http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...k/news-story/daf5a011898cdcbfb67b285c9c292014
THE New Zealand Warriors have been told to remove a “bro culture” which is responsible for their “soul-destroying’’ nine-game losing streak.
An embarrassing 34-26 loss to Wests Tigers on Saturday proved little has changed for a one-team, one-country club with a glowing playing roster.
“It’s totally and absolutely unacceptable,” former Warriors part-owner and ex-Kiwi Test coach Graham Lowe said.
New Zealand’s last win was against Melbourne at home on July 12 last year. In the past nine losses, the Warriors have:
[FONT="]●[/FONT] Conceded 294 points through 52 tries;
[FONT="]●[/FONT] Committed a whopping 86 errors;
[FONT="]●[/FONT] Missed 286 tackles, at an average of almost 32 a game; and
[FONT="]●[/FONT] Allowed opposition teams 70 linebreaks.
And the Warriors face the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. Another loss will heap the pressure on coach Andrew McFadden.
“The Warriors are going backwards,” Lowe told The Daily Telegraph.
“They could, and should, be a juggernaut like Brisbane but at the moment there’s no hope of that happening. It’s a matter of when is someone going to put out an anchor to stop this?
“There’s a hard edge that has been missing for, basically, forever. A ruthless edge. And not just on the field. There’s a ‘bro’ culture that is obvious and unacceptable. That culture is in place of that hard edge.
“The two players they have bought (Issac Luke and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck) are fantastic.
“But even without those two players, they’ve got enough players coming through over here that most clubs would drool over.
“The Warriors very rarely face the truth over here, media-wise. For most of the last 10 years I have written columns over here but I decided not to do it this year. Obviously the team that you have to focus on are the Warriors ... it’s just soul-destroying, there’s no change.
“There wasn’t the slightest sign of any improvement from Saturday night compared to the eight losses which ended last year. It’s an absolute cop-out to say they came back into the match. The score totally flattered the Warriors.”
The Warriors’ worst losing streak is 11, stretching across 2012 and 2013, a time when coach Brian McClennan was sacked.
Strangely, the Warriors have never asked the experienced Lowe to help the club.
“Losing those eight games in a row last year, it turned so many people off,” Lowe said.
“It’s a sign of madness to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
“They have massive selection issues and, historically, really questionable recruitment policies.’’
