League: Warriors playing to keep their jobs

The soap-opera comings and goings at the Warriors seem set to be repeated after the Storm turfed them out of the playoffs.

From their darkened, arms-folded and grim-faced television ads to the poor way the departures are handled, from the criticism of match officials and media to their discomfort with discussing anything remotely negative, the club does not look a fun place to be.

Footballers play the game for fun and when there is none, a cycle of losses and lack of confidence often follow. And that's where the Warriors appear to be.

They did not play badly in Melbourne. But then the Storm did not play to their best either.

The Warriors could justifiably groan at video referee Chris Ward's ruling-out of what should have been a try to Louis Anderson when he grabbed a chip from Stacey Jones.

It appeared the perfect example of where the NRL's policy of giving the "benefit-of-the-doubt" to the attacking team should have applied - but Anderson was ruled to have one foot offside and the other off the ground when he chased Jones' kick.

The Warriors have never mastered the act of re-grouping after decisions that go against them, and two minutes later big Matt King scored down the right-hand side that has been the target for other clubs in recent games.

The Warriors again had the right to be aggrieved when Slater out-sprinted the cover to be first to a kick from Cameron Smith and referee Russell Smith whistled in the points without asking Ward's opinion; there was nothing between the Anderson and Slater touchdowns.

The Storm were celebrating their 100th home game since inception in 1998 and captain Robbie Kearns admitted they were inspired by the presence of members of the 1999 title-winning side including Kiwi Craig Smith and Tawera Nikau, injured Warrior Tony Martin, former coach Chris Anderson and others.

"It has been a great week, with all the old boys coming back, and we didn't want to let them down," said Kearns.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said his team toughed out a tough game. "The Warriors are a big tough side and I have no doubt they came here to wear us down.

"I was really happy with our defence. We're still struggling a little bit with our attack but to the guys' credit they didn't get frustrated."

For the Warriors, motivation for next weekend's home game against the Newcastle Knights is to give 11-season halfback Jones a decent send-off. Jones, as usual, was all over the turf in defensive cover as well as running the attack.

Monty Betham, Wairangi Koopu, Awen Guttenbeil and skipper Steve Price also worked hard defensively.

On attack there was plenty of go-forward from Price, Guttenbeil, Ruben Wiki and Iafeta Paleaaesina. But there was little flash in attack, the kicking game was ordinary and short and hence they played too much of the game at the wrong end. The off-loading and support game was just not there.

With the bye in the last of 26 rounds there will be nothing to play for in Manly in round 25 bar holding onto their jobs. But that may be a biggie. Club management has said there will be no buys but they would be foolish not to be looking for a half who can direct play, one who can kick with length and accuracy. A specialist hooker, express pace out wide and a goal kicker wouldn't go amiss either.

"I'd like to think that the improvement we've made over the past 12 months has been enough for me to keep my job," coach Tony Kemp told the media after the game.

"I'm sitting with some pretty illustrious coaches at the back end of the [competition] table." Which is very true. The last three premiership winners - John Lang, Ricky Stuart and Steve Folkes - are also out of contention, as is the Knights' Michael Hagan, who is also Queensland Origin coach.

The Warriors' failing is that, despite rating themselves as a development club and enjoying a huge talent pool in which to pursue that aim, they have failed to plan for someone to succeed Jones when he goes. They are well off the pace with him - it's hard to see them improving without.

It seems unlikely Francis Meli, off to St Helens to join ex-coach Daniel Anderson (who apparently made everyone unhappy at the Warriors), will be the last one to seek a release.

The club began the season with the majority of the squad signed long-term and an impression the rebuilding was done. Now another round of rebuilding looks assured.