Experts write off Warriors’ chances

Rugby league experts are predicting the New Zealand Warriors will face another massive uphill battle to make the NRL top eight this season.

On the competition’s official website, a combination of 13 former players and reporters gave their predicted top eight sides for the regular 2021 NRL campaign – and the Warriors make the playoffs in only five selections.

In four of those predictions, the Warriors are expected to just make the playoffs, sneaking through in either seventh or eighth place.

But Nrl.com senior reporter and veteran rugby league writer Brad Walter is the sole expert who is sold on the

Warriors being a Premiership-chasing force this year.

‘‘The Warriors have been the best off-season recruiters and won’t have the same disruptions as last season,’’ Walter wrote as he predicted the South Sydney Rabbitohs as the only side to finish ahead of Nathan Brown’s troops in the regular season.

Fellow Nrl.com writer Martin Lenehan wrote that ‘‘the Titans and Warriors have recruited brilliantly and will charge into the top eight at the expense of the Knights and the Sharks’’ but former Brisbane Broncos superstar Steve Renouf and ex-dragons playmaker Jamie Soward couldn’t find room for the Warriors in their respective top eights.

The Warriors finished a credible 10th last year in a season that saw Stephen Kearney sacked as coach and replaced by Todd Payten, with the side having to spend all of their campaign across the Tasman due to the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Auckland franchise has again been based in Australia this year for its pre-season training and will start their NRL season against the Gold Coast Titans at Central Coast Stadium on March 13 knowing that it will be sometime before they may be able to play at Mt Smart Stadium in front of their own fans.

Renouf tipped the Penrith Panthers to win the minor premiership while Soward fancies the Rabbitohs – one of eight experts who have made the Bunnies the title favourites.