The New Zealand Warriors have struggled to make an impact in the NRL now for almost a decade, with their last big season coming in 2011 when the side would lose in the Grand Final to Manly.

Since then they have only been able to make the finals once in 2018, finishing 8th and being eliminated in the first week of the finals against the Penrith Panthers.

Why is this the case and what can be done to change their fortunes?

We need to start off by looking at head coach Stephen Kearney.

Kearney has a 42% win ratio at the Warriors, and a 36% win ratio across his coaching career, which is one of lowest win ratios of any current NRL coach.

Since he began coaching the Warriors in 2017, Kearney’s side has finished 13th, 8th and 13th on the ladder.

This suggests that if the Warriors are looking to make some serious changes to improve the squad, the first change may have to be the coach.

Another huge issue is the Warriors current culture and mindset, which is easy to workout by watching them play.

This is no fault of the man himself, however there seems to be a false mindset at the Warriors that is to let Roger Tuivasa-Sheck do most of the work and he will lead them to victory every game. This can be seen in the players attitudes often at times.

During multiple games in 2019, the Warriors looked like a one man team, with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck constantly trying to get his team on the front foot alone. This has lead to frustration and fatigue which impacts RTS’ game.

Every great player always had solid support to back them up, and unless the current playing group becomes more involved or the Warriors sign some players who will be, they will continue to under perform.