Hugh McGahan: Club praised for culture of discipline

At this stage, it is easy to assess the fortunes of the Warriors and their NRL season. Games won and lost add up to not making the top eight for another year; simple. We know there were mitigating circumstances and the four points deducted before the season meant the chances of achieving such a feat were very slim.

The work done by coach Ivan Cleary on field is immense and is not appreciated by the general public because they think it is easy to coach professional players whose task is to pass and catch a ball and place it over the try line. If that were true, then everybody would be a coach.

Ivan has extracted from players what is becoming increasingly difficult in the professional era - desire and enthusiasm. You do not need to be a coach to teach someone to catch and pass but try teaching desire and enthusiasm ... you can't. It's an in-bred trait that makes the difference between a player and a good player. The great players have a large skill set and know how and when to use them and how often.

Ivan has built an environment where the players feel comfortable with themselves and, just as importantly, with others within the club. This has been backed wholeheartedly by the administration. Punctuate this with clear guidelines and boundaries and everyone knows what is expected without the fear factor.

In the case of Sione Faumuina, the club was left with no option but to take the action it did. The playing staff were waiting to see if the club would live up to its stated policy. It did and this will have produced more confidence from the players that the administration is serious.

Well done, because a number of clubs have previously not followed suit and that has led to disgruntled players saying there were rules for some and rules for others.

The Warriors have become a a club that enacts and lives its policy. Interesting also is that this team displays discipline because of the rules set down by the club. Now it's a case of getting on with what needs to be done after a mistake is made.

Congratulations on a job well done in 2006 and now the test comes in off-season/pre-season training and building toward 2007. What was built in one campaign needs to become a full culture and not just a chapter in a book.