Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Its hard work being a New Zealand Warriors fan. Sideline Sid has followed the Auckland-based side that plays in the NRL since the teams first game in 1995, has been to a number of matches and has a large signed jersey of the inaugural team on his wall.

Most years seem to follow a familiar pattern; the current team is talked up by media and fans alike, before, a couple months into the season, the Warriors can be found sitting near the bottom of the table (again).

However, just when everyone has written them off, they come back with a string of victories which gets everyone talking about a finals playoff berth (again). It doesn't seem to matter who is coaching the Warriors, as their up and down form seems to follow the same path season after season.

One thing that constantly irritates me is the pre-occupation with announcing next year's big signings that will turn the Warriors around, when we are right in the middle of the current season's hard slog.

Two-years ago it was the signing of English fullback Sam Tomkins, who was reportedly the best player in English Rugby League, that was the answer to our woes. Now he is reportedly homesick and is going home to blighty at the end of the season.

I'm not criticizing the player, as he is a hardnosed professional footballer who has taken few backwards steps in the Warriors uniform, but there has been a lack of long-term planning and recruitment over the last twenty years in the Warriors setup.

However, I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel with the appointment of Jim Doyle as the New Zealand Warriors CEO.

Doyle was the man who turned New Zealand Rugby League from a basket case into a strong vibrant organisation. He has turned his back on a high-powered job with the NRL to endeavor to build a platform of success with the Warriors.

The Kiwis' recent run of three successive wins over the Kangaroos is largely because of the building blocks put in place when Jim Doyle had the top job in New Zealand Rugby League.

The first step in turning any sporting team or organisation around is cementing a strong administration base in place, before the coaching staff are appointed and the players recruited.

Western Bay Premier Rugby teams occupy most of the top spots in the current Baywide competition and should fight it out the top four playoff spots in July.

While we have a bigger population than the Eastern Bay of Plenty and Rotorua, the Western Bay Baywide contenders all have one thing in common - strong volunteer administration bases that attract the best coaches and players in the Bay to their clubs.

The hard-working Western Bay of Plenty rugby volunteers who freely give of their time each week are the base of strong rugby clubs in our region, that attract funders and sponsors, large memberships and hundreds of spectators on the sideline each week.

See ya at the game.