While some corners of rugby league fandom and the media insist the New Zealand Warriors should be outraged by the 2023 NRL draw, One New Zealand Warriors CEO Cameron George has rubbished the suggestion.
George defended his fellow clubs, claiming that it's unfair for anyone to suggest the club has been disadvantaged or should be angered by the recently-unveiled fixture list.
After the club made significant sacrifices to keep the game running during COVID, many felt the Warriors were owed a debt by the league.
Though never officially confirmed, it was believed by many that the club would be rewarded for that sacrifice with an increase in home games as Australian teams offered to bring their home games to New Zealand.
When the draw came out, only one NRL club had made that sacrifice โ the Wests Tigers.
But while it's been suggested the Warriors should be outraged, George shed some light on the challenges that they - and all clubs -ย faced to make that idea a reality.
โWe're fine with the draw, happy with what we've got to do and where we've got to go,โ George told Zero Tackle.
โIn terms of content in New Zealand we've been able to get games in Wellington, Napier, Christchurch and Hamilton, so that's great.
โWhat people need to understand with what they're getting at (that the Warriors have been wronged) is that the biggest challenge for everyone this year was the World Cup and stadium lockouts.
โThat exists in New Zealand as well, and the fact of the matter is there's only Mt Smart Stadium available. There are no free stadiums over here, so if all 16 clubs wanted to play games over here, they'd struggle.
โI don't think it's fair for anyone trying to (claim it's unfair). We're fine, clubs have been great for us.โ
George was quick to confirm that every club had looked at the possibility of moving games, but the World Cup was just one of a number of challenges the idea faced ahead of the 2023 season.
โThe thing is, I've spoken to every club and everyone's got commitments they've got to undertake as well. There's not one club I'm critical of.
โIt would have been awesome if we could have got more games, but there's no way in the world I'm critical of any of the clubs. We've spoken to the Tigers, who are bringing a game here, which is fantastic.
โI can honestly tell you every club looked at it, but every club has its own challenges as well.
โThe reality is, you can't just walk away from commercial arrangements. If we had a few more stadiums available in NZ throughout the year, I'm sure we could have got some more options.
โEveryone, to their credit, spoke to me about it and looked at it โ it just couldn't work for some.โ
