Warriors biggest regret?

[SmashEmBro]

Just a bit of fun to pass the time until the NRL returns.

Let's be honest, the Warriors must have a huuuuge list of regrets or 'what ifs'.

From dud recruits to letting staff or players slip through our hands, what do you think Warriors management regrets the most?

Some honourable mentions for me:

• The purchase of Sam Tomkins. What a fail
• Letting Cleary go a year early and not chucking everything into retaining him
• I don't quite know the details, but having Payne Haas on our books as a 16 hear old and letting him get away? Wow

Let's take a stroll down memory lane and remember some of our biggest mishaps as a club!

 

[Beavers Headgear]

The interchange blunder in season 1 is close to top of the list, along with Betts and Platt

The one that always sticks out to me is the “strongest club” press conference that has been a disaster ever since

 

[Diesel]

Choosing Monie over Sheens

 

[SmashEmBro]

The interchange blunder in season 1 is close to top of the list, along with Betts and Platt

The one that always sticks out to me is the “strongest club” press conference that has been a disaster ever since

What's the interchange blunder from season 1? I think I was 9 years old so while I watched the first match and can remember the drums, I probably didn't appreciate the finer details of rugby league at that stage

 

[SpaceMonkey]

What's the interchange blunder from season 1? I think I was 9 years old so while I watched the first match and can remember the drums, I probably didn't appreciate the finer details of rugby league at that stage

the coach made an extra interchange in our first ever win, causing us to be stripped of our points for that win. We missed the finals by.... you guessed it, two points.

others- letting the Paul bros go to England in exchange for a couple of English forwards getting close to their use by dates. Trying to get a young Ruben Wiki to sign a contract on the back of a napkin which he got second thoughts about.

but letting Ivan go will probably always be number one for me.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Letting Ivan go was definitely #1. John Hart implored Scurrah over and over, but Scurrah knew better - and probably had Eric Watson with his hand up his arse pulling the strings anyway. Then the debacle that was employing Bluey to appease our fans. I have no doubt that is the most impactful moment in our history. We haven't recovered since.

 

[Rich102]

Letting Eric Watson anywhere near our club.
League is a sport and passion; not an item of bling.
We haven't recovered since.
Under him we have not had the right administration in place.
Mick Watson was an excellent example - idiot.

A knowledge of, and love of, our sport should be compulsory for any CEO.
Till that takes force we will still struggle with a real danger of folding.
What good players would want to come here except for the money?

 

[Meth]

Tomkins was a great buy- remember how excited we were about him and Johnson linking up. He just really didn't deliver and live up to expectations.

Very much like Kieran Foran- in fact, remember how excited we were about RTS/Foran/Johnson/Luke?

Agree with Penrose- losing Ivan. That set us on a path that had led to Kearney.

That big press conference was a real laugh.

 

[Meth]

Thought I'd put together a disappointing 13-

1- Tomkins
2- Inu
3- Nielsen
4- Hurrell
5- Kemp
6- Foran
7- Johnson
8- Platt
9- Luke
10- Blair
11- Betts
12- Mateo
13- Lowrie

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Letting Eric Watson anywhere near our club.
League is a sport and passion; not an item of bling.
We haven't recovered since.
Under him we have not had the right administration in place.
Mick Watson was an excellent example - idiot.

A knowledge of, and love of, our sport should be compulsory for any CEO.
Till that takes force we will still struggle with a real danger of folding.
What good players would want to come here except for the money?

we made both our grand finals under Watson. He’s a wanker but he likely saved the club by buying it. Hung around maybe 5 years too long though.

 

[Meth]

Scurrah was the biggest office shipwreck

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Scurrah was the biggest office shipwreck

Mick Watson says hi

 

[Meth]

Mick Watson says hi

geez, I had blotted him out

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Weird thing with both those guys is they did some good things early in their tenures. Watson put together a killer roster from basically nothing that was pretty damn close to winning a premiership. But when the wheels fell off a couple of seasons later he showed terrible man management ability and then cooked the books and got us in serious salary cap trouble. Scurrah sorted that mess out and oversaw a successful recovery of the club but then seemed to prioritise jersey sales over football. Doyle seemed to get things going in the right direction again but he handed the reins over to George... and here we are.

 

[Matua]

Thought I'd put together a disappointing 13-

1- Tomkins
2- Inu
3- Nielsen
4- Hurrell
5- Kemp
6- Foran
7- Johnson
8- Platt
9- Luke
10- Blair
11- Betts
12- Mateo
13- Lowrie

TBH, not sure those are all disappointments as some were to be expected.
- Inu was reasonably good for us by his wayward standards.
- We knew Foran was broken physically and mentally.
- Nielsen and Lowrie were never going to be world beaters. It's only the people who believed Lowrie would be the next Luck who were truly disappointed.

Hoffman would be a better contender than Lowrie, quite a lot of hype from his Storm days but he was a bit of a plodder.

Have to add Kata because Iron Lion said he was going to carve up last year.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

TBH, not sure those are all disappointments as some were to be expected.
- Inu was reasonably good for us by his wayward standards.
- We knew Foran was broken physically and mentally.
- Nielsen and Lowrie were never going to be world beaters. It's only the people who believed Lowrie would be the next Luck who were truly disappointed.

Hoffman would be a better contender than Lowrie, quite a lot of hype from his Storm days but he was a bit of a plodder.

Have to add Kata because Iron Lion said he was going to carve up last year.

add Inu to those... in hindsight he did exactly what we should’ve expected of him. Carved up for a bit then got bored.

 

[Matua]

add Inu to those... in hindsight he did exactly what we should’ve expected of him. Carved up for a bit then got bored.

Inu is the first guy I mentioned.

 

[Blair]

Ali Lauitiiti being axed (and later, as we found out, being escorted off the premises) always had me deeply perplexed.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Ali Lauitiiti being axed (and later, as we found out, being escorted off the premises) always had me deeply perplexed.

Exactly what I had in mind when I mentioned Mick Watson's lack of man management skills

 

[playdaball]

There are a few but I’ll focus on coaches:

- Not securing Craig Bellamy - if rumours were correct they could have got him instead of Matt Elliot. At that time must have been others who could have done a better job?

- Letting Ivan Cleary go ... just dumb

- Continuing with Steve Kearney ( hiring him initially) - his record is bad. He’s now the coach who has gone through a season without winnng a game !

- Not giving Richie Blackmore an opportunity ... reserve grade to start with

- Letting John Ackland go to pasture, related to Elliot

- Not having experienced assistant coaches to support our head coaches. Look st the Aussie clubs, some of their assistants are ex first grade coaches. Some coaches are better Assistants than Head Coaches ... Kearney, Cappy, KIDwell, Taylor. Sometimes our choice of Assistants has been poor and we’ve not used this position properly as a step to first grade

- not using Steve Price in some capacity in management or coaching

I’m not going to say anything about Bluey as a good guy and someone I respect from local football.