Graham Lowe: Clubs should give way to country

We are still three months from the Tri-Nations, but already there are whispers coming from the Bulldogs camp that they are reluctant to let Sonny Bill Williams play in the series.

Williams is the jewel in our crown and if he is hauled out of the series, supposedly to rest, the NZRL needs to press the Rugby League International Federation to take strong action.

Compare that situation with the way the All Blacks are handled. They would never have to consider playing without Dan Carter because his club wouldn't release him, or wanted him to have an operation so he was ready for the next club season.

Williams has been out of league for most of this season with injuries. Why does he need a rest? He is such a talented player that he would easily slot straight back into the Kiwis and take up where he left off.

In fact, I would think seriously about making him captain for the Tri-Nations. He could be the Kiwis captain for the next 10 years. There are more experienced players when Ruben Wiki steps aside, but there is no one better as a player.

The international board needs to decide whether it has any teeth. Otherwise we might as well all give up on the test game.

I can see where Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes might be coming from and in truth if I was in his shoes, I might be thinking the same way. The clubs pay the wages. But there has to be a sense of betterment of the game.

If clubs are not prepared to see it that way, then the RLIF should bring in a major transfer fee for players who move to overseas clubs.

The NZRL does not pay the bulk of players' wages as the NZRU does for Carter, but there is no reason why international availability cannot be written into contracts in the NRL and Super League.

Of course, this is wishful thinking when you have businessmen running clubs and Rupert Murdoch running the game.

There continues to be a flow of NRL players to England because of the bigger money on offer, and there is plenty of mail that more Warriors are on their way over there, with suggestions that Karl Temata and Awen Guttenbeil, among others, are targets.

Despite Mick Watson's statement that the Warriors will not be in the player market, it would not be surprising to see changes. Something has to give if their performance doesn't improve, and if past form is anything to go by, coach Tony Kemp will be shown the door, too.

You can't help but feel a bit sorry for Kemp, who appears to have been set up as the sacrificial lamb.

Daniel Anderson was given the shove when his record was far better, so you have to wonder how long Eric Watson will let things slide until he calls Mick and tells him to send Kemp the way of Anderson.

No doubt Ivan Cleary and Kevin Campion will be seen as the ideal replacements and quickly installed.

Kemp probably got the job too early and when Cleary and Campion were brought in he should have said, "It's me or them", because he would have left with his career unsullied.

I don't have much faith in Cleary and Campion doing any better.

What is needed is some old wise-heads, as the Roosters have round their young coach, Ricky Stuart - people such as Gus Gould and John Cartwright - as well as former players like Laurie Daley providing advice or a sounding board.

If a coach doesn't come away from a chat with an old stager with ideas, he hasn't been listening.

But the Warriors seem to be on a blinkered approach where they have divorced themselves from the league knowledge round them.

The Roosters used to be known as a "bus-stop" club where players could call in for a couple of years and fill up their bank account. They have reversed that and now attract top players.

The Warriors are in danger of becoming the "don't-get-off-here" stop. Souths are in that position, with the Bulldogs' Braith Anasta, the Tigers' Ben Galea and others spurning their offers, and Ashley Harrison leaving even after they offered him more money and the captaincy.

Lately, the Warriors seem to be playing as if they are scared to try anything in case they make mistakes - but they're making them anyway.

They don't seem to be enjoying their football, and that is crucial.

If they cannot sort out their problems on the field and produce consistency, start to win the tough ones and produce more wins than losses at home, the top local talent will start to look at clubs that have a chance of winning a premiership.

The other clubs in the NRL are envious of the talent the Warriors have at their disposal. If the Warriors were unable to attract all that talent and the majority left to play against them, they would be on a very steep, slippery but short slope to oblivion.

The problems could be sorted out quickly with the right coach who could attract a couple of key players and bring a game plan that makes the most of the New Zealand draw-and-pass game.