Indispensable?

The things, you say,

Your purple prose just gives you away,

The things, you say,

You're unbelievable!

One hit wonder EMF's 1991 song Unbelievable reverberates through my mind as I sit down to contemplate an aspect of rugby league and professional sport in general that, for my mind at least, requires serious consideration. It is an issue that is always prevalent, but seems to rear its head more powerfully at this time of the year than at any other. And with the June 30th anti-tampering deadline having only recently passed us by, this seems as opportune a moment as any to address the question of nothing other than player dispensability.

The things, you say,

Your purple prose just gives you away,

The things, you say,

You're unbelievable!

The lyrics of the background music blur, morphing into my own thoughts surrounding the issue, as I contemplate the so-called "must have" players. These are the individuals who coaches select before anyone else, with reputation taking a higher precedence than form on some occasions. After all, with long term one club performers such as Andrew Johns of the Newcastle Knights and Darren Lockyer of the Brisbane Broncos, does the old adage "no player is bigger than the team" still hold true?

The way, you play,

It really takes my breath away,

The way, you play,

You're incomparable!

As a Warriors fan, I have followed with a keen interest the situation regarding fullback Brent Webb, whose contract expires at the end of the 2006 season. His situation is anything but a simple one: most recently contracted at the height of the previous management's overpriced wage upgrades, in which money was not an issue and the limits Webb has become one of the most consistent performers for both his club and his adopted country. He was heavily involved in the Kiwis' Tri-Nations campaign last year, and is currently the team's top try scorer for his club with nine touchdowns in seventeen matches, including a brace against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on the weekend. His attacking play has also been impressive, ranking second in the NRL for line breaks with nineteen, and sixth for try assists with eleven. He has been one of the essential links in the chain of many of the Warriors' offensive raids, as well as impressively strong on defense. His ability and dependability are both a far cry from when he was first signed by the club as an unknown five-eighth playing in the Queensland Cup - the very same player who was famously told by Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett that he was "not good enough to play first grade".

The way, you play,

It makes me wish that you could stay,

The way, you play,

You're just incredible!

While that has made him a joy to behold for fans of the Warriors and Kiwis alike, it has also meant that his market value has dramatically increased - an unfortunate twist of fate for a club that has already been penalised for breaching the salary cap. I shift uncomfortably in my seat as I ponder the end result: a player whose inspirational form has made him unaffordable to the very club he plays for. Ironically, Brent Webb is, in this regard, effectively an unfortunate victim of his own success.

The club, they say,

They can't afford to pay your way,

The club, they say,

You're not affordable!

But at the end of the day, business is business. The salary cap was designed to level the playing field for each NRL club, and the salaries of all players must fit within that limit, or the team roster needs to be shuffled in order to accommodate the financial restraints that are enforced by the league’s governing body. No club can afford to keep hold of their most expensive players forever. And that can’t be too much to complain about, because this newly created level playing field has resulted in a different Grand Final winner in each of the last six seasons.

With a quietly resigned sigh, I get up from my seat and turn off the radio, the familiar tune echoing inside my head as I leave the room.

You're on, your way,

In the ESL you'll play,

You're on, your way,

You were dispensable!

Transparency At The Top

"They called me Mister Glass."

So says American actor Samuel L Jackson in the movie Unbreakable, a suspense thriller in which he stars as comic book style villain Elijah Price opposite unlikely superhero Bruce Willis. But Price's nickname isn't confined to fiction alone. The National Rugby League has its very own Mister Glass, and this is an evaluation of what happened when I was fortunate enough to meet him.

It is 5:30pm on Saturday the 20th of May, 2006. I'm sitting in a boardroom along with four likeminded Warriors fans, a complimentary bottle of Coke Zero in front of each of us. A whiteboard sits at one end of the room, and a large picture of Steve Price holding up the NRL Premiership trophy - a part of the National Rugby League's "That's My Dream" advertising campaign - hangs on one of the otherwise plain white walls.

The door opens and two clean cut men dressed in suit pants and buttoned shirts enter the room. They make their way around the table, offering handshakes and introducing themselves as they do so. The first is Wayne Scurrah, Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Warriors. The other is Richard Howarth, their Sales and Marketing Manager. Each man carries a pen and some paper. That alone makes it clear that they have come, not only to talk, but to listen. And who have they come to listen to?

Us. The fans. They want to know what our views are about the club, and how the general game day experience can be improved. They take notes, not afraid to float their own ideas to find out our take on them.

Time flies by, and before long the somewhat impromptu meeting, which was supposed to take only half an hour but has lasted twice as long as that in a very relaxed manner, is at an end. We thank both men for their time, shake their hands again, and make our way out of the building, safe in the knowledge that we had been heard – a direct product of us being considered valuable.

Or, rather, invaluable.

Wayne Scurrah leaves a lasting impression on anyone and everyone who meets him. And in the modern era of management addressing the media with well rehearsed clichéd sound bites, as well as the ever-present reality of privatisation, the Warriors’ CEO is a breath of desperately needed fresh air amidst a background of asphyxiation. There is no ‘management speak’ with him; no smoke and mirrors - just the plain and honest truth. He’s never too busy to hear a fan’s views or concerns or take on board a suggestion from one of the punters. In short, he is the quintessential gentleman of rugby league management.

For most Warriors fans, this is nothing short of a revelation – or, perhaps, a revolution – and is a far cry from what the club’s management has been in the past. The standoffish approach to both the media and the fans that was the order of the day for a number of years has finally gone. In its place is approachability, something not seen to this degree for quite some time. Cryptic and downright misleading comments have been replaced by honesty and openness. Questions by the common fan are no longer ignored, but answered with frankness and sincerity.

If our short meeting with Wayne Scurrah is anything to go by, the New Zealand Warriors are in very safe and capable hands, and the club is heading in a direction that promises greater inclusion and consultation of the fan base, as well as the mending of relationships with lower grade league clubs and the rebuilding of some of the long burnt bridges of the club’s past.

So what does this mean for the Warriors as a whole? If nothing else, it means the club is well on its way to working like a well oiled machine. The three main factions – the players, staff, and fans - are talking, and those with the most important ears are listening, and operating as a tight, cohesive unit. And that has to be a good thing for the club on the whole, as it means the likelihood of off field dramas, such as the salary cap breach that occurred under the previous management, prior to the arrival of people like Scurrah and Howarth, is greatly reduced.

Mister Glass is in town, and at least one Warriors fan is hoping he stays for a long, long time.

***Published in Issue Four of Super League Magazine, 2006***