2019. The year of the Warrior.

[Philip_Smith007]

We certainly can be successful without him I just reckon we will take a couple of years given there's no obvious successor

It will be interesting if there is a mid season acquisition based on results.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

We certainly can be successful without him I just reckon we will take a couple of years given there's no obvious successor

Agree. But am more than happy to be proven wrong

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

UNLIKE most of you guys, I'm truly gutted we lost SJ but I like the optimism that you SJ haters bring - in that we can be successful without him.

We didnt lose him he walked. Big difference there mate.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

We didnt lose him he walked. Big difference there mate.

Yeah he left us. I'm not going to get into wording right now because in the end, we all know what happened. Unlike some, I'm really not stressed out about it at all. Im gutted but no angst. Actually, I'm not even that gutted now as I'm over it. I'm just looking ahead now and hope that it all pans out nicely for us.

 

[WellsNZ]

The obvious change in attitude in the team has me feeling pretty hopeful that they can go alright with Princess gone. I think having that taste of success last year is a big thing that not many people really focus on. I'm hoping that has spread across the team and they all have a bit more pep in their step showing up for the year as a group that made the finals rather than a group of disappointment like they have been for years. Success breeds success.

Wouldn't be surprised if there's a few happy to see the back of SJ and they rally around proving that they're a good team without him.

RTS is there, he's the defending Dally M winner. They can look to him for inspiration when needed instead of looking to SJ who may or may not be interested on the day.

 

[spear tackle]

The obvious change in attitude in the team has me feeling pretty hopeful that they can go alright with Princess gone. I think having that taste of success last year is a big thing that not many people really focus on. I'm hoping that has spread across the team and they all have a bit more pep in their step showing up for the year as a group that made the finals rather than a group of disappointment like they have been for years. Success breeds success.

Wouldn't be surprised if there's a few happy to see the back of SJ and they rally around proving that they're a good team without him.

RTS is there, he's the defending Dally M winner. They can look to him for inspiration when needed instead of looking to SJ who may or may not be interested on the day.

For some odd reason people seem to overlook RTS, as far as I can tell he is the ultimate professional.

 

[Meth]

Yeah he left us. I'm not going to get into wording right now because in the end, we all know what happened. Unlike some, I'm really not stressed out about it at all. Im gutted but no angst. Actually, I'm not even that gutted now as I'm over it. I'm just looking ahead now and hope that it all pans out nicely for us.

I think when you make it clear that you don't want a bloke, you can excuse him for walking tbh

 

[Rich102]

Depends who you believe.

Johnson says nobody from the club contacted him so he went looking.
Kearney says he phoned him in the UK and said they would like to talk when he got back; if necessary extending his holiday post Christmas.
Johnson said he was entitled to holidays and he wasn't coming in.

The club was committed to his contract in 2019 - but obviously his future beyond that was in doubt.
Johnson chose to leave.

As far as I see it win, win. But I certainly don't feel sorry for SJ nor do I think the club mistreated him in any way.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

I think when you make it clear that you don't want a bloke, you can excuse him for walking tbh

Ahh good point..

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I don’t think the club ever made it clear they didn’t want him- just that they didn’t want to keep paying 1M a year for him. And fair enough too, why should he be on 200K more than the captain and Dally M winner? If he’d been realistic about his value instead of throwing his toys and walking things could’ve been different.

 

[MKEB...]

- just that they didn’t want to keep paying 1M a year for him. And fair enough too, why should he be on 200K more than the captain and Dally M winner?

When you see it from that point: to quote from the great Roger Waters..." Cant you see, it all makes perfect sense"

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

I don’t think the club ever made it clear they didn’t want him- just that they didn’t want to keep paying 1M a year for him. And fair enough too, why should he be on 200K more than the captain and Dally M winner? If he’d been realistic about his value instead of throwing his toys and walking things could’ve been different.

Yep threw his toys alright. He would of won so much respect if had tried to prove the Club wrong and put in a decent season that warrants his 1m deal. The club got it right and the squad balance looks better.

 

[Matua]

Yep threw his toys alright. He would of won so much respect if had tried to prove the Club wrong and put in a decent season that warrants his 1m deal. The club got it right and the squad balance looks better.

WTF! No it doesn't. The team only has one recognised half and are rolling the dice with two young players. Like or love Johnson (I think the club should have got rid of him a few years ago) the squad balance looks better with him there than without him.

 

[MKEB...]

Sorry Matua; I have to disagree. Most clubs have done well with only one recognised half. And when you consider that SJ wasnt a genuine recognised half in the warriors previous finals tilt,,,nor Thurston when the dogs won their ring....or the dragons with no halves but Gasnier/cooper in the centres. I can still think of a few with worse halves and sides that done better.

I wont write them off yet.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

...And when you consider that SJ wasnt a genuine recognised half in the warriors previous finals tilt,,,nor Thurston when the dogs won their ring....or the dragons with no halves but Gasnier/cooper in the centres. I can still think of a few with worse halves and sides that done better...

