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SYDNEY - Ivan Cleary probably thought he'd seen it all in the past two years coaching the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Until last night.
"Let's make this quick," he said, even managing a wry grin as he walked under the Brookvale Oval grandstand to face the inquisition into their 6-52 hiding from the Manly Sea Eagles.
A litany of Warriors errors, in their worst performance under Cleary's watch, helped play last year's beaten finalists into form as they scored 10 tries to one for their first win of the year.
Cleary struggled to explain the awful 80 minutes at a venue they'd won four of their previous five matches, just eight days after thrilling the Mt Smart Stadium crowd with a 30-16 win over Parramatta.
"I can't answer that," he responded to the opening "what happened" question, with a faraway look.
"I can," chimed in captain Ruben Wiki, who'd just overseen the Warriors' third-largest losing margin since their inception in 1995.
It was also their record loss in 14 matches against Manly, topping the 12-38 defeat in 1998, but mercifully didn't reach their worst-ever hiding, 0-54 to St George-Illawarra in 2000.
Wiki put the blame on all 17 players who, he said, failed to respond to the home side's pressure and coughed up plenty of possession in the first half.
"Whoever makes the errors are accountable, and everyone in the team made errors. We're all putting our hand up and as a captain I put my hand up," Wiki said.
"We'll have to address it as a team. It's got nothing to do with the coaching, it's sweet as, it's the players who have to address it."
There's six days to do so, as a resurgent Newcastle loom at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday.
Cleary, who names his side later today, hoped last night could be put down to a bad Monday night dream when they awake back in Auckland in 14th place in the 16-team NRL.
"It's really just got to be struck off. I didn't see it coming and at the moment I don't have a reason for it.
"It's really hard to explain. That's not us, you know. It's very disappointing for everyone involved in the club, they had to sit through that.
"But I've got a lot of faith in this team and I'm sure we'll go back and make up for it next week."
Manly were vulnerable, having spluttered to consecutive defeats to Canberra and Newcastle and with veteran forward Steve Menzies shifted to five-eighth.
But playmaker Matt Orford dominated, moving coach Des Hasler to rate him the New South Wales halfback-in-waiting, as brilliant fullback Brett Stewart and winger Michael Robertson bagged a hat-trick each.
Having coped admirably without their injured stars Steve Price and Wade McKinnon against Parramatta, the Warriors looked lost.
Manly's four first half tries all came from Warriors' defensive or handling errors, while fullback Lance Hohaia charged over for their only try five minutes before the break.
At 6-22 down at halftime, the floodgates quickly opened as the missed tackle count reached 40 for the match.
"It's just fundamentals of the game. Fundamentally we were nowhere near it. I can't say much more really," said Cleary.
- NZPA
