Ordinary people make bad Warriors
Club paying for recruitment errors, PLUS: Last-minute dramas across multiple sports.
One of the more dubious mantras in the sporting lexicon is: “Better people make better athletes.”
It’s been popularised in recent years by All Black coaches like Graham Henry and although there’s an element of the obvious about it - athletes whose lives are well organised and stress free will find it easier to focus on their sport - it’s a crude measuring stick.
The mantra came to mind when thinking about the Warriors this weekend, particularly a couple of people who weren’t there - namely Peter O’Sullivan and his son-in-law Matt Lodge.
O’Sullivan joined the club in 2018 under a huge cloud yet, paradoxically, with great fanfare.
He was described in some quarters as a genius but his tenure at the club, which ended when he defected to Redcliffe last year, was an unmitigated disaster. The year he joined was, ironically, the last year where it felt like the Warriors had reasons to be hopeful, having built a limited yet energetic squad of, wait for it, good buggers.
O’Sullivan, who came to the club off an indefinite NRL suspension due to his large and largely unexplained financial associations with Eddie Hayson, the very opposite of a good person.
The warning signs should have been flashing in neon but instead Warriors top brass were seduced by tales of O’Sullivan spotting talent like Greg Inglis, Israel Folau and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, as if he’d cracked the code under to be read by anybody else.
Instead, O’Sullivan’s inventory in Auckland includes the additions of Kane Evans, his son-in-law, and his son Sean, who is probably best known for his Wikipedia page.
O’Sullivan did a really bad job for the club but he benefited people close to him, most notably Lodge, who texted coach Nathan Brown last week to say he was cutting and running mid-season.
It’s a pathetic state of affairs, especially when you consider the sacrifices the club has made to remain viable over the past two seasons and the part they’ve played in Lodge’s PR rehabilitation following his shocking crime.
O’Sullivan didn’t sign himself, however. Owner Mark Robinson, who also didn’t sign him, recently told Newshub: “I don’t want to knock [O’Sullivan], because that’s not my style, but he didn’t really fit our culture. People were always a bit wary of him… Now they realise probably what I saw is what they should have seen, but they didn’t see it.”
That’s a quietly damning indictment on existing club leadership.
The Warriors have become increasingly hard to love this season because they’re not very good, a fact confirmed by the lifeless final 35 minutes during their 18-24 loss to St George. There’s a tremendous amount of goodwill in the bank, however, because of what they’ve had to go through. There’s something - not much, but something - to build upon.
A good place to start might be signing good people, or if that’s too much to ask, just avoid signing bad people.
I drifted in and out of the Blues game against the Brumbies while nursing a sleep-inducing head cold (poor me), but was alert enough for the dramatic conclusion.
The Blues, including Beauden Barrett, were brilliant in the final phases but some of the praise for the flyhalf’s winning drop goal were a bit over the top.
The referee was already indicating an advantage that would have given the Blues a penalty in front of the posts. Barrett, who has been instrumental to the Blues success this season, was playing with house money when he chipped over from close range.
Elsewhere, what the hell was Sam Gilbert thinking with that tip tackle on Michael Hooper in the Highlanders’ home flop against the Waratahs? They’ll make the playoffs with a 30 percent winning record, which is a flat-out joke.
Here Stuff delivers their Power Rankings, which look exactly like the points table. Pretty easy job to put them together, then.
More stadium woes in Christchurch, with the opening date being pushed back six months. This combined with a budget overrun, is not making Cantabrians feel any better about their leaders.
My eldest attempted to rouse me in the early hours, telling me that if Liverpool could find a late goal they’d win the Premier League because Manchester City were losing 0-2 to Aston Villa.
By the time I’d clambered from bed to the lounge and had cast the game onto the telly, City were leading 3-2, rendering the two late goals to Liverpool meaningless.
Which is what Chilean golfer Mito Pereira will be thinking, too, as he joined the likes of Phil Mickelson and Jean van de Velde as those who have blown majors with last-hole meltdowns.
Pereira’s troubles actually started on the short par four 17th where he only made par after being greenside with his tee shot. Nursing a one-shot lead on the difficult-par four 18th, he inexplicably hit driver and put it in a creek that ran alongside the fairway, took a penalty and then went long and left, leaving him a tricky up-and-down to force his way into the playoff with Justin Thomas and Zalatoris. Instead his chip ran off the other side of the green and he took two to get down from there.
Thomas beat Zalatoris in a playoff.
Ryan Fox had a day to forget. After posting three even par rounds of 70, he hit 77, the worst round of the day, to sink to 54th.
Scott Dixon qualified on pole for the Indianapolis 500. At 41, he’s not slowing down. Scott McLaughlin surprisingly struggled into 26th.
