Paul Lewis: Worries for Warriors, woes for Welsh

If there was a competition to find who is suffering the most damaging internal bleeding in sport right now - the Welsh Rugby Union or the NZ Warriors - it might be close.

In the red corner is the Welsh, not just putting both feet in their mouth but eating them as well. In the blue corner is the Warriors, likely to become the first team in the 98-year history of the NRL to start the season with a points deficit. Both are struggling for credibility and survival.

Whatever the findings of the NRL and the penalties applied, one fact remains: the Warriors should never have been in this position. They were in trouble once previously re the salary cap (2001). They won the 2002 minor premiership because of the salary-cap breach by the Bulldogs, who were docked 37 points. That should have been the end of it. Lesson learned. The NRL are no patsies when it comes to cap breaches.

It doesn't matter whether it was the old Warriors administration or the new one. It doesn't matter if other NRL clubs are slipping out from underneath the salary cap. It doesn't matter when the breach was discovered, nor by whom. It doesn't even matter who was to blame, interesting though that is.

What does matter is that this bombshell could sink the Warriors. If they are docked points, that could affect sponsors, fans - and the revenue from both - and players who will effectively be fighting their way back to zero with little hope of a finals place.

What is of importance now is what the Warriors do once their medicine is prescribed.

The Warriors are a private company. That means they do not have to publish a set of accounts, nor be anywhere near as transparent as public companies must. Private companies can operate more below the radar.

But they still have responsibilities in terms of governance and transparency. The new Warriors administration has been keen to start off on the right foot and have been making some promising noises and moves to address the strongly perceived failings of the old regime. Some months ago, when the Warriors were under the cosh about losing money, they were advised to go public with their financial situation. Get it out there. Say what the profit or loss was; say what the main shareholder and/or other shareholders had tipped in; publish a set of accounts which encompass total player payments; show total overheads; show projected income; show where they are vis a vis the salary cap; even publish an annual report, even though they do not have to. This can be done without betraying confidences with, for example, players and sponsors. That advice remains relevant.

If the Warriors are to get through this new horror, they will need to convince us all that they are now, finally, starting with a clean slate. At present, with each new issue that surfaces, the Warriors look like they have weighted down a body with rocks and pushed it in the river, only for the corpse to rise once the water has rotted the ropes.

Sweep out the stables but, more than that, show us what you have done. It's the only way to go.

The same advice could be given to Welsh rugby, which seems set to fall apart like overboiled leeks after the sudden, forced and mismanaged resignation of coach Mike Ruddock. Player power issues already seem to have overwhelmed Welsh captain Gareth Thomas. He is now invalided out of the Six Nations by what was thought to be a migraine but has now been called a blocked artery in his neck, perhaps brought on by stress.

Thomas was one of those fingered in the player shift against Ruddock and suffered his head/neck problems after appearing on a Welsh TV show where he was quizzed about his role, which he denied.

Wales play Ireland overnight and it could be that Wales do surprisingly well against the Irish, even without Ruddock and Thomas, because of the siege mentality - us against the world.

It will be the first chance for the world to judge Australian Scott Johnson in his new acting-coach role. Second in command Johnson, formerly best known for his jokey T-shirts (he likes taking the mickey out of New Zealand) and retro hairdo, has been cast as one of the villains of the Ruddock saga, with hints that he used his role as "one of the boyos" to weaken Ruddock's position. He denies this.

Johnson's blokey humour obviously goes down a treat in the Welsh camp and, to be fair, he is regarded as a good skills coach. Now Johnson gets a chance to see what it's like being an international coach, when you can't rely on 'mates' to back you up because you actually have to manage them. He may start well but it will be interesting to see how Johnson handles things when the pressure really goes on. Can't wait to see the T-shirts then, Scott. Mate. Maaaate.

It'll probably be all right because Johnson, who has been forever saying that he was about to return home for "family reasons", still has that escape hatch should he ever want to use it.

What an unholy mess. At both ends of the world.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY