I keep hearing about how injuries are the reason this team has gone so poorly with inexperience having to play, so thought I would look up the Grand Final side to see how much different it is
New Zealand Warriors
1 Kevin Locke, 2 Bill Tupou, 3 Lewis Brown, 4 Krisnan Inu, 5 Manu Vatuvei, 6 James Maloney, 7 Shaun Johnson, 8 Sam Rapira, 9 Aaron Heremaia, 10 Jacob Lillyman, 11 Feleti Mateo, 12 Simon Mannering [c], 13 Micheal Luck. Subs: 14 Lance Hohaia, 15 Russell Packer, 16 Ben Matulino, 17 Elijah Taylor, 20 Steve Rapira (one to be omitted).
So if we go through that
Locke injured a bit and not playing well
Inu club decision to cut loose, wouldnt have the inexperience out there if kept
Heremaia, another club call after signing Friend
Rapira, gone all year, big loss but in a position they should be able to cover adequately
Luck gone most of the year, a big loss
Hohaia, another club decision, maybe salary cap based, but again if he is retained inexperience isn't such a big issue
All in all, I am not so sure injuries are as huge a factor as made out, club decisions on retention are a bigger issue