We never expected This : New Zealand Warriors key player is being fired due to inappropriate….
It’s not a sentence any rugby league fan would like to read, but Shaun Johnson is holding the New Zealand Warriors back.
Johnson, who was so strong for the Warriors in the 2023 campaign as the Warriors made the preliminary final, hasn’t hit the same mark this go around.
In the club’s second season under Andrew Webster, the infamous inconsistency that has plagued the Warriors for decades is back, and as it stands, on the back of their latest loss to the Parramatta Eels last weekend, they look almost certainties to miss the finals.
As it stands, the Warriors have won just 8 of their 20 games this season, and even to get to the usual mark of 12 wins, they would need to win all four of their remaining games. They do have the extra point for a bye which could help, but realistically, they are not going to make the finals with anything short of a perfect final month to close out the season.
With away trips to the Dolphins and Manly Sea Eagles in the next fortnight followed by hosting the Canterbury Bulldogs and travelling to play the Cronulla Sharks before a final-round bye, it’s hardly a straightforward run to the finish line either.
The real question coach Webster must answer is what role, if any, Johnson plays over the closing weeks of the season.
The Warriors, to this point, have played 13 games with Johnson this year. They have won just 3, drawing another and losing 9.
The big issue with that is that the Warriors have won five from seven with Johnson sidelined.
That should have alarm bells ringing in Auckland, with it fairly clear the Warriors went to water at both ends of the park against Parramatta despite being at home in front of a big crowd and playing for their season realistically on Friday evening.
In fact, the club, following their Round 6 draw with Johnson in the side, have lost all of their next seven games with the experienced – now 33-year-old – halfback playing
Nwcastle Knights, Sydney Roosters, Melbourne Storm, Gold Coast Titans and now Eels – have seen the Warriors score a collective 112 points. That’s only just over 16 points per game.
Even factoring in the early chunk of the season where they did find more success, the Warriors have averaged just 18.8 points per game with Johnson on the side this campaign.
Playing without Johnson (Round 11-14 and again from Round 17-21), the Warriors beat the Penrith Panthers, the Dolphins and the North Queensland Cowboys in the first stint without a loss, before beating the Brisbane Broncos and Wests Tigers in the second stint with narrow losses by a point to the Canterbury Bulldogs and two points against the Canberra Raiders.
The more alarming statistic is that in those seven games, the Warriors scored 25.4 points per game in the contests without Johnson.
It has to be noted that Johnson has played his best football in the last 18 months when paired with Luke Metcalf, and he too has been missing for the Warriors for much of this season injured, but it’s no excuse.
The backup options, which started with Te Maire Martin (who was partnered with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad for one game and Chanel Harris-Tavita for six) could spark the Warriors to an extra seven points per game, and nine points per game if you only take into account from the point Johnson last registered a competition point for his side, is extremely alarming.
Johnson’s play doesn’t just fail the statistical test either.
It fails the eye test.
He hasn’t been at the same level this year. That much has been abundantly clear to see. His kicking game has been off, his timing all wrong at times, and his decision-making certainly not on the level it was last year when he played such a large role for the Warriors to make the top four.
That’s not to say he can’t get back there, but if the Warriors are serious about bringing a new era of consistency and success to the club, it may have to be without their champion number seven.
It will be the toughest of conversations to have for Webster and his recruitment and retention staff. Johnson is the Warriors. The Warriors are Johnson.
The gun halfback, by all reports, wants to play on into 2025 even though he is currently uncontracted beyond the end of this campaign.
But sometimes, a divorce is the way to keep things alive for both parties.
This might be one of those circumstances.
