Warriors duo deserve better
Green and Beale treated shabbily by club owner who has a twitchy trigger finger
Warriors sole owner Mark Robinson will get longer to prove his worth than he gave sacked coach Stephen Kearney, if he’s lucky. The jury has hardly been convened for Robinson yet, although it quickly needs assembling after his bizarre and divisive performance last week.
Midway through this extraordinary season, Robinson is coming across as part cowboy, part sheriff, part gunslinger.
He seems to see his club as full of rogues, but may not recognise the characteristic in himself. Last week, he appeared bereft of self-control.
The Autex Industries owner became sole Warriors owner late last year, and is starting to come across as, and even revel in, being a showman who isn’t too bothered where the bullets land.
It’s fascinating stuff, and the Warriors are the gold standard when it comes to making New Zealand sport consistently interesting. Robinson gets a medal for continuing that tradition.
However, his best — or make that safest — move revealed last week was a hail mary phone call to Craig Bellamy’s manager, to see if the legendary Storm coach wanted to become part of the wild Auckland ride. No damage done.
But his treatment of veteran playmaker Blake Green in particular was shocking. Even Gerard “Fast Hands” Beale deserved better than he got.
It’s hard to know if the sights on the Robinson cannon are lined up, or if he’s still in calibration mode.
He deserves a big tick for doing something, anything, to rid the club of the malaise that had grown so badly under former coach Kearney, who he had sacked via a phone call.
But even there, Robinson’s reasoning was kind of wacky. He later declared that Kearney had the “wrong personality” without going close to explaining what the right personality was.
“I need someone with some personality,” he opined.
Personality is a very subjective business.
Roosters boss Trent Robinson, probably the best coach in rugby league, is hardly Seinfeld. Ivan Cleary, who has restored the Panthers, was virtually anonymous during his eventually successful time in Auckland, although he was last seen blowing kisses at opposing Tigers fans over the weekend.
Out came the bazooka again last week, as Robinson gunned down Green and Beale by saying they would be out the door at the end of the year.
Beale may be the best example of discredited player agent Isaac Moses having too much influence at the Warriors.
Beale was a decent squad signing two years ago, but only at the right price. The former Kiwi has never seemed to convince the coaches. He lacks physicality, but he sure can shovel a fast pass. His presence has felt a bit odd.
Green is a completely different story. While the 33-year-old may not have had the greatest 2019, he has brought a lot to the club and been absolutely central to their best games this year. He played a big part in orchestrating the latest win over the Broncos and can run a game as well as anyone in the NRL. He’s clever at picking times to run.
In an absolute rollercoaster, he has been among the Warriors’ best this season, alongside erratic Kodi Nikorima, the terrific Tohu Harris and maybe a couple of others.
Since arriving in 2018, Green has been a crafty and thoroughly professional fulcrum who has appeared to always do his very best in a maelstrom, not that this matters a jot to Robinson.
It felt like both players were being unceremoniously dumped in public, by an owner without a good word to say about them.
This is totally wrong in the moral and club morale sense. If players are going to be gunned down, they’d prefer it be at the hands of the opposition.