2015 was bad enough, but in 2016 I got it all wrong. If someone had told me in February that the Warriors would miss the top 8, that Otahuhu would be relegated to division 2 in the Auckland premier competition, and Papakura would win the Fox I would have taken that bet! Yet all three happened.
Otahuhu’s relegation, for the first time in the club’s 100 year plus history was the least surprising. The club has been in a downhill slide since it last won the Fox in 2010. Poor leadership, poor financial management, no vision. But things should have stabilised with the club around 7th in the Fox. No such luck, and now Otahuhu is relying on traditional rival, Mt Albert, through the loan of super coach John Ackland, to lead it back to first division.
Well, lot’s of people don’t like him, and with cause, but Richie Blackmore can coach! Papakura had been in what, five Fox finals, in the last dozen years and lost them all until 2016 with Blackmore as coach. What’s more, they had three local boys playing in the final (George Edwards, Hemi Douglas, and Arthur Crighton). Pt Chevalier, champions for the last here years, had one.
The Warriors. I didn’t believe that the club could miss the semis with the roster it had. But it did. Basic skills go out the window when players put on a Warriors jersey. I’ve just seen it again this weekend at the nines where the Warriors did not win a game and dropped a lot of ball. Obviously Kearney doesn’t rate Tui Lolohea as a half, but to say Sam Cook is better?? The club is still dominated by a culture of fear, with schoolmaster Jim Doyle waving a stick in the background. Fear generates mistakes and stifles attack. Coome on Jim, make the connection!
Yep, normal service resumes in 2017. Pt Chev to win the Fox. Otahuhu to win promotion. The Warriors to miss the semis. Jim Doyle to offer Kearney his full support until the semis are out of reach.
torytony 