KEY POINTS:
The woeful Warriors are back, showing consistency - consistently bad form, that is.
The game against Cronulla last weekend was dreadful and the loss to South Sydney the week before was possibly the worst game ever in the club's history. Unfortunately this is leaving many league people and most of the Warriors' supporters seriously deflated.
I don't think there is another sports team in this country that fills its fans and supporters with such hope and delivers on that hope so very, very rarely. An outfit who, in the space of one season - or even one week - can rip that hope away again and turn it to complete despair. That the Warriors have managed to achieve this just months after making fourth place in the NRL last season beggars belief.
So what are the answers? I think it's positive that the club has announced that several players who take up a fair chunk of the salary cap will be finished at the end of this season.
With Logan Swann, Wairangi Koopu, Michael Crockett, Ryan Shortland and Ruben Wiki moving on this should free up a significant amount of money with which to secure players of real class.
For my money I'd like to see the club buy in a block-busting second rower simply because the current crop - Swann, Simon Mannering and Micheal Luck - are essentially the same man, all offering huge work rates in defence but very little in terms of attack that can bust an opposition open. While it would be impossible to lure him here and probably a bad move in terms of the culture of the club, a player with the ability of Willie Mason would be a perfect addition to the Warriors.
His off-field and in-media antics probably wouldn't fit but his dynamic ball-playing skills and ability to make metres when it counts are just what the club needs.
Add to that a classy top-line five-eighth or halfback and you go a long way to solving all the problems.
Nothing I've just said will be news to the Warriors coaching staff and if such talent were willing to sign on I'm sure the club would pay up. But of course salary cap issues, the fact the Warriors are now one of the lowest-placed teams in the competition and the fact they are in Auckland and not Australia all have a detrimental effect on possible signings. I have no doubt Brent Tate must be wondering what the hell he's got himself into, especially when you see him screaming at his teammates during a game about the missed tackles, the dumb passes and the poor moves on attack when he's used to playing with the best on a regular basis.
It will be interesting to see how long the patience of the owners Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin lasts. Last time patience ran out it led to the sacking of Daniel Anderson as coach, without doubt the dumbest thing that ever happened in the club.
If anything, at it should have been the playing staff that were looked at and I believe it's the playing staff that should be looked at this time.
