KEY POINTS:
Cross my heart - it may sound hard to believe, but many games of league, including test matches, have been won because players occupied the correct seat on the team bus on the way to the game.
Look carefully this weekend and you're likely to see that the
order in which the players file out in many teams is always the same.
They believe they need to be behind the player they are always behind.
Martin Bella played in the front row for me at Manly and also Queensland and was a rough and tough professional player who also represented Australia.
He had to sit in the front left seat of the team bus on the way to matches. If someone took his seat he would carry on like a big sook because that was his spot. It was part of his preparation. He was superstitious, but boy, could he play.
Pre-match rituals and routines are not uncommon with many top players and, as strange as it sounds, these highly paid players can be put off their game by the slightest thing going wrong before they get to the ground.
During my time as a coach I witnessed the effects of superstition on even the most experienced players.
It must have been a hard week for Warriors coach Ivan Cleary trying to figure out just why his team seems to be running on only a couple of cylinders at the moment. There's just no obvious answer. So perhaps he should be considering what many coaches believe at some time in their up-and-down careers. Could it simply be a curse that's affecting his players?
Maybe someone has upset the God of Superstition?
We all know Ivan is a pretty grounded sort of bloke.
But the sporting science of wearing the lucky underpants is something that Cleary may just have forgotten to check on. Because it seems he is trying everything else to fire up his faltering team, to no avail.
I haven't spoken to many modern-day players about it, but I would be amazed if superstition was not still rife.
When I think back to some of the disgusting items of clothing a few of my star players insisted on wearing, it's a wonder we all didn't end up with cholera.
It even ended up having an effect on me. My bag needed to be packed in a certain way before setting off for a game, and look out if it wasn't.
Something's put the mocker on the Warriors and anyone who disregards superstition does so at their peril.
Mark Graham, one of New Zealand rugby league's immortals was highly superstitious. His pre-match routine included time by himself for a quiet prayer.
I must admit on more than one occasion when I was looking for a miracle I asked him to include a message from me as well to the Big Fella.
But of all the little quirks of the players the most common was the lucky undies. Ask any mum what happens when she decides to throw out what she sees as a disgusting pair of old underwear or a favourite t-shirt. Players need their version of a baby's comfort blanket, or they feel they are cursed.
I really felt sorry for Manu Vatuvei out on the wing against the Eels on Monday night.
He has the butterfingers curse and it's not something even the exorcist could cure.
I would have put him into the second row for a while and said just get stuck in and try and get involved as much as possible.
He was left exposed out on the wing and will now be haunted by that performance for the rest of the season.
In fact, thinking about it, Vatuvei could have a future as a wide-running backrower. He would be hard to stop and his explosive speed and power is one of the things lacking in the Warriors forwards.
But the Warriors didn't lose against the Eels just because Vatuvei had butterfingers. Their forwards are soft as butter.
I suspect the Bulldogs can't wait to get among the Warriors pack because they also have plenty to prove.
The Cowboys' Johnathan Thurston and the Broncos' Darren Lockyer are considered by many as the game's best players and it's hard to argue against that.
But given the choice of any player in the NRL, I wouldn't hesitate to go for Kiwis and Dogs second-rower Sonny Bill Williams. He has been off the radar lately, but look out for him on Sunday.
He alone could tear the Warriors apart.
The Warriors should forget the points they desperately need and start playing for a bit of pride. The problem they have at present is a mental one and should be easy enough to overcome.
Start each game with a smile instead of looking like they are on their way to bury the family pet.
It's a simple thing, but it's the simple things that are missing in their game.
But what must be most worrying for Cleary at present is that there appears to be a total lack of enthusiasm.
I've suggested it before and I still stand by it, he needs to be brutal, because his own selections are killing him.
When a team are looking like they have nothing to play for, they usually don't. Players need to be dropped from the side, not shifted to the interchange bench. In fact the interchange option is bringing the team undone.
