Warriors players need to be held accountable

Another year, another season of underachievement for the Warriors.

New Zealand’s most frustrating sports team has again lived up to its reputation, with Sunday’s capitulation against the Wests Tigers ensuring a fifth consecutive year of watching the finals from home.

Forget the bunker blunders, Sunday’s 36-24 defeat to the Tigers was yet another missed opportunity by Andrew Mcfadden’s team in a campaign littered with them.

This year was supposed to be different but right from round one, when they stumbled out of the blocks, also against the Tigers, they have failed to live up to expectations.

Injuries have played a part but what NRL team goes through a season injury free?

The club needs to be held accountable for another failed campaign and for most, this starts with the coach.

The Warriors hierarchy have constantly stood by Mcfadden but questions have to be asked if he’s the right man to take them forward.

A mark of a quality coach is his ability to get the best out of their players when it matters most. But for the third straight year under Mcfadden’s watch, they’ve faltered with the finals in sight.

The last three weeks in particular, the Warriors have played with a distinct lack of hunger and desperation and that can only reflect poorly on Mcfadden.

He’s also raised eyebrows with some of his conservative selections (Jeff Robson over Tuimoala Lolohea and Jonathan Wright over Lolohea to name a couple), while he never really settled on a replacement for Roger Tuivasasheck at fullback.

But is getting rid of another coach going to fix their problems?

For a team that seems to be lacking a hard mental edge, it really does seem to be the easy way out. Particularly if they can’t find an experienced alternative - longsuffering fans deserve better than another rookie in charge.

Too often the under-performing playing group has been shielded from responsibility by the revolving door of coaches at Mt Smart and a shake-up could be the best thing for the club.

The Warriors have unearthed two promising props in Albert Vete and Sam Lisone but they have been let down by their more senior teammates.

Jacob Lillyman doesn’t bend the line like he used to and, at 32, it’s hard to think he will return to his best. Ben Matulino, who should be among the best props in the NRL, looks to be playing within himself.

And as hard-working as the back-row is, they are noticeably lacking in the ball-playing department.

Manu Vatuvei, meanwhile, appeared disinterested against the Tigers.

It’s been a difficult year for Vatuvei due to off-field issues but it also seems that years of hurling his body at multiple defenders has caught up with the big winger.

His customary errors are becoming harder to justify and as much as the fans will protest, perhaps a change of scenery would benefit both him and the club.

Then there is the polarising figure of Shaun Johnson.

One of the more disappointing aspects of Sunday’s defeat was that when the game was in the balance, it was the young Tigers halves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses who took it by the scruff of the neck, not the Warriors’ golden boot winner.

Johnson can’t do it all by himself, yet those are the moments that he has to own.

He may have been carrying a quad injury for the last two months, but it hasn’t been a good season by his standards with his reluctance to regularly test the line a constant frustration among fans.

The Warriors must persist. Playmakers of Johnson’s ability are all too rare in New Zealand for them to go in a different direction.

However, both Johnson and the club must ask themselves whether they are doing all they can to get the best out of him on the field.

One of several tough questions in what is sure to be a long offseason for boss Jim Doyle.