NRL: Warriors undergo independent review

Former Kiwis skipper Hugh McGahan is part of the four-man group conducting a review into the Warriors' season. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A high-profile group today began an independent review of the New Zealand Warriors as the club's disappointing National Rugby League campaign draws to a close.

Chief executive Wayne Scurrah said the four-man group would spend time at the Warriors organisation this week, observing operational elements of the leadup to their final match of the season against Melbourne in Auckland on Saturday.

The observers are former Warriors players Monty Betham and Awen Guttenbeil, former-Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan and former New Zealand softballer Dean Rice.

Scurrah said a more stringent review than usual was necessitated by the Warriors' poor season, which sees them languishing in 14th place out of 16 teams.

"Everyone at the club acknowledges our NRL efforts this year haven't been acceptable and we're committed to doing all we can to bring about significant improvement next year," he said in a statement.

"One of our primary goals is to establish ourselves as a regular finals club. After making the playoffs the previous two seasons it was a major disappointment for us to miss out this year.

"While we conduct internal reviews after each season and are already doing so for this season, we also believe it would be beneficial to seek some external views on how we operate."

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said he hoped the overall review process, including a subsequent internal review, would provide benefits for the club next year.

"For a variety of reasons our efforts this year have been disappointing, especially after making the finals in the previous two seasons," he said.

"No one in our organisation is pleased with what has happened, especially me. We know we need to improve if we're to achieve what we expect of ourselves next year and we're determined to do all we can."

- NZPA