Re: New coach : Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:08 pm  

Some game 33-32 to Cas O’Brien drop goal to win it

Re: New coach : Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:42 pm  

Shabino wrote:

Sorry but your squad is miles off Wigan and Saints.
Clark is probably the only international standard player you have...

Do Toby King, Mike Cooper, Chris Hill, Ben Currie, Jack Hughes and Joe Philbin all play a different sport?

Re: New coach : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:08 pm  

Henderson getting a 2nd interview according to Casforum, wonder if he will take Briers has his assistant.

Re: New coach : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:26 pm  

karetaker wrote:

Henderson getting a 2nd interview according to Casforum, wonder if he will take Briers has his assistant.

Yeah Briers is offski. Powell is bringing in his own staff.

Re: New coach : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:57 pm  

Briers is George Riley's new research assistant

Re: New coach : Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:46 pm  

Lord Tony Smith wrote:

Do Toby King, Mike Cooper, Chris Hill, Ben Currie, Jack Hughes and Joe Philbin all play a different sport?

Not many of those guys are going to trouble the Aussies. Maybe Hill, Cooper and Currie 5 years ago.

Re: New coach : Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:05 pm  

easyWire wrote:

Regarding the so-called weak squad fans of other clubs rattle on about, I really can't see where our core positions are so inferior:

Ratchford vs Coote / Hardaker (all internationals)
King/Charnley/Lineham vs Makinson/Grace/Bibby/Field (maybe Makinson stands out above the others)
Austin-Widdop vs Lomax-Fages/Hastings-Leuluai (arguably Austin-Widdop would shine in the Saints or Wigan line-ups)
Hill/Cooper/Philbin vs Walmsley/Amor/Lees/Singleton/Bullock et al
Clark vs Roby/Powell

Not really much in that. It's mentality, coaching and getting much more out of what is already a very good squad.

Those comparisons are quite revealing, especially if you think we are too predictable and should play a more open expansive game. We're quite one-paced in the backs compared to those other teams and if Powell wants to come in and start playing like he did at Castleford's peak he might go with Ashton at fullback, bring in one or two quicker wingers/centres.

Also saying Austin and Widdop would shine in the Saints or Wigan line ups...I don't think those are the type of signings Saints or Wigan would make. They are very much 'Warrington' halfbacks - big name NRL signings on big salaries who struggle to live up to them. Saints and Wigan tend to go more for home grown halfbacks or identify players who aren't the obvious names but are underrated.

The other point I could have added where we have been consistently poor during Price's time is with our kicking game, but this goes back further, since Briers retired.

These discussions about our squad vs the top teams remind me of where we were around 2006 with Cullen where people were trying to convince themselves that we had the team to compete ['look at all the internationals': Reardon, Fa'afili, Swann, Vinnie Anderson, Parker, Rauhihi], when if we were honest, the other top teams wouldn't have taken any of them. Those guys were gone when we were actually a good team. It's the same now, Wigan and Saints aren't looking enviously at our squad wishing they had some of our players, none would be obvious starters other than Daryl Clark, the others would be squad depth.

There will be a thread on here at some point, like there is every year, saying the problem with Warrington is we accept less than what Wigan and Saints demand, and this kind of thing sums it up. Its like when every year we announce contract extensions and there's a swathe of comments saying great news, the future's bright the future's Wire! Or when we go on a winning run for a few weeks there will be a thread saying is Ratchford the best Warrington signing in the Super League era. Wigan and Saints operate in a different universe of expectations.

Re: New coach : Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:16 pm  

Also I'm not saying these players are bad. It just comes down to where you want to set your expectations. If you want Warrington to be a club that's there or thereabouts in the playoffs, has a chance of getting to Wembley every few years, maybe winning the odd trophy, like Hull and Cas, then our players are good enough to do that, so is Price as coach.

If you see the benchmark as winning the Grand Final then the expectations need to be reset in line with the clubs that actually win Grand Finals: Wigan, Saints and Leeds. It's not a coincidence that those three teams win every year.

The other problem with this hero-worship about our squad of great internationals is when we simultaneously complain that we don't give young players a shot like they do at Wigan or Saints. Well how can you justify dropping guys like Ratchford, Charnley, Lineham, King, Widdop, Austin, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Philbin, Currie....that's eleven starters locked in who Price can't drop, twelve when Inglis comes in. How do you give young talent a chance with all those internationals...

Re: New coach : Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:39 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

Also I'm not saying these players are bad. It just comes down to where you want to set your expectations. If you want Warrington to be a club that's there or thereabouts in the playoffs, has a chance of getting to Wembley every few years, maybe winning the odd trophy, like Hull and Cas, then our players are good enough to do that, so is Price as coach.

If you see the benchmark as winning the Grand Final then the expectations need to be reset in line with the clubs that actually win Grand Finals: Wigan, Saints and Leeds. It's not a coincidence that those three teams win every year.

The other problem with this hero-worship about our squad of great internationals is when we simultaneously complain that we don't give young players a shot like they do at Wigan or Saints. Well how can you justify dropping guys like Ratchford, Charnley, Lineham, King, Widdop, Austin, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Philbin, Currie....that's eleven starters locked in who Price can't drop, twelve when Inglis comes in. How do you give young talent a chance with all those internationals...

I believe with injuries and knocks or whatever, there's always an opportunity for first team experience (same applies to Wigan or Saints youngsters breaking through). The issue is, when a player does well and earns a right to the shirt. It's what a coach is paid to do with picking the right 17 for each and every match we play. Like you've already explained, a coach is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't, with some of us.

Question is with Thewliss and Wrench, rather than Ashton, is would they be able to play at SL level week in, week out, to enable a coach to be able to give them an extended run at this point in time. My opinion is that Ashton's there already, and his time will come, but more patience may be required with Wrench, Thewliss, Dean and others, to make it as a regular in Wire's SL gameday 17.

Re: New coach : Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:01 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

The other problem with this hero-worship about our squad of great internationals is when we simultaneously complain that we don't give young players a shot like they do at Wigan or Saints. Well how can you justify dropping guys like Ratchford, Charnley, Lineham, King, Widdop, Austin, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Philbin, Currie....that's eleven starters locked in who Price can't drop, twelve when Inglis comes in. How do you give young talent a chance with all those internationals...

Maybe it’s the way I worded my post, but I absolutely am not hero-worshipping the players mentioned. What I am doing is refusing to hero-worship their equivalents at Saints or Wigan.

To put it another way, bring Hastings, Coote, Walmsley, Grace into this team would they have looked any better than the current Warrington core? Coote and Hastings would be ridiculed as NRL rejects who have the odd good game, Walmsley solid but not spectacular and Grace too small and weak in defence and under the high ball.

I really don’t think the playing roster is the biggest issue at Warrington.