Rugby league great Greg Alexander thinks the New Zealand Warriors desperately need to return home to Auckland.
The Warriors have been based away from home for almost three years, and Alexander believes that’s truly caught up with them in recent weeks.
Having lost to the Storm by 60 points in Round 7, the Warriors fell to even further depths as they went down to an undermanned Cronulla side 29-10 in Round 9.
With their top eight hopes diminishing by the week, Alexander called for the Warriors to push for a move home sooner than their scheduled Round 16 return date.
“I think they need to get back there pretty quickly,” Alexander said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“After having the Melbourne Storm putting 70 on them, they then turned out a couple of weeks later lost against a 12-man team, for a 10-minute period 11 men.
“They are in a crisis at the moment, Nathan Brown – if you’re talking about coaches under pressure – he is under enormous pressure.
“I know they sit on eight points and they’re just outside the eight but it’s been a very ordinary three-week period for them.
“I know they bounced back after the 60-point loss, but the quicker they can get games back to New Zealand and gain some point of advantage, the better for the club.
“Brown needs to talk to whoever can make it happen and get them back playing at Mount Smart Stadium.”
With the homecoming set for just 54 days’ time on July 3, Andrew Voss thinks fans could even be turned off coming out to support their team if their horrid run extends.
“It was going to be Penrith, that was going to be the homecoming game but then it got pushed back,” Voss said.
“They’re losing their soul at the moment, I don’t know whether anyone’s going to be that excited about the homecoming if they lose five or six coming into it.”
At this stage, the Warriors will remain at their Redcliffe base through the remainder of May and June.
They’ll play six games in Australia before they head home where they’ll play four of their remaining nine games at Mount Smart Stadium.