, you wouldn't be able to find too many clubs that are required to do quite as much travel as the Warriors do.

Flash Back Friday - Round 24 vs Penrith Panthers 2011

Date: Saturday, August 20th, 2011 
Kick Off: 7.30pm (Local Time)
Referees: Gavin Badger, Brett Suttor
Venue: Penrith Park (Sydney)
Crowd: 11,644
Score: NZ Warriors 26 def Penrith Panthers 12

McFadden Needs his Thinking Cappy for Team Selection

It's time to go back to basics with team selections. We've seen too much tinkering and experiments with the 17 that are being selected during the 2016 season. Far too often we've seen a bench include not only a utility but also a back, which to me is a selection based on "what if's" instead of what is best for the side. There is a reason we don't see NRL teams opt to go with a back on the bench and that's because it simply does not work. When it's combined with a utility player on the bench it makes the decision even worse.