KEY POINTS:
Dear Matthew Ridge,
What is your problem with the Warriors?
For the last six months you have been roundly bagging both the management and the coaching staff of the club, in particular John Hart and Ivan Cleary, singing long and hard that Hart knows nothing about rugby league, that Ivan Cleary can't coach and that there is a lack of rugby league knowledge within the club.
I'd like to learn, Matthew, in your next media tirade just what it is you base this on.
Have a look at Cleary's record since he took over at the Warriors. He inherited the team from Tony Kemp after the Warriors had finished 11th in 2005. Since then, as Cleary and his team collected their NRL spurs, the team has finished tenth in 2006 and fourth last season. And in 2008, even though I was one of those just four weeks ago who said they couldn't make the playoffs, when you now look at the games they have left in the season there is just one team that they look to have no chance of beating and that is the Melbourne Storm this weekend. In the past three weeks they have played as if they could win every other game - Souths in Sydney, the Broncos and Sharks at Mt Smart, the Dragons in Wollongong, the Panthers at Mt Smart and the Eels in Parramatta to finish.
They could quite conceivably win all six of their last six games.
After criticising the team a lot myself this season I believe it is no coincidence that the turnaround in their fortunes has coincided with Steve Price's return to the side after injury. Cleary has been prepared to experiment with his game plan by putting Sonny Fai and Simon Mannering out in the backs, a move I initially didn't agree with, but it has paid dividends.
Cleary played all his senior football in the NRL and has a lifetime of league behind him. The same can be said for Tony Iro, Dean Bell and Stacey Jones, all of whom spent significant time in both the best competitions in both the Southern and Northern Hemisphere.
And Cleary is ably backed up by the only real intellect in New Zealand league in John Ackland.
Ackland's credentials speak for themselves, in that between his two stints of working with the Warriors and in a period when they were not talking to him he sent Sonny Bill Williams and Roy Asotasi, among a host of other top players, to other NRL clubs. His ability to spot and nurture the superstars of the future is unquestioned. Now Ridgey, I respect everything you've done in your league career and what you have accomplished in the media since then. But mate, for your own credibility when the Warriors are winning as they have done in the past three weeks and winning in Australia - even though they may not have beaten any of the top-four teams in that time - you have to give them some credit. They have addressed defensive deficiencies and I believe they are in pretty good hands both coaching and management-wise. Your calls for sackings are totally unfounded.
I throw you this challenge Ridgey: If the Warriors make the playoff eight after the way you have carried on, you retire from your column at the Sunday News. If they don't, I'll resign from mine at the Herald.
