McFadden’s biggest problem is not his lackluster game plan

The New Zealand Warriors finished off the year the only way they know how - by getting thumped by the Parramatta Eels 40 points to 18 after another season crushed under the weight of expectation.

It was a fifth missed finals series in a row for the Auckland-based club. In fact, the last time they made it to September was 2011, the year they went within one game of winning the entire competition under head coach Ivan Cleary.

Speaking of coaches, the Warriors have had four of those since Cleary left the club. Brian McClennan, Tony Iro, Matthew Elliott and now Andrew McFadden have all had their shot to make the team their own and failed.

Just for an extra kick in the guts, that equates to a new head coach every 30 games the Aucklanders play. Despite your opinion on the four men, 30 games gives them absolutely zero chance to have a meaningful impact at the club.

Just like a child growing up in four different households, constant coaching changes does no good at all for a young, talented team attempting to discover what it means to be successful in the NRL – but more on that later.

Warriors’ halfback Shaun Johnson said of his incumbent head coach, and clubs’ performances this year, "we've put him in a very vulnerable position."

"We let him down and we let ourselves down. We all put in so much effort, we know the talent we’ve got… we expect a lot more of ourselves."

Johnson isn’t kidding. This is as talented as NRL teams come. Football operations manager Dan Floyd has done fantastically to add to and improve this roster from Johnson and bare bones to a legitimately talented and deep club.

We let him down and we let ourselves down. We all put in so much effort, we know the talent we’ve got… we expect a lot more of ourselves.

So why is it that this club is doing everything right up until they step out onto the field? Perhaps McFadden is the one putting the playing group in a vulnerable position?

That will be determined by Owen Eastwood, an experienced New Zealand sports lawyer who has helped with the operation of some of the most successful sporting sides in the world.

Eastwood will be conducting a review of the entire Warriors’ operations, which is set to determine whether Andrew McFadden is shown the door or allowed to at least see out his contract, ending in 2017.

CEO Jim Doyle has been behind Andrew McFadden since the early days of Warriors fans baying for blood.

He has perhaps been loyal to a fault, giving his coach everything necessary in order to deliver results, including a great roster and an improved fitness staff.

Doyle even signed up former All Blacks Rugby World Cup winning head coach Graham Henry in a coaching consultancy role, to hold McFadden’s hand and show him what it means to be the leader of a winning organisation.

But all to no avail, as the Warriors finished in 10th, forcing Doyle’s hand to at least find out whether the 38-year-old has a future at the club.

Andrew McFadden plays a style typical of most Warriors teams, even the one that went to the Grand Final in 2011 with Cleary.

Their offence looks best when generated quickly from the ruck and striking close to the line with the deadly ball skills of players such as Issac Luke, Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

Problem is, we very rarely got to see that Warriors during season 2016. When their forwards failed to bully their way up the field, they struggled. When the opposition slowed down the ruck, they struggled.

Combine this with the third leakiest defence in the league, worse even than the woeful Sydney Roosters, and Andrew McFadden’s lack of a Plan B dooms his Warriors to failure against most of the better sides in the competition.

But remember the constant coaching changes I brought up earlier and the unhealthy culture that breeds? That is what may be the single biggest problem faced by the Warriors right now.

Following a 42-0 away loss on ANZAC Day to the Melbourne Storm, McFadden was forced to drop six players "for failing to meet team standards".

Perhaps most concerning about this mass cull was the players involved. Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Bodene Thompson, Albert Vete, Sam Lisone and Konrad Hurrell are a mix of old and young talent.

Some who don’t know any better and some who definitely should. But if those who should know better don’t, then whose fault it that? Is there any understanding of what "team standards" are?

Six of the main 17 fielded by the Warriors most weeks clearly have no idea.

After their round 1 loss to the unfancied Wests Tigers, former Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and North Queensland Cowboys head coach Graham Lowe was scathing of what was going on at his hometown club.

Lowe slammed the Warriors for what he perceived to be a "bro" culture at Mt. Smart Stadium, perhaps the type that greets the failure of 42-0 losses and the like with an "all sweet cuz".

Short of understanding how any club that’s gone through four head coaches in five years can develop any kind of culture whatsoever, it would not surprise me if Mr Lowe were onto something.

His standing in the game as one of the most successful coaches of the 1980s and 90s, as well as the oversight of a premiership with the Sea Eagles in 2011 as CEO, leads me to believe he knows plenty about success and failure in football.

But Andrew McFadden quickly snapped back at the 69-year-old retiree, claiming that Graham Lowe was using the Warriors to catapult his name into the headlines again.

"He's got ideas on the way things should be done and I’ve got some other ideas," McFadden said.

Given Lowe is a former State of Origin winning coach, and was involved in the game as a gaffer for well over 20 years, maybe it would be wise for Andrew McFadden to give the man a ring for some of "his ideas".

But maybe it might be too late.