Just heard CNK to the warriors and Reece Walsh to the broncos ?All of those types of ideas would be a nice gesture, but the real need is for the NRL to invest in grassroots rugby league back in New Zealand.
We have lost all of our age group teams for three years (honestly, let that sink in for a bit), juniors have left the club and this year with Redcliffe getting a licence we haven't even had a reserve grade. The club is in a much sicker state than people know or are willing to admit.
Our young guys have been destroyed in FG, but when they are not playing...they are not playing. Virtually no one at the club is playing if they are not in the game day 17. There is no avenue for growth for our young guys, and no one coming through.
With some of the Aussies jumping ship and no newbies in the pipeline to replace them, I just don't see where we can improve in the short term future. We will be a team with 10-12 FG quality players in it each week. I don't think there has ever been a Kiwi's team with no Warriors until this year, and the gutter journalists are relentlessly hounding Walsh to walk away, which I fear he will for next year. Add to that the Lodge situation, which ended our ability to be competitive overnight, and stuffed our cap for next year (for a player option he had declined?!). We have Jazz Tevaga playing prop...
I'd like the NRL to fund two feeder teams based in NZ and provide a few camps/marketing in NZ to win a few guys back from the other code. That's where the real help to get us back on our feet can occur. Home games look nice, but without the other stuff we'll be propping up the table for years.
The club really is on its knees at the moment, and prospective coaches looking at our vacancy know it too. Next year could be THE defining year for the Warrior's club.
They had a pretty decent chat on NRL360 about the issue of the warriors losing juniors and issues with recruiting if you can get a hold of it
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