Different game, same Wire ................

This is getting very very repetitive, yet again we lost to a team that we should be beating. The Oxford dictionary definition of repetitive is "containing or characterised by repetition, especially when unnecessary or tiresome". This amply describes our play this season.  As with the Salford and Wigan games, I knew by the 10 minute mark that we would lose. Our attitude, skill level and willingness to work for each other were all absent. Within the 1st  8 minutes, Jack Hughes alone gave away a penalty and came up with an unforced error. He was not on his own and because of errors or poor execution I don't think we completed a set in the first quarter of the game. Last season we were the Super Leagues leading points scorers, yet this year we look totally clueless in attack. 

Watching Thursdays game was one of the most depressing I can recall and I've watched Warrington since the late 70's. Over the years I have seen us produce some bloody bad performances, but last Thursday left me speechless. I wont go on stating how bad we were, it was there for all to see.

As a team we are now in a very big hole. It's the middle of March and I think top 2 is already lost to us. We are 9 points behind Wigan who are top and 8 behind Castleford, Leeds and Hull who are joint 2nd. 1 or 2 of these teams may well fall by the wayside, but not all 4. The best I think we can hope for is a 3rd to 5th finish, but if we don't turn things around now, we will not even finish top 8. For a club with Warrington's squad and resources, this is nothing short of a disaster and a disgrace. 

This Friday we travel to St Helens, since their move from Knowsley Road we have done well away to Saints and 5 weeks ago it was a game that I had marked down as very winnable. But our performances in 2017 has left me more hoping for win as opposed to expectation. I cannot find much more to write about our team, other than to say this Friday, it is for them to dig deep and produce the performance and result that we know they are capable of.

In my blogs this season I have been unshakable in my support for Tony Smith. He has been brilliant for our club and I want him and his playing staff to turn things around and for Tony to remain our Coach. 

However, its is with great sadness and a distinct sense and  feeling of disloyalty when I say, that if we were to lose this Friday, then I will no longer be able to continue in my support of Tony as Coach of the club that I love and watched for most of my adult life...................   

Taking stock.................

First of all guy's I apologise for there being no review of our game against Wigan. I've been at work all weekend on 12 hours shifts. Given that its now Tuesday and we have all seen the game at least once and read the paper reviews I don't see the value in now reviewing the game. But just to say we were well beaten by Wigan, for whom George Williams was terrific. He did to us what Sandow did to Wigan at the Piedome last season. However I do think we played better than we did in our previous game against Salford, although I admit that wasn't hard to do. Instead of a match review I want to take stock, looking at our current position and what we as a club should do to get our season back on track.  

Only 4 short weeks ago and prior to the start of the season, we were along with Wigan the bookies favourite to win both the league leaders shield and the Grand Final. Yet here we are in mid March languishing at the bottom of the table, having not only lost all of our Super League games, but been well beaten by each of our opponents.  How as a club have we ended up here? and in short a short space of time. What has happened to the team of 2016 that swept all in front of them winning the LLS, reaching both of our games Final's? Is there a comparison to the Leeds Rhinos team of 2016. In 2015 Leed's won the treble only to spend 2016 hugging the bottom of the table. This was after losing the services of the mercurial Kevin Sinfield & Jamie Peacocok and the 2015 Man of Steel, Zak Hardacker. Can our current position compare to that of Leeds Rhinos 2016?. I would say definitely not, since last year our notable departures are Chris Sandow and Mitch Dodds. Their loss is somewhat negated by the fact that both of these players spent most of 2016 on the injury list. Their loss to our club for 2017 is no where near the impact that Leeds endured in losing Sinfield, Peacock, Hardacker and Kylie Leuluai. In addition since 2016, I think we have actually strengthened our squad with Mike Cooper, Kevin Brown, Andre Savelio and Dom Crosby. These are all quality players and are not the reason for current league position. Evaluating our squad, I think we have the best pack in super league. Clark, Hill, Cooper, Westerman, Savelio and Ben Currie are all quality. Do we have the same quality in our backs? The tries we have conceded out wide would suggest not, with nearly all the tries against us this year coming on our wings. Last Friday a Wigan teenager scored 4 tries against our centre and wing partnership. Similar happened when we played Castleford. Rhys Evans, Ryan Atkins, Toby King, Matty Russell and Tom Lineham have conceded too many, whilst not themselves scoring enough.

So what about our Coaching team of Tony Smith and Richard Agar. Tony has been our head coach since taking over from James Lowes in March 2009. In his time at Warrington we have been to Wembley 4 times, Old Trafford 3 times and won the league leaders shield twice. We are now definitely seen as being part of Rugby Leagues elite. These achievements have been gained because of the coaching skills of Tony Smith. He has turned us around from being a team of also rans, to a club that contests for and wins trophies. Mr Smith has also been a big part of the team that has turned our club around off the field. It should be noted that our off the field turn around has been aided by fantastic work by Simon Moran and Steven Broomhead. Mr Moran in particular has been as important to the rise and success of our club as Tony Smith has. Moving back to Mr Smith, I strongly feel that Tony Smith has been our greatest coach in the super league era and he is the reason for all our trophies and final appearances. But for all of Tony's achievements both on and off the field there is one trophy that we have not won that defines and separates Warrington from super leagues true elite of St Helens, Leeds, Wigan and Bradford.  Mr Smith's failure to win the Grand Final is becoming a weight around his and our clubs necks that is becoming all consuming. Many of our fans now say that only a Grand Final win is good enough and the league leaders shield and challenge cup are very much secondary to a win at Old Trafford.

Does a coach at any club have a shelf life and has Tony Smith reached his "best before date". Reading the views of our fans on social media the clamour for a coaching change has grown. With many of our fans calling for Tony to either resign or be sacked, stating our lack of Grand Final success given the resources Tony has been allocated as clear evidence of Mr Smiths short comings. These people do have a point, no other coach in super league has had the financial backing that has been given to Tony Smith. The transfer fees paid for Daryl Clark, Joe Westerman and Tom Lineham amply illustrates this point. Earlier I mentioned that our back line has conceded far too may tries, all these players are Mr Smiths choices and he has selected and trained them. So given all that I have written, the lack of a Grand Final win and our dreadful start to 2017 is it time for Warrington Wolves and Tony Smith to part their ways? It is my firm belief that they should not. I whole heartedly believe Tony Smith is the best available coach for our club. To sack Tony after just 4 losses would be a scandal and the wrong decision based soley on the emotions of our predicament and ignoring the success he has brought to our club over the last 8 years.

So if its as I say, that we have that we have a good squad and the right coach why are we here at the bottom of the table playing awful rugby league? I think its just that we are having a terrible run of form of confidence all at the same time. We played badly in games last year but they just weren't grouped together as they are now. You can see that our team is playing with zero confidence and this is affecting all of our game. Winning becomes a habit and breeds confidence, not only in the individual but in the way a player perceives his team mates. To turn things around we need some wins and lets all hope this starts on Thursday against Leigh.   

The tables upside down.

If you are a fan of Warrington Wolves this review will be a difficult read. If you are a fan of  another team, but love our great game of Rugby League this review will be a difficult read. At the start of the season the pundits, bookies and fans of the game had Warrington down along with Wigan as the team to beat. I subscribed to this and looking at our first three games was expecting at least four out of six points. 

These predictions have so far proven to be wrong, so it was with two losses from two that Warrington travelled to the AJ Bell stadium to take on the Salford Red Devils. To my mind a club of Warrington's aspirations and quality of squad should be beating Salford by a decent margin. Salford are not that great a team, yet they beat us by ten points! Now that we are 3 losses in and rooted to the bottom of the table I'm looking at our squad and wondering whats going wrong. Where is the team that so comprehensively beat Brisbane only 3 short weeks ago, yes we had Hill, Ratchford, Currie, Crosby, both Kings and Russell all missing but we had enough quality to have taken the points.

After 10 minutes today, I knew we were going to struggle. We lacked creativity, energy, cohesion, structure and worst of all team sprit. We played like 13 people whose only link and connection was that they were wearing the same colour jersey.  When we took the ball forward there was no backing up for the off load. Our whole game was disjointed with no fluidity and we regularly broke down on the 2nd or 3rd play. This was often due to handling errors or poor  execution. Our attacking line was flat and had no depth. It was as if the players were just standing in a line because thats what they had to do. Our attack was unstructured and classless and reminded me of the season after we lost Lee Briers. In that season we would get to the opposing 20 metre line and then look around saying "where's Lee? oh fuck he's not here what do we do next ". Our kicking game was average,  but not the reason we lost the game. However it does need highlighting that we kicked out on the full on three occasions giving Salford ball and territory. To add to this we gave away stupid penalties, giving Salford even more ball and territory.

This is grim reading I know but I'll continue. We did the basics poorly, our passing of the ball was atrocious and was to the knees or thighs of the receiving player. Accurate passing of the ball is a prerequisite of Rugby League. Our tackling was a slight improvement on our last game against Castleford, but crucially we were poor close to our line allowing Salford at least one 6 pointer due to poor technique and lack of determination to halt the attacker. For one try our defence just seemed to slacken off before the tackle was complete and called held. The Salford player just reached out and scored a try whilst our defence looked on in disbelief. I could go on and on and on writing how poor we were, but by now I know you guys get the gist. 

So why are we playing so poorly and sitting at the bottom of the table. What has happened to the team that three weeks ago beat the Brisbane Broncos and last season reached two major finals and won the League Leaders Shield? I think this years squad is stronger and has more depth the last season. Our only notable losses from 2016 were Dodds and Sandow. However their loss is negated by the fact that both were missing for much of the season. In the close season we added Cooper, Savelio, Crosby, Brown and upgraded Harvey Livett. All these are quality players. Our coaching team hasn't changed, neither has our strength and conditioning team. In summary, nothing noteworthy has happened and we haven't just become a bad team since last October.  

So what is it? Some on social media are suggesting that Tony Smith has had enough time and more than enough financial resources. To be fair these same voices, were, prior to the season starting predicting that we would not do well and Tony Smith was the reason. In addition these people were saying our backs are not up to standard and they were chosen and coached by Tony Smith. That is one school of thought and going off our nil from three and dreadful performances so far they do have a very fair point. 

However my current thoughts are different. I believe that we have just had a rotten, piss poor start to the season and we will come good and play to our potential. I know I am prone to seeing the world through Primrose and Blue coloured glasses but as I have said, our squad is stronger than last season and we haven't just become a bad team since last year October. Over the next couple of months our performances and place on the league table will clearly show who is correct. For the sake of our team and season I hope its me, not because I want to be right, but because if I'm wrong, then we're in for a bad season. 

Now for a few positives, Joe Westerman was again very good, his pass for one of our tries was sublime and a pleasure to watch. Cooper and Clark were good as they have been all our four games. Ashton Simms ran the ball in true and hard but I'm sorry to say thats it really. It was a very good turnout by the Warrington faithful and I'd say we outnumbered the Salford fans. 

One last point, prior to the game Jack Hughes was quoted as saying todays game against Salford was a must win game for us, I didn't and still don't think this was the case. However our next game is against Wigan Warriors and to stay in touch with the league leaders the Wigan game has now become a must win game.

Thanks for reading.

Salford Red Devils 24 - Warrington Wolves 14

Salford try scorers: Sa'u 2, Griffin and Brining.

Warrington try scorers : Patton, Hughes and Johnson.

Wire Vs Castleford match review.

I need to start off by saying we were beaten by a team that played fantastic open & expansive Rugby League and who deserved to take the points. There I've said it & got that over with.

Now to move on, when Mr Smith announced his squad on Wednesday we had 3 players unavailable who would have been guaranteed a starting spot, but winning teams handle such set back's & get on with the job, much as we did against the Broncos. When we all arrived at the HJ our injury woes had been compounded by the late withdrawal of Kurt Gidley through illness.  It should be noted that the Tigers were at near full strength, I am often accused on social media of being an apologist for our team & wearing Primrose & Blue tinted glasses. Perhaps sometimes I do favour our Lad's but in this review I'm not seeking to give excuses for our loss, instead I want to provide you with the reasons we lost which is different to excuses. 

Key areas that Cas were better than us were the way they controlled the ruck & the fast pace that we allowed them to play the ball. We had no answer for this & could not stop the speed with which Eden & Hardaker after winning the tackle, got back on their feet and played the ball enabling their team to get a roll on. Another area we got beaten on was pace, we just didn't have the speed that the Castleford backs had & we were often left trailing in their wake. This lack of pace leads me on to another area in which we were beaten & it was energy levels. Castleford just seemed to have more energy about them, I think the reason for this is 6 days prior we played an energy sapping physical game which took a lot out of us, whilst Cas had a week off to rest up & prepare. This is not an excuse but a reason why we didn't fully compete. Some of our tackling especially our 1 on 1 tackling against Hardaker was poor . There is more than just one reason for this, yes we were tired which against the likes of former Man of Steel Zak Hardaker doesn't help. But added to the mix our technique wasn't good, again this is linked to energy levels. Another area for improvement was our reading of the game by our 2,3,4 & 5. At the time I didn't notice this but it has been pointed out to me since & after re watching the game yes our reading of the game needs improvement & our backs were out smarted by their Castleford opposite numbers. This is something that TS will need to highlight to the players concerned when they watch the video on Monday. The worrying aspect of this is it's a skill you've either got or you haven't, I don't have the skill thats why I missed it & needed to have it highlighted to me. 

So to recap, we lost the game through our inability to control the Tigers ruck speed, our inability to match the energy of Castleford, our tackling technique & our miss reading of the game & Castlefords play's. 

Now the positives, & there were a number. Andre Savelio is looking like he's going to be one heck of a player. We've only got him for 12 months, lets hope that he continues in the way he has started & Mr Moran & Mr Fitzpatrick sit Andre & his agent down & get pen to paper. Kevin Browns kicking game was good, as I wrote in my match preview a good kicking game is essential. Tom Lineham scored 2 tries & is starting to get his confidence back & doing what a winger is paid for & thats getting over the whitewash (thanks for that Stevo). Harvey Livett is only 19, he and Andre have the potential to be real quality.

Warrington Wolves 22 - Castleford Tigers 30

Warrington try scorers Savelio x 2 & Lineham x 2

Tigers try scorers   Sene-Lafao, Hardaker, Eden x 2 & Gale.  

Attendance 11,374

Wire V Cas Tigers Match preview from the Fatbelly

Well it's here, our 1st Super League home game since we beat the Saints 18 - 10 last September in the play off semi final. Our opponents this week are Castleford Tigers whom we beat twice last season but lost to in the Magic weekend. Our wins were 56 -12 at the HJ in March & 26-42 at Cas in July. Our loss at Magic weekend was 14 - 34. This loss at Newcastle was a disgrace because we stormed to a 14 -0 lead but then let Castleford score 34 unanswered points. I along with other Warrington fans was  fuming with our team that day. I can only put the capitulation down to our Lad's thinking the job was done.

For Fridays game Castleford will not have the services of Denny Solomona who scored 6 tries against us in 2016, nor will they have Luke Dorn who has retired from the game. Although Castleford have lost 2 great players they have recruited well with Zak Hardaker, Greg Eden & Rangi Chase all joining the Tigers for 2017, these are quality players with Hardaker & Chase being former Man of Steel winners. Another player Castleford who deserves a mention is prop Andy Lynch, Andy will be 38 later this year & to be playing professional RL at his age is a credit to the player & how he has looked after his body. In the Warrington camp Tony Smith is able to recall Dom Crosby who missed the Broncos game but Toby King still misses out with a hamstring problem from the Catalans game. Other absentees from the Wire squad are Captain Chris Hill, Steph Ratchford & Ben Currie.  No news is currently available when any of these players will be back but its rumoured on the internet forums that Hilly could well be another month.  

Mr Smith has named his 19 man squad & from that 19 I would go with:

Gidley

Russell

Atkins

Evans

Lineham

Brown

