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'Every year should be the year': Warriors need to cast ego aside to break NRL Premiership drought
Marcus Forbes • February 1st, 2025 7:00 am
Photo: Alan Lee/Photosport
Firstly, the NZ Warriors as a club or franchise don’t owe the fans anything. And the fandom of the Wahs needs to accept this.
Every year should be the year a professional team wants to win the comp, that’s the nature of professional sport.
And that’s why the NFL or the EPL, as an example, have no tolerance for coaches who are not aiming to win the comp.
The Warriors of 2025 are missing some cattle but at the same time have a coach (Andrew Webster) who is now established as a first-grade boss. They have a talented roster, even with the likes of Shaun Johnson and Tohu Harris missing.
And don’t start me on Addin Fonua-Blake. I don’t think you can under-estimate the impact a star player telling his mates he’s bailing back to Sydney has on the function and spirit of a team.
The Warriors’ collection of hyphenated named stars – RTS, CHT, JFH, CNK - is a key factor in them winning.
BUT the biggest component to their success should be them all trying to win collectively.
For the past decade, the Warriors have been a team that’s been driven by individuals trying to be the star of the team rather than those stars working with the team to win.
It may seem to be the same thing but it’s not.
You can always tell when the Warriors’ stars are trying to win the game by themselves versus trying to win the game as a team.
For a long time, the Warriors have relied on individual stars to carry the team, but when they all work together towards the same goal, they play like a team that commands a spot in the Top 8.
There’s always been a list of reasons for why the Warriors haven’t managed to fulfill their potential. Some of it’s true, some of its urban myth and some of it is just made up to help make you feel better.
The truth is every season there’s a mathematical equation that determines whether a team is going to make the eight or not. Win enough games and score enough points and you’re in.
Back in the early 2000s, Mick Watson and Daniel Anderson broke it down into quarters. The goal was to win three out of four games in a block, reset, win the next three out of four games - and so on.
It hasn’t really changed much, and the guts of it is the likes of Melbourne, Penrith, Brisbane and the rest of the dynasty winning teams have all applied the same theory.
Where the difference between these teams and the Warriors lies is the drive to succeed.
You can’t talk a dream into reality. Actions are what will see the Warriors finally crack this chestnut and win the comp.
And if the fans want their team to deliver, they’ll be there week in week out until the final whistle – who remembers the bad old days of the Ericsson Shuffle!
Marcus Forbes is Entain's Head of Digital Media and has previously worked as media manager for the New Zealand Kiwis.