Thurston was still up and coming at that time as he was coming off the bench on occasions. The doggies did have a good half in Brent Sherwin that guided them around the park nicely that year. Gasnier and the Dragons had Hornby as their captain and Jamie Soward who wasn't too bad either. One other thing that stood out from those teams (upon viewing them on wikipedia) was the good forward packs they had, and we keep going on about that and its benefits for the halves so we wont go into that.

I do understand what you're saying though. Maybe it's time we ditch Shauns probing where he's like - 'oh no, nothing on here, I'll go the other way' and go with someone thats all about game management. We can assume that they're (the rookie halves) are going to be all about game management because unlike Shaun, theres no expectation of these two to break the line. I'm sure they will get their opportunity to throw the dummy and show their stuff but for the majority of the time, we want to see these kids just keep feeding and creating big plays for their team mates. We have seen some good no name halves come in and become unsung heroes for a lot of teams in the past.

 

[Rich102]

Could this be the year the centres finally get some ball with room to move?

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

WTF! No it doesn't. The team only has one recognised half and are rolling the dice with two young players. Like or love Johnson (I think the club should have got rid of him a few years ago) the squad balance looks better with him there than without him.

The club did nothing wrong though. SJ walked and decided not to honor the last year. They had him in their plans for 2019 hence they didn't secure Lino or Hingano. What I meant when saying we have a good balance is we no longer have a dude that takes up so much cap who delivers 1 in 6 games. We are in the position to really make some inroads on securing a majority of our squad and add quality as we see fit. Yes 2019 we may suffer a whole lot with having only 2 juniors to rely on (esp if Green goes down) but that was beyond their control. When babies play up boy don't they play up? We are genuine contenders because I believe we have brought in so much quality across the board both in players and management the next 3-4 years is going to be interesting. I want to win it this year and depending on how the juniors fire we could be pleasantly in for a good season. We wont know until the season unfolds.

 

[Matua]

The club did nothing wrong though. SJ walked and decided not to honor the last year. They had him in their plans for 2019 hence they didn't secure Lino or Hingano. What I meant when saying we have a good balance is we no longer have a dude that takes up so much cap who delivers 1 in 6 games. We are in the position to really make some inroads on securing a majority of our squad and add quality as we see fit. Yes 2019 we may suffer a whole lot with having only 2 juniors to rely on (esp if Green goes down) but that was beyond their control. When babies play up boy don't they play up? We are genuine contenders because I believe we have brought in so much quality across the board both in players and management the next 3-4 years is going to be interesting. I want to win it this year and depending on how the juniors fire we could be pleasantly in for a good season. We wont know until the season unfolds.

I'm not sure the club did nothing wrong. There was always a chance SJ would leave and a good club would have been prepared for that. The Warriors clearly weren't.

So what you're actually saying is that we may have a better balance in the future, but 2019 might be a write off. However, having two juniors wasn't beyond the clubs control, they just chose to let it play out as it did.

I hope the Warriors are good, but I think a lot of people are giving this current administration a pass for stuff previous administrations would have been taken to task for. We're taking a gamble on a young bloke turning into a star in a short amount of time ... we need one of them to be a Jones or Cleary.

 

[Matua]

Sorry Matua; I have to disagree. Most clubs have done well with only one recognised half. And when you consider that SJ wasnt a genuine recognised half in the warriors previous finals tilt,,,nor Thurston when the dogs won their ring....or the dragons with no halves but Gasnier/cooper in the centres. I can still think of a few with worse halves and sides that done better.

I wont write them off yet.

If you go through the last 10 grand finals you'll clearly see that all teams had recognised halves (although Cronulla is an anomaly with Chad Townsend although he did become a much better player after leaving the Warriors, and I have little memory about Kris Keating for the Dogs but he'd played over 40 NRL matches and City origin before playing the GF).

As for the bold, which sides?

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

I'm not sure the club did nothing wrong. There was always a chance SJ would leave and a good club would have been prepared for that. The Warriors clearly weren't.

So what you're actually saying is that we may have a better balance in the future, but 2019 might be a write off. However, having two juniors wasn't beyond the clubs control, they just chose to let it play out as it did.

I hope the Warriors are good, but I think a lot of people are giving this current administration a pass for stuff previous administrations would have been taken to task for. We're taking a gamble on a young bloke turning into a star in a short amount of time ... we need one of them to be a Jones or Cleary.

Well Johnson was contracted to the end of 2019 so I don't know what else the club could of done. They communicated to him that he was in their plans for 2019. And that's where things should of continued on as per normal. But nooooooo Princess got his panties in a twist when he wasn't offered an automatic renewal for 2020 and beyond, Decided to say FU to his "LOYAL" fans and team mates by pissing off to the Sharks knowingly it would royally screw our halves position with Lino / Hingano gone.

I'm not saying 2019 is a write off but it's possible we will struggle in the halves relying on juniors and possibly losing Green with injury. Past management did start the foundation of a big culture change but this current crop have all been strategically placed and executed with loads of care one can not feel a little optimistic about this season.

A Jones or Cleary like Junior will be handy. I wonder who or if anyone will step up? March is not far away.