Still miles away from the best

Here we go again. The Warriors are back. Kieran Foran is the latest saviour.

Sorry, but I don’t really think so, not on that performance against the Gold Coast Titans, even if Steve Kearney’s embattled side got a win on the board and Foran made a clear difference.

The Warriors are miles away from challenging the best sides in this competition.

Exhibit A in that argument is the Melbourne Storm’s big win over highly fancied Penrith, where staggering expertise and stamina on defence from Cameron Smith’s men left Nathan Cleary and Co bewildered.

The Warriors’ believers, the faithful, will see Foran as the answer — and he certainly made a difference in a last-gasp victory over the depleted Titans.

Warriors coach Kearney made an extraordinary statement last week, claiming football wasn’t the primary reason for bringing Foran to Auckland, that getting him back to health was.

The Foran Files are pure Warriors, another deliciously bizarre episode at a club which has spent 20 years trying to fly to the moon by digging themselves into holes. But Foran helped dig the Warriors out of a hole, in what would have been an embarrassing loss against the Titans.

He had a patchy first half, but was a huge factor in the second spell.

There won’t be many realists who think the Warriors have turned a major corner. Not in the cold light of day, away from the roar of a magnificent if smallish Mt Smart Stadium crowd.

Those realists will see a Warriors team which struggled to beat a Titans outfit already beaten up by injuries, one which suffered more defections during the game. The Titans are a sparky team but one that is unlikely to give the title much of a shake even at full strength.

But you’ve got to be grateful for small mercies with the Warriors. Anything which isn’t a humiliating loss or part of a long losing streak is a triumph.

Issac Luke had one of his better games, without a doubt. James Gavet has added a lot of punch.

They held their nerve to come up with the winning try. A loss against Gold Coast would have been too much to bear, but it was on the cards for at least half the game.

That’s about half a game too much considering the circumstances.

The Warriors still make crucial mistakes, miss tackles and are not as organised as they should be. They revert to off-the-cuff football not as a policy, but a way of getting out of blind corners.

Their attack was remarkably limited considering the Titans’ ramshackle state.

And they didn’t set up for field goals with any authority.

There are defensive problems in the centres, and a lack of overall class and fluidity around the wings and centres.

Big Ken Maumalo is hesitant, and Blake Ayshford a liability.

Young captain Roger TuivasaSheck claimed immediately after the game that the win proved their processes worked. What else can he say, but it was hard to agree with any enthusiasm.

Foran also said it was all about trusting the processes, as if they were reading from the same whiteboard.

Personally, I’ve got no idea what they are on about, but it was great to hear the Mt Smart Stadium roar, because those fans deserve much more than they’ve been dished up by this club.

There’s hope, but not a huge amount of it.

Anything which isn’t a humiliating loss or part of a long losing streak is a triumph.