KEY POINTS:
Wade McKinnon owes his Warriors teammates plenty and he could start the payback by calling a halt to his taxing outbursts at officials.
In other words, the razor sharp fullback needs to find a new calmness on his return from suspension.
Whatever people may think of the current
crop of referees and linesmen, they don't deserve to face the sort of attacks that McKinnon sends their way. He has pushed one official, spat towards another, and is not shy in giving a verbal spray either.
These are disgraceful actions and McKinnon is veering dangerously close to the unfortunate path forged by the brilliant forward Mark Geyer, whose rap sheet included telling a touch judge "I know where you live" in a career blighted by suspension and controversy.
McKinnon needs to take stock now before his career starts sliding the Geyer-type way.
For a start, he must get rid of any silly notion of innocence on the spitting charge, that he is an unfairly marked man in the NRL. And he should leave the debates with referees to Steve Price - and Price hardly needs the assistance.
In a nutshell, McKinnon needs to get rid of the nut that lies within.
Easier said than done of course. The reactions against officials which have marred his career are easy to talk about, but it's a lot tougher job altering what are inherent parts of a person's make-up.
As expected, McKinnon has gone straight back into the line-up for Saturday's lip-smacking contest against Manly, the winner of which will go into the NRL grand final.
McKinnon is lucky to be there on three counts.
For a start, he should have been given a much longer sentence than a three week suspension for spitting at a touch judge. The judiciary let the game down.
Secondly, Lance Hohaia is copping a raw if understandable deal in having to make way for him again.
Many of us doubted Hohaia's ability to play at fullback in the NRL. Yet despite obvious flaws in his game, he has been an inspiration in many ways, with a strange ability to find gaps and skip out of tackles putting momentum into the Warriors and tries on the board.
And thirdly, no one expected the Warriors to get this far, and particularly without their number one fullback.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary has made the right call in recalling McKinnon of course, but even he must have had a brief moment in which he wondered if the tricky little utility should start.
But Hohaia will never have McKinnon's capacity on defence or attack. He also had one awful moment against the Roosters when an initial error was compounded by his lack of pace, leading to the penalty try.
Manly would also fancy their chances of snaring a 40/20 kick against Hohaia, whereas McKinnon's speed and positional instincts make that less of a possibility.
And McKinnon's enthusiasm and ability in trailing offloaders could prove decisive. His presence should make ball playing prop Sam Rapira much more effective for one.
The worry though is that McKinnon's internal switch marked danger will be flicked again. Spitting or no spitting, for those wanting to defend McKinnon, he was losing the plot anyway over a dodgy try awarded to Penrith. That is the key point here.
If things go wrong and he starts blowing up a la the Suttor incident the measured ferocity that has been the hallmark of the Warriors' revival will face a threat from within.
And the Warriors won't want to get offside with the officials either.
McKinnon is an absolute matchwinner and a terrific crowd pleaser to boot. But he needs to get a handle on his emotions to avoid becoming a liability.
* The easy part for the NRL judiciary tonight is deciding whether Storm captain Cameron Smith committed a grapple tackle. The answer: yes, of course he did. Which makes the second part of their job just as easy - he must be suspended out of the NRL finals. If the judiciary comes to any other decision, then the rort is in. As for those outbursts from former players suggesting the game has gone soft and special rules should apply in the finals series - harden up guys. The only staggering part of this whole saga is that Smith, a much decorated and admired player, should commit such a stupid tackle after all the heat that has been applied to his team on the issue. These are my hands and that is Sam Thaiday's neck and head, he should have said to himself. They are not to meet.
Which suggests that Smith is not quite at the top of his game.
But he is so important and influential to the Storm, who don't have great back-up at dummy half. If Smith is suspended, it will tip the preliminary final Cronulla's way.
Ashes to ashes: Phoenix football coach Ricki Herbert claims his side is capable of beating any team in the A-League, home or away. All the rest of us want is proof. Unfortunately, you can rest assured that none will be coming.
Anyone who has seen the Phoenix play know they are in deep trouble. I would be very surprised if Herbert lasts the season.
Rugby is the only sport in this country that can afford the luxury of retaining failed coaches. Other sports live in the real world.
And it would be no great disaster if Herbert got the axe either, because he should never have been given a dual role with club and country. There is a lot riding on the All Whites' realistic bid to make the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, and Herbert should be ploughing all of his energy into the All Whites job, with no distractions.
As for the Phoenix, they are shaping as yet another football disaster in this country. From what I can make out during infrequent visits across the Tasman, a pack of wolves is waiting for an excuse to tear the Phoenix out of the A-League.
And not without just cause. The A-League has set its sights high and it doesn't need a ball and chain draped across the Tasman.
Fifa has also long been opposed to club teams from one country playing in the domestic competition of another.
There are also people in the New Zealand game opposed to the Phoenix, believing the club detracts from the domestic competition, (although it's doubtful if a national league will ever gain the publicity the Phoenix have).
Owner Terry Serepisos wants to wrest the A-League licence away from New Zealand Football and have it extended beyond 2010.
You sense though that rather than gaining this security, the Phoenix may actually face a fight for their life.
From the strange but true file: The United States were without the world's greatest golfer Tiger Woods, yet they finally managed to win the Ryder Cup back off Europe. Woods is a ruthless and brilliant perfectionist, yet his persona does not a team make.
Shield should be retired: The party is over lads. The shield has a wonderful history and place in this country, but it was only relevant in the days of true provincial rugby. And those days are long gone leaving the whole Ranfurly Shield bizzo as a sham.
It's not anyone's fault. Life moves on, times change, and in this case the world has overtaken an outdated concept.
The leading provincial sides are Super 14 franchise offshoots whose lineups are determined on the whims of the NZRU, which decides which All Blacks can play.
The domestic competition is a development league whose strings are pulled from above and the public knows it. The Air New Zealand Cup is dying for one simple reason - the star players are no longer in it.
So the Ranfurly Shield has been left to flounder in a third-rate competition with a diminishing profile and no hope of salvation. It's time to rescue the poor old bugger.
The Ranfurly Shield matches meant something only when both sides were in control of their own destiny, and threw every last resource at winning. It meant what it did only because the clashes were do or die battles.
Heavyweights either smashed themselves to a standstill, or the games were enticing David and Goliath contests. Nowadays, the whole competition is full of Davids with Goliath-sized problems.
Yes, yes. I can hear the cries that this is merely an embarrassed Aucklander reacting to that horrible loss against Wellington.
But seriously, that was not an Auckland team. Through no fault of its own, it did not represent this city.
If John Afoa, Keven Mealamu, Jerome Kaino and Ali Williams (who would never have left Auckland for Tasman - what a joke that was - but for the Super 14) are playing, then all well and good. But they weren't and probably never will again. So it ain't an Auckland team.
And now we're to be treated to a contest between the new holders and a union that isn't a real union, and is about to be dismantled.
The Ranfurly Shield is like a great player who has gone on for about five season too long. Its reputation is being tarnished, not enhanced. Let us remember it as it was, not by what it has become.
Here's the fantasy ideal scenario - Tasman wins the shield from Wellington and the log is then retired to the Marlborough clubrooms. After all, that little union's victory over Canterbury in 1973 will remain the greatest upset of them all, from a time when the shield was a grand institution in national life.
