League: Jim Doyle's disappointment over Warriors' finals drought

Warriors' soon-to-be-former CEO Jim Doyle. Photo / Dean Purcell

Outgoing Warriors Managing Director Jim Doyle admits he is leaving the role with a sense of mission unaccomplished, but remains positive about the future of the Auckland club.

The Warriors announced an executive re-shuffle today, with Doyle moving upstairs into an executive chairman role, current chief operating officer Cameron George taking on the CEO position and owner Eric Watson relinquishing his position as chairman.

It ends Doyle's near three year tenure in charge of the Warriors, which started with such high expectations but has ultimately failed to deliver tangible improvements on the field.

"Off the field I am comfortable with what I have done and there have been a lot of improvements across the board in a number of areas," Doyle told the Herald. "But what matters the most to most people is the performance on the field."

"At the end of the day I've been here for three seasons and we haven't made the finals in any of them. There have been a lot of positives over the last few years but the biggest disappointment has been not being able to get the club to the heights that we wanted to."

After finishing 9th in 2014 - and missing the finals on points differential - the Warriors crashed to 13th place the following year, with Shaun Johnson's broken ankle the catalyst for a dismal finish to the year. In 2016 the Warriors finished 10th, three points outside the top eight, and this season they have slumped from a promising mid-year position to within reach of the wooden spoon.

Doyle has been hamstrung to a degree by Watson's absence from these shores - meaning Doyle was effectively performing both CEO and Chairman roles - but he makes no excuses.

"In my first year my expectations were low but in the second and third year I had high expectations and we haven't delivered," said Doyle.

However Doyle said that today's moves had been planned for months, and wasn't simply a reaction to the current malaise at the club.

"That is why we got Cameron in; we thought he would be the right person but we wanted to see first," said Doyle. "People may question that but do you think Cameron would have accepted the C.O.O. role here, from being the CEO of the Auckland Racing club, if this wasn't going to happen?. It was always part of the plan that I would move into a less day to day role."

Doyle will remain fulltime at the club for the next month or so, to assist George with the handover of duties and responsibilities, but long term will be less prominent around Mt Smart.

"I'll still be around but not every single day," said Doyle. "Maybe a few days a week, working on strategic matters but not every single day."