‘Toxic sprays’ among Warriors

‘‘We’ve all got to realise people aren’t going out there to make mistakes. Everyone’s trying their best.’’

Fellow middle forward Jazz Tevaga says as the losses have mounted during the season, the on-field feeling among the team has got worse.

‘‘I can’t put it down to one thing, but what I will say is we’re pretty mentally weak at the moment and when something goes against us, it has a snowball effect and that’s built up of frustration and then guys start spraying each other.

‘‘There have been toxic sprays on the field and that’s something we’ve got to get out of our game, but like I said, that’s built up of frustration.’’

Tevaga has never been one to sugar coat what’s happening at the Warriors.

‘‘A lot of the boys have just had enough of all this s… and when things go wrong, it’s like ‘here we go again’. That’s the feeling we’ve been getting prior to the Tigers [win in round 16] and in the second half [against the Raiders].

‘‘It has been a bit ugly, but we’ve got to learn from that and get over it quickly.’’

Halfback Shaun Johnson also feels that the on-field sprays among the players is being caused by the poor results.

‘‘It’s sort of always going to happen when you’ve had a frustrating year. We’re all competitive and we all just want to win,’’ Johnson said.

‘‘Everyone buys into the prep during the week – you put so much effort into what you’re trying to do and you come up short in the weekend.

‘‘You guys have 80 minutes, we have so much more than that. We put in so much more than 80 minutes and when it’s not gone your way on the field – that’s when the frustration comes from,’’ Johnson said.

Lewis Clareburt looms as New Zealand’s best chance to win a rare swimming gold at the Commonwealth Games.

While Dame Sophie Pascoe has led the way in the pool with four golds at the past two events, only two Kiwi non-para swimmers have claimed top spot on the podium this century.

Moss Burmester won gold in the men’s 200m butterfly in Melbourne in 2006, while Lauren Boyle triumphed in the women’s 400m freestyle eight years ago in Glasgow.

Swimming has been the thirdmost prolific medal-winning sport in Commonwealth Games history for New Zealanders, with 84 medals (18 gold, 30 silver and 36 bronze) since 1930.

But there have been minimal returns at recent Games bar Pascoe’s haul, and the para swimming legend will compete in only one event at this meet.

That means Clareburt, who