NRL: No one ducking responsibility

Wayne Scurrah (left) and John Hart have overseen a disappointing season for Warriors' fans. Photo / Getty Images

Where did it all go wrong?

That is the question that will occupy the Warriors' front office in the coming weeks as the club's NRL season peters out to its limp conclusion.

That 2009 will go in the books as a failure is now almost beyond question. Another defeat against the play-off chasing Panthers tonight will simply be another nail into a coffin lid that was already well tacked down some time ago. A win would merely delay the inevitable. Incredible, really, given the optimism that greeted the beginning of the season.

After a storming finish to 2008, the club's off-season work appeared tidy. The legendary Stacey Jones was returning to shore-up the team's most glaring deficiency - last tackle attacking kick plays - while former Broncos Joel Moon and Denan Kemp were promising, if not downright exciting, acquisitions.

An undefeated pre-season against the Storm, Cowboys and Titans followed by season-opening wins against the Eels and reigning premier Sea Eagles added to the heady mood at the club. A full house of 24,350 packed into Mt Smart for the third-round visit of the Broncos. What they witnessed was one of the most spectacular bubble poppings in NRL history. The Broncos ripped the lacklustre Warriors to shreds in their own backyard, cruising to a 26-0 lead to silence the faithful.

There has been precious little to shout about since.

So, what went wrong?

"Um, well, y'know," director of football John Hart begins when asked if he had made mistakes.

Plenty are ready to point the finger at Hart, who must carry the can for the messy and arguably premature departures of Nathan Fien, Michael Witt and Grant Rovelli, for Moon's failure to command the five-eighth position and for Kemp's errant goal-kicking, which never approached the giddy heights scaled by Witt.

Hart, though, isn't quite ready to deliver the full mea culpa.

"Whether we've made mistakes ... in the eyes of the public we might have made mistakes, and I understand that," he said. "But always when you are involved internally there is a lot more knowledge than there is externally. In terms of our knowledge, I don't think we've necessarily made mistakes. We've made some wrong assumptions.

"And maybe some players that we've recruited haven't quite measured up in the areas we thought they would. Are they mistakes?"

Well, yes. But, in fairness to Hart, there were few, if any, pundits who thought so at the time.

As for the unsettling departures of Fien, Witt and Rovelli, Hart pointed out that was partly down to the players themselves. The club had told them to look elsewhere at the end of last season, but was bound to honour their contracts. When the trio did eventually find new jobs, the Warriors couldn't exactly stand in their way.

There were also factors beyond the club's control. Sonny Fai's death was a human tragedy but it was also a huge footballing loss. The jewel in the club's junior system, Fai had been carefully nurtured and was poised for a breakthrough season. His loss, coupled with the absence of injured star Brent Tate, stripped the team of a good portion of its attacking potency. Scoring points has been a problem all season.

"None of those things can be excuses," Hart admitted.

"No one is ducking responsibility. From myself and [chief executive] Wayne Scurrah down, right through the structure, we are accountable. We don't necessarily like where we are, but we are going to work hard to turn it around. I think the squad we have generally is strong, we just need to get the best out of it.

"From a personal point of view, I've just learned how tough this competition is. It is an incredibly good competition. It has to rank up there as one of the best professional competitions there is, but boy is it tough.

"You can take nothing for granted. This competition will bite you. Whenever you think you are on top of it, you are never on top of it."

With six games to go it was too early for a full post mortem, which would come in the form of an exhaustive end-of-season review, Hart said.

"But it is not too early to say we are extremely disappointed. I don't think any of us would have seen us being where we are in the competition.

"But it is really important that we do everything we can to play well, to continue to build the confidence of our fans and, hopefully, get some wins."