Australian vultures are circling to pick the eyes out of the Warriors should they go belly-up as Tainui continues to balk at a sale deal.
There were suggestions yesterday that a variety of clubs were lining up to snare leading Warriors, including Stacey Jones, Robert Mears, Joe Vagana, Ali Lauiti'iti and Logan Swann.
It is unlikely the club will fold altogether, given the commitment to it from the New Zealand and Auckland Rugby Leagues, but serious investment is a must and as days drag by without investment, the flooding uncertainty threatens to sink the outfit anyway.
The players were paid yesterday, Tainui finding the $340,000 to meet wages cheques. But at a post-training meeting, chief executive Trevor McKewen was asked whether finances were secure, and answered that they were until the end of the season, and that the next instalments, due next month, would be made.
Asked to guarantee payment beyond that, he demurred.
Tainui's advisers, Ferrier Hodgson, were yesterday contacting those who had been in the market for the Warriors in 1998 before the sale to the tribe and the Graham Lowe-Malcolm Boyle partnership to gauge their interest now, and met some yesterday afternoon.
The situation is looking increasingly desperate. It's clear that the intent of some said to be prospective buyers is to wait until the situation gets as bad as it's going to before stepping in with rescue packages.
The Auckland Rugby League released a statement declaring its right to step in and effectively repossess the club should there be any default on any payment related to the 1998 sale and purchase, including its development fee, if the default continues for a period of 10 days.
Chairman Selwyn Pearson said the ARL was prepared to take over again if it had to and would do that rather than see the club consigned to history.
There is confusion in the ranks. Off-contract players, including captain John Simon, cannot progress negotiations with the club given the management's lack of a mandate to complete negotiations and inability to guarantee payment.
And although anti-tampering rules prevent approaches to players who remain on contract, it was an open secret yesterday that the Melbourne Storm wanted Jones, the Parramatta Eels were interested in Swann and Canterbury, Penrith, the Northern Eagles and the Newcastle Knights were after Vagana.
The Canterbury Bulldogs will today announce that they have secured Vagana's cousin Nigel for three years, after yesterday re-signing coach Steve Folkes for another two seasons.
Halfback and kicker Ben Lythe has been told his contract won't be renewed, a puzzling decision for a team struggling without a kicker.
Second-row veteran Tony Tuimavave - who has been told he is free to look elsewhere next season - has been rewarded for his devotion by being offered to Northcote for the Bartercard Cup this weekend.
The team's accommodation for tomorrow's game against Brisbane looks likely to provide further evidence of the financial pressure. The players are said to have been booked into a motel near ANZ Stadium instead of the usual hotel, and the suggestion is that they will be given meal vouchers.
In Brisbane, that revived memories of a 1960s touring Indian cricket team that fished for eels in the Brisbane River to stretch team funds.
Rugby League: Hovering pack out to pick at the bones
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