Instead of progressive policies and fresh ideas, the pair rolled out an attack on the Opposition and a promise to negotiate a policy already in its supply and confidence agreement with the Government.
This comes at a time when party members are upset with its direction.
Longtime party member and three-time candidate Jack McDonald revealed he would not be seeking a list placement for next year's general election.
"It is hard to motivate yourself full time to a party when you're concerned about the direction that it's heading," he said before the conference.
It is understood others don't think the Greens have done enough as part of the Government. This is despite the fact that the party's list of achievements during the Government's first 18 months is solid.
The role the Greens played in the ending of future oil and gas exploration was a big win — as was the Zero Carbon Bill. Then there is the work Shaw is doing to get agriculture into the emissions trading scheme.
The Department of Conservation got a sizeable funding boost and, lest we forget, there was the plastic bag ban.
Davidson and Shaw were at pains to point out how much they had achieved but the conference needed more; it needed to be about what they were going to do. The co-leaders needed to excite members and give them a reason to support the party being part of a Government.
Last week's 1 News/Colmar Brunton put the Greens on 6 per cent support. With just over a year before the next election, the Greens need to shore up their base and pitch themselves as a realistic option to voters.
But they didn't — not even close.
Shaw used his speech to call National leader Simon Bridges a "new climate-change denier" and Davidson re-announced that she would try to negotiate a rent-to-own scheme in the KiwiBuild reset this month.
Before the conference, Davidson agreed with members telling her the party needed to move "faster" and be "stronger".
The Greens must now pick up the pace.
