Warriors committed to completing NRL season
Poasa Faamausili has been called back to the Roosters as the club holds crisis talks with the NRL. David Long reports.
WARRIORS chief executive Cameron George says the club is committed to playing out the rest of the season, even though four players want to go home and Poasa Faamausili has returned to the Roosters.
The assurance comes as the team cops a further blow with skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck charged for a grade one shoulder charge, which is set to cost him a week. The fullback was pinged for his hit on Felise Kaufusi in Friday’s loss to Melbourne, and will miss a week whether he takes an early guilty plea or unsuccessfully challenges the charge at the judiciary.
The Warriors committed to going to Australia early last month only on the condition that their families would be given special exemptions to enter the country.
However, that hasn’t happened and David Fusitu’a, Agnatius Paasi, Ken Maumalo and Leivaha Pulu all want to return to their families in New
Zealand.
George confirmed that NRL bosses met Warriors players yesterday and the players have agreed to stay in camp in the Central Coast for a couple more weeks.
‘‘I had Peter V’landys, [NRL chairman] and Andrew Abdo [NRL interim CEO] speak to the leadership group and also the players that are concerned with exemptions,’’ George told the Sunday Star-Times.
‘‘At this stage we’re working with the NRL about trying to get it across the line, because it’s so important to us.
‘‘They [players] were under the impression that their families would come and it doesn’t appear at this point in time that that’s going to be the case. So therefore, they’re committing for a few more weeks as we work with the NRL to see what unfolds.’’
Given that the Warriors have conceded a total of 90 points in the heavy defeats to the
Rabbitohs and Storm over the past two weeks, their chances of turning things around will be considerably harder if players head back home to Auckland.
Even so, George says pulling the club out of the competition for the rest of the season isn’t an option.
‘‘We’re not thinking like that,’’ he said. ‘‘Of course, taking those players out of our squad will make it tougher, but we’re already working towards what that would mean to the depth and how we get around that.’’
The Warriors suffered another blow yesterday when they were informed by the Roosters that they wanted prop Faamausili back.
Faamausili initially joined the Warriors on loan for four weeks, but that was recently extended, with Trent Robinson letting him stay longer.
However, the Roosters picked up a couple of serious injuries in their 26-12 win over the Dragons on Friday night.
Because of this, Faamausili has been called back to the Roosters.
Warriors interim coach Todd Payten gave a brutal assessment of the club’s 50-6 loss to the
Storm, where he questioned the players’ commitment and fight.
No-one expected it to be easy for Payten to take over from Stephen Kearney at short notice and then having to take on a top team like Melbourne and he continues to have the support of George.
‘‘Todd and the playing group are doing their best under extreme circumstances and it’s going to be a hard road ahead,’’ George said.
Former Warriors coach Brian McClennan said the club made it harder for itself by getting rid of
Kearney.
‘‘It’s so unprecedented, the whole situation they’re in now and how it will unravel, because the only person I know of who could help them through this, the owners got rid of him,’’ McClennan said.
‘‘He has experience in this situation, because they all know he’d been coaching them while his family had been in Brisbane.
‘‘Mooks [Kearney] was the only one who’s been in this situation, so that’s who they’ll talk to. They had trust in him and they got rid of him.’’