Lack of Professionals?

A rather shocking comment was made recently by Jim Doyle when discussing recent coaching rumours at the Vodafone Warriors.
Jim advised that the Warriors problems are not the coaching (Which I agree with) or the club culture issue (I'm not sure I agree with that).
The problem is that in his opinion the Warriors currently only have five or six players that he deems professional enough to be NRL players in regards to their skills, attitudes and work ethic.

This actually is a horrible statistic, and if I had to pick the five or six players I guess I would say in my opinion (As I can only judge from what I can see on the field and in the media as I do not see them at training) the players most likely are...

1. Simon Mannering
2. Ryan Hoffman
3. Shaun Johnson
4. Nathan Friend
5. Jacob Lillyman
6. Manu Vatuvei

Now I could be wrong with this list, but these are the first six names that pop into my head.
Now with the current clean out of some of the squad, it appears that Jim Doyle and the rest of the Warriors Office are looking at getting rid of all the dead weight.
With the signings they have made for 2016 there are more professionals in Issac Luke, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Blake Ashford and Jeff Robson.
In Issac and Roger you have two very talented Kiwi players who have been developed in Australia, and then Blake has also been established in the Australian programmes, these programmes instil a professionalism that perhaps we haven't been able to provide for our young players.
Lastly with the signing of Jeff Robson.
We have a bonafide veteran half, now yes he most likely will not be playing a lot of minutes in the Warriors top side but he will be there to pass on his experience and knowledge to not only our young players in general but also to our halves Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai and most importantly Tuimoala Lolohea.
If the 2015 season showed us anything, it was that if/when Thomas and more specifically Shaun get injured the halves fell apart.
Chad Townsend was having a good season up until Shaun's injury, then the pressure of being the key playmaker was on his shoulders, and he crumpled.
If the same thing happens next season having a player like Jeff would instil more confidence in me that this team can continue to perform.

In regards to the rest of the side, I hope that they have taken Jim's words on board and come into preseason training with the right attitude because Jim is showing that he is not running a charity if you do not meet the standards he has set for this club you need to look elsewhere.
A special mention is required from me to Konrad Hurrell, please do not come to pre-season training overweight again, you are my personal favourite player, and if you get your head in the game and show up fit and rearing to go, you will be back to being the centre teams genuinely fear to play.

I am always blindly optimistic when it comes to this team but management has compiled a great squad, and they can longer just hope to make the top eight, the Warriors need to entrench themselves as a consistent force in the NRL.

That's it for now, but I will be uploading my review of the 2015 season very soon so watch this space.