Sione is off the wagon

In a shock development the Warriors have terminated Sione Faumuina's contract for just one too many alcohol related indiscretions. This one apparently at an aftermatch lounge function after the Roosters game in which Sione played no part due to a "wrist" injury. Is that an injury of the kind where the wrist can't help itself but lift lion red cans towards the mouth of the victim?

Only a few details on the final straw incident have been made public so if anyone has any nuggets of goss gleamed from their inside sources - such as anyone who was lucky enough to be in the aftermatch lounge in question during the incident - please divulge them here.

I suggested in a previous blog that the mystery wrist injury was in fact a cover story for Sione going to rehab however the apparent presence of the boozer at the Roosters game kind of debunks that theory. Who will take up the challenge of taming this wild man - Manly?

In addition there are rumours in the UK press as well as the Aussie press that following the dumping of Ricky Stewart by the Roosters that Daniel Anderson will be taking up the job after having taken St Helens to the absolute pinnacle of UK league winning everything there is to win and doing so in a dominating style.

And in a final note the Warriors have extended Cleary's contract as coach of the Warriors till the end of 2008. Well done to the management on that one looks like a good choice.

Warriors kick chicken butt

My goodness what a stunning end of season run this is turning into. Thanks heaps for the post from the Wellington Warrior (as a comment to one of the posts below) about his trip to the Roosters game. Sounds like it was awesome! Nice choice of game to attend - a bit lucky really!

Broncoes away to finish the season - should be a bruising encounter!

Strong end to season

I am getting really slack about posting which is a bit unfortunate for those few of you out here who actually read what I put on this site.

Warriors seem to be in a fairly strong run of form of late with a very impressive win over the NRL minor premiers the Storm following on from a win over the Cowboys. Win loss ratio is now 11 and 11 so the boys have managed to hit the 500 mark. In fact they are sitting in 10th. Cleary continues to argue that they still have something to play for although I can't figure out what this is he certainly seems to have figured out how to get the best out of this Warriors unit. Only two games remain starting with a tough test vs the Roosters followed by the Broncoes away.

This weeks game v the Roosters will the last home game for Webb and the Pedestrian.

Once the season is over we can take a look at where this Warriors season ranks in the history of the franchise and I think you might be surprised how highly it does in fact rank.

And for those of you who care - its Tea Ropati.

The struggle goes on

Hi all.

Well I know I have been slack on the posting but the Warriors need to do a little more to keep me interested.

I was pleased to see the win over Cronulla although it is entirely meaningless at this stage of the season. As I sat basking in the London sun I took some pleasure in the fact that it was so unpleasant and cold during the Sharks match in Auckland that one of the poor Sharkeys got hypothermia in the changing sheds afterwards.

So sad to see that Webb is leaving, although he will clock 100 games for the Warriors this weekend vs the Cboys. Ropati thinks there is a still a lot to play for and in pride terms he is right but lets not fool ourselves. Unfortuantely Koopu is injured so will miss a match for the first time in 52 games.

The ramifications of the Faumuina alcohol fiasco are still doing the rounds. Not sure this drunken performance, as bad is it apparently was, can top Latu's debacle for the title of brain explosion of the year but I am prepared to listen to argument on the point. One point in the F mans favour is that he was actually in the Warrirors squad at the time of his indiscretion whilst Latu had already been axed.

Anyone who has any info on who this person might be please post it to this blog, if you are worried about violating the name supression order just email me and I will post it as the suppression order doesn't apply here.

On a lighter note Monty Betham has been suspended for two matches after delivering a classic Betham punchy performance in UK superleague.

Gorillasanti also continues to deny allegations that he stole $6000 from a team mates room whilst touring with the Kangaroos in 2003. This is interesting on two counts, first that people are still talking about it - this was three years ago. And second because some fool in the Aussie team not only had $6000 in cash on him but left it in his hotel room.

And just to keep the scandal ball rolling - the Broncoes have sacked Brett Seymour and Neville Costigan over their involvement in off-field incidents. Halfback Seymour had recently been accused of headbutting a woman in a Brisbane pub while Costigan was this week charged by police with drink driving. The Warriors should sign these guys as soon as possible.

Brain Explosion of the Year - Faumuina?

Well I thought Latu had run away with the title having been sentenced to Jail, having the sentence reduced to community service then flying out to the UK and signing with a new club without having completed such sentence and having a further warrant issued for his arrest. That people, is evidence not of a brain explosion, it is evidence of brain damage.

Anyway Faumuina has come from nowhere and emerged as new contender for the title with an apparently shocking drunken performance at the Guttenbeil testimonial luncheon of all occassions. The incident included swearing at his coach Cleary and club captain Wiki.

Interestingly despite supposedly successful crisis talks with Sione to resolve his apparent desire to leave the club to play in Australia the Warriors are now reporting that he is out for the rest of the season with broken wrist? Is this a lame cover story for Sione going into rehab?

Piss poor

that is all i have to say about that lame ass result

NZRL sells its stake in Warriors to Watson

Apparently the ongoing saga regarding the NZRL 25% share in the Warriors is over with an agreement reached which will see the NZRL sell its stake to Warriors League Limited (formerly Cullen Investments). Eric is now 100% owner.

In the same vein - cheers to James "judgement day" Dellow for sending me a scan of a great article from the independent written by Trevor McKewen with an axe to grind about Watson's record as owner of the Warriors. (NB: Trev was fired as CEO of the Warriors after the Watson takeover). One of the key points made was that the NZRL did not think it was getting adequate "management expertise" value from Watson that had led it to facilitate the sale to Watson in the first place and did not want to be called upon to inject further capital. Accordingly Trev described how the NZRL were in dispute with Watson over adequate compensation and terms for the sale of their shares. Sorry can't link to the article as it is pay per view.

Another juicy tidbit from Trev is that the NZRL had refused to sign off on the Warriors 2002 accounts because they beleived they misrepresent what was in theory the Warriors most profitable season ever. Apparently most of the profit was used up in payment of very large "management fees" to Cullen.

I would not beleive everything he says because of his obvious bias but Trev's best point in the above article, not a new one incidentally, was that the NRL basically conspired to give the Warriors to Eric amost for free. He paid $375,000 for the license only - the original Warriors folded and then he re-signed all the players to his "new" Warriors club without taking on any of the old club's debt. Contrast this with the recent purchase by Russell Crowe of Souths where he paid $3.75m for a 75% stake in the club. Thats ten times more kids - for what in theory is an asset of comparitively similar value?

I am not sure we should be berating Watson for being so clever as to have an NRL franchise essentially given to him on a silver platter. What is an issue is whether Watson has the stomach for owning a "business" that is at best has a low margin of profitability and at worst bleeds cash. What will become of the Warriors if Eric decides he has enough of pumping in cash and the Warriors end up again in massive debt and spiralling into receivership. Who will come riding to the rescue. Regardless of who owns them if the Warriors don't win they are not a good investment. Sports franchises (with the exception of NBA teams) rarely are good money makers. Accordingly the owner needs to be willing to suck up monetary losses for the benefit of non-monetary rewards such as status, prestige and excitement.

Does Eric have the patience for this? Time will tell.