Well first up terrible lost to the Sharks leaves the Warriors playoff hopes hanging by a thread. Second if you have not yet watched the Pepe Silvia video below, do so now before the really depressing reality of the Warriors season sets in. Third and on an upbeat note I am loving the prospect of the All Whites having to play North Korea for a shot at world cup qualification. Frankly if the All Whites go to the 2010 football World Cup this blog (in content at least) may temporarily become an All Whites World Cup supporters blog.
Now back to the ugly reality of the Warriors season. At the halfway stage - the Warriors have played twelve games and had one bye. They have won four games (8 pts), had one draw (1 pt) and had one bye (2 pts) for a total of 11 pts. To make the top eight they need a minimum of 28 pts. So they are 17 big points short of the promised land at this stage. There are 13 rounds remaining in the season. The Warriors have one further bye (round 15) so that takes the points required down to 15. But they have only 12 games in which to get those points. So its basically 8 wins required from 12 games. We have all seen the Warriors do the seemingly impossible in the past - but this quite frankly looks bad.
Warriors form line for rounds 1-13 is:
WWLLWWDLBLLWL
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3 comments:
Ok well as I previously said, too many losses/injuries this season for us to have a shot. But as I'm won't to do, I'm going to examine why the warriors have been so very bad. Unfortunately it is the backline. Some puZzling decisions by cleary this season, let's examine them. Fien vs jones - well apart from the fact the oppositon run at the little general every play, jones has offered very little in terms of options - early on he showed the old magic for sure - but latley he is just going thru the motions (all that tackling and missing dropped goals has surely broken his spirit). On the other hand, fien isn't even playing - I'm no great fan of fien - think he's not the best at summing up options but in saying that he is ten times better than jones.
Joel moon - who? I have never seen a standoff be as uninfluential as this guy - I don't know what he does all match. Worst buy (maybe next to denan kemp of the season). Toopi - his performances this season have reminded me of those frustrating warrior teams of olf - at this level you should simply not be making knock ons consistently - he is obviously mentally fragile and has the concentration abilities of a stoned goldfish. Sonny fai would have replaced - cry. The loss of brent tate - immeasurable - one of the greatest offensive and defensive centres in the game. Ah van is the kind of player you want in your squad to provide cover for injuries but a centre he is not - made way too many defensive errors this season - not his fault tho - he is a winger. Manu - good as always. New winger (clarke) also looks good - goodbye denan kemp. As feared, mckinnon has lost his spark after knee surgery (ala christian cullen) still a good player - just no longer the star he was. So where to for next year? I am feeling despondent to be honest - cleary should come to his senses and put hohaia as starting halfback, tate should be back, we seem to have a decent back 3. We are lacking a world class centre (which would have been fai) and a standoff. Unless we can recruit or develop juniors into this role - I am already picking that we will perform poorly next year as well - we may have a good forward pack but if the backline isn't scoring or letting in too many tries, then its good for nothing.
Glad to know someone cares enough to comment on the blog! Great stuff. I agree with all of this - although maybe I am confused but didn't Toopi leave the club a couple of years ago?
It is strange how reliant on Jones this team has become after finally breaking free of their Jones-centric years. Also imagine a Warriors side in the coming years without no Price....
Jones should be injury cover at best these days.
What about the bright side - Mannering is still going strong?
Yeah sorry my bad - toopi = ropati in my spiel. I was thinking brain explosion and had one.
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