Graham Lowe: Warriors will see blood on the floor

Ivan Cleary (right) and his assistant John Ackland must wonder what went so badly wrong. Photo / Kenny Rodger

It gives me no pleasure writing this. In fact I had to think long and hard about penning what feels like an obituary to a dear friend.

But my responsibility as a columnist is to offer my opinion. And as harsh as it may sound, I'm offering it.

I don't know how the owners of the Warriors feel. But I am in total shock.

That performance against St George last weekend was as bad as I've ever seen from a Warriors team. In fact it could well be the worst.

Certainly it was the first time I've ever heard some in the crowd laughing at the Warriors' bumbling efforts.

It wouldn't surprise me if chief executive Wayne Scurrah has already been told by his bosses to find a new coaching staff.

Because surely things can't be allowed to carry on as they are without casualties. It should never have come to this, but the warning signs have been there all season.

The style of football the Warriors now play is quite frankly pathetic. In previous years, visiting sides expected to leave Mt Smart battered and bruised, even if they won.

This is now in the "how it used to be" pages of history.

I was hoping one Warrior might make a stand against the rugged Dragons, much in the same way their retired warhorse Ruben Wiki did time and time again. But it never happened.

The Dragons showed that the Warriors are now a soft touch. All teams have rough times, when you have to duck for cover.

The Warriors now have six weeks of footy left, but by then the fallout to a disappointing season will have started to kick in.

Then they have to endure football's version of a nuclear winter, with six months until the season starts again in 2010.

This 2009 season is now a meltdown and will prove very costly in the future when the club is trying to sign new players.

A combination of bad starts, bad choices and bad options seems to have destroyed what should have been the Warriors' finest season.

Now when owners Mark Hotchin and Eric Watson read their season review papers there will be more failures than pass marks. In fact, the only pass mark I would give the club now is for the performance of Scurrah as CEO.

Even with the worst-performing team in the NRL he has managed to develop a brand that is robust and resilient.

But, on the field, the brand means nothing - out there it's about each player being better than his opposite, and the team winning. The players are not thinking for themselves and are in fact deteriorating by the week.

Comparing the two teams last Sunday: I'm certain the Dragons were playing for Wayne Bennett. I couldn't say the same about the Warriors playing for their coach.

John Hart will know exactly what I mean. As a coach he got his champion Auckland rugby team to play for him. If they didn't perform, they let him down personally.

It is personal - don't anyone think it's not.

Ivan Cleary ticks the boxes in many areas and projects the perfect image, but the question that has to be asked is: Would you follow him? And more to the point: Are the Warriors following him?

This isn't a witch hunt after one disgraceful performance. This problem has been brewing all year. To me, it's been quite obvious.

The players have been adopting a style of play that is destined to fail, and against the Dragons it couldn't have been made clearer.

The interesting thing for me is that player for player I don't think there was much between the two sides.

But now I suppose the question is: can they get out of this mess?

No, they can't without leaving a lot of blood on the floor.

Over 20 rounds the Warriors have shaped their own destiny. Don't be surprised if the owners come up with a bit of their own shaping over the remaining rounds.

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