Warriors v Tigers

Well its about the time of year when the midseason NRL malaise sets in. It really is a long season - maybe there are too many games. Or maybe its just the fact that its always about this time of year when the Warriors seem locked in a kind of mid table purgatory - trying to squeek a win here or there to maintain the mathematical possibility of a playoff spot. One win in their last eight games is not good enough - and over reliance on the prospect of a miracle late season winning streak does not necessarily seem the best strategy. With that said - as I am noted in the past - maybe the first half of the season doesn't matter and its all just warm up for the run in to the playoffs. I just don't know and frankly I bore myself complaining about this team as its just the same indifferent mideseason Warriors form that we are all so accustomed to.  Maybe we have to give it up for this year and focus on next year (when by the way this blog is going to go stratospheric). But what this team needs right now - is some wins.

So where are we - it could be a time warp reading some of the material out there on the Warriors weaknesses. Big men running at Stacey Jones to exploit defensive weakness - is this 2003? The bench is the place for Jones these days and this is hopefully what Cleary has learnt to date.

Last couple of games have been thrashings. Somehow after appearing to have great depth in the halves - the Warriors have spiralled back to complete reliance on Jones. The release of Fien perplexes me. Clearys steady hand may be starting to waiver. 

Anyway Warriors (11th) play Tigers (10th) at home on Sunday. A win is desperately needed - as is some solution to the conundrum in the halves. Cleary is rejigging things a bit with the call up of two rookies -  half/hooker Aaron Heremaia and under-20s star fullback Kevin Locke. Maybe its all just preperation for the future. Lets hope it works.

Pub talk

Hello everyone - hope you liked that Pepe Silvia clip - its from a show call "Its always sunny in Philadelphia".

I was told last night by a somewhat drunken individual that they only get their Warriors news from this blog and that due to my slackness in updating - they had no idea how the Warriors season was getting on. I kind of like the narrowness of this worldview - the idea that the world wide followers of this blog - in their thousands for sure - wakes every day and logs on to this site - only to have their hopes of a dose of Warriors news with no possible alternative dashed by my lack of an update. If you want to use this blog to the exclusion of all other news sources, be my guest, I just hope I don't dissappoint you.

Anyway lots going on outside of Warriors world at the moment - busy work - and packing up my life here in London for my imminent return to NZ. Will fly out from UK for good on 5 July, back in NZ by the start of December 2009. 

But for now its saturday, twenty degrees and sunny and I am not at work right now - so things are looking pretty good.

A big day in Sport today, FA Cup final, Super 14 final and Game 6 of the Cavs v Magic NBA playoff series. After dominating the entire season Lebron finds himself one game away from elimination (Orlando lead 3-2 in the best of seven series), how did the Cavs blow it so badly? Kobe by the way has just got himself and his Lakers into another NBA finals series. So that mouth watering Lebron/Kobe matchup is still a mathematical possibility - but would require a series of uninterupted Lebron miracles for it to happen. 

I will try and catch some of the Cheifs game - they seem a bit like the Warriors of the super 14 to me - always alot of promise but until now - not much in the way results. Lets hope they can pull off a win. 

FA Cup - I have to admit I really don't care that much about the result other than to say if Chelsea lose it would be preferable as Moyes really does deserve a trophy. 

And finally I would just like to say - North Korea - wtf are you thinking? 

As for the Warriors -now I have got everything else out - my next post will bring us up to date!

pepe silvia

Must update blog

Yeah I know I must update the blog - sorry peeps have just been too busy lately. Will get it done later today. In the meantime - wtf is this:

Eric Watson back on the radar

Eric having dinner in London last night with celebrity model Kelly Brook?

Warriors come back to win in golden point overtime!

This is sweet, great comeback by the team to beat the Roosters at home 17-16 on a Stacey Jones field goal in golden point overtime.

A years subscription of bad Roosters puns

Hello again, I hope everyone had a good Easter break. I must apologise for being a bit slack in keeping up the blog so far this season. The demands of work together with the Easter holidays and planning for the winding up of our time in London at the end of June this year are meaning I am devoting less time than I would like to the blog. With that said, there is so much material in the Warriorsblogosphere that I would like to touch on that I almost don't know where to begin.

First up a narrow loss last week to the Knights sounds like a real nailbiter. A whole season can get decided by tight losses like this one and the Warriors need to be able to win these games when they are in with a shot. I got a text about this result whilst I was in sunny Port Isaac in Cornwall for the Easter holidays.

This weeks game at home against the Roosters is looking like a good chance to get the season moving once again in the right direction with the return of Price and Vatuvei. The team need support more than ever so try and get along there for the kickoff at 2pm if you are going to be in Auckland.

The Hoff reckons this season is over already and that we should start planning for next year. Cleary Year V may well be one to look forward to - particularly since I should be back resident in NZ by then and hopefully with season ticket in hand. But lets not give up on Cleary Year IV just yet.

Did any readers of this blog snap up tix for Simon and Garfunkel in Auckland by the way? I would be there in a shot if I was in AK, Bridge over Troubled Water is like a Warriors anthem!

I also saw this article about the opportunity for the Warriors to play at Eden Park - this just seems wrong to me. For one thing Eden Park as the article suggests is not a great rugby or league ground anyway - its a cricket ground. As such the stands are not that close to the sidelines. Also despite the fact that it can seem a bit desolate at times with the new East Stand Mt Smart delivers a decent match day experience and has developed a history as the Warriors home such that it would seem unfortunate to just toss away. Why the club/council didn't pursue a redevelopment of Carlow Park we shall never know as that to my mind would have made the Warriors into a central part of the Auckland city scene in the way that the caketin in Wellington fits elegantly into the life of Wellington as a city. Anyone with any thoughts or first person closeup views on the Eden Park redevelopment progress please feel free to chime in on this.

Big couple of weeks in the English football season. Massive Champions League second leg results this week with Man U overcoming Porto on a Ronaldo wonder goal and Arsenal destroying Villareal at home. Now Man U play Arsenal in one semi and Chelsea play Barcelona in the other. This is champagne football and one of the best sporting products out there. This week we have the FA Cup semi finals which I understand are on free to air live TV in NZ? Man U v Everton and Arsenal v Chelsea present another couple of very watchable encounters.

As the NBA Playoffs begin - you know I am going to be backing Lebron and the Cavs to win it all this year, qualifying first in the east with the best record in the NBA and only losing two games at home all season so far.

And after all that I haven't even mentioned the now slightly old story about former NRL player Todd Carney who took nude photos of himself on a temporary mobile which he then returned to Telstra who gave the phone with said photos to someone else who then disclosed them to the papers. You may also enjoy this old article, headline "Todd Carney revelation: I've been an idiot". I could not make this stuff up if I tried. I would call this a brain explosion but its a much more long term thing than that. More like permanent brain injury.