Chris Rattue: The real reason the Warriors sacked Stephen Kearney

COMMENT:

Here's the real reason Warriors owner Mark Robinson had to sack Stephen Kearney - a player vote.

Robinson - who I presume wields the power since his family's company Autex Industries became sole owner last year - had every right to bring down this axe. I wholeheartedly applaud the move, even if it appears a bit harsh given the team has been forced to live across the ditch.

There is something seriously wrong with the coaching when a team exhibits such ridiculous form reversals every single week over an incredible length of time.

And that has not been lost on other NRL players and their agents.

That's the main player vote I'm talking about.

Matt Lodge, Apisai Koroisau, Dylan Brown, Jake Turpin, David Fifita, Tevita Pangai jnr, Kurt Capewell and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui have reportedly rejected massive Warriors offers during the past year. Young Melbourne giant Fa'asuamaleaui preferred the hopeless Gold Coast Titans, the ultimate NRL insult.

Stephen Kearney, of the Warriors, looks on after losing the round 19 NRL match between the New Zealand Warriors and the Penrith Panthers. Photo / Getty Images

Now, Cronulla prop Toby Rudolf wants to backflip on his intention to join the Warriors next year.

We don't know the precise nature of the negotiations, but we do know the club appears unable to make any significant signings, particularly among players with no Kiwi links.

This adds up to a savage vote of no confidence in Kearney's Warriors. No NRL club I can recall has had so much trouble signing good players when they are offering so much money.

There was another important player vote, much closer to home. Senior forward Adam Blair revealed the current Warriors players asked the coach to use a more expansive game during the 2019 season. Ouch.

Robinson is a brash character who didn't buy a football club to look like an impotent fool. Kearney wasn't his man, and the doubts Robinson clearly had about the coach can only have been magnified this season.

The big win over the Cowboys last week showed the potential, while the ridiculously heavy loss to the Rabbitohs on Friday night revealed again the coach didn't know how to make the most of that potential.

There's no set formula to the magical mix which makes a good coach. Put it this way: nobody has Wayne Bennett's particular type of aura, and no modern-day coach would want it either.

Stephen Kearney during Warriors training at Mount Smart in 2018. Photo / Jason Oxenham

If I had to guess at a Kearney weakness, it would be an inability to clearly articulate his ideas. The style of football chopped and changed over his three and a half year reign.

But in the end, the methods don't matter. Results on the board tell an owner or board all they really need to know.

Kearney had to go, and here's another major reason why.

In a squad of 30-odd players, there are probably only two who have actually emerged and thrived under his stewardship. They are giant wing Ken Maumalo and maverick middle forward Jazz Tevaga.

There are some exceptions, of course.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is the club's best player, but he had already established his credentials with the Roosters. Tohu Harris has been excellent this year but his game was honed at Melbourne.

Elsewhere, things are not so great.

An obvious example of a young player whose career has stalled under Kearney is Isaiah Papali'i. Even David Fusitu'a has looked lost since Kearney played around with his backline combinations.

Erratic week-to-week form will find no better example in the NRL than Kodi Nikorima, who has gifts he can't always deliver. Similarly Peta Hiku, who offers an almost dreamy attacking nous which doesn't work when hard headed concentration on defence is required. Kearney couldn't sort out the Shaun Johnson form conundrum either.

The list of negatives goes on and on.

Rather than being totally disadvantaged, camping in Australia because of the virus crisis offered Kearney a chance to pull the team together and fully implement his ways in the manner of old touring sports teams. He failed, and a horrible record as Parramatta head coach meant he had no history to save him.

I'm delighted people are defending Kearney, because he is a quality man and a New Zealand rugby league great.

He emerged as an outstanding Kiwi and NRL forward in the 1990s, a trailblazer who would studiously fill notebooks with footy information while others were hell bent on being hell raisers.

But ultimately, there is a disconnect between the effort Kearney puts into the game, and the results as a coach.

And there were alarming decisions during his reign.

The over-concern for the welfare of Kieran Foran, the troubled Kiwi playmaker brought to Auckland on some kind of mercy mission, was bizarre.

And Blair's contract situation is ridiculous. He was well past his best when given a $650,000 a year deal.

In both cases, the players' New Zealand nationality played too much of a role, as it did when Kearney was appointed over the likes of Aussies Ivan Cleary and Geoff Toovey.

The Kearney appointment, made under a previous management and ownership, was overly sentimental, something Robinson could not be accused of under these unusual circumstances.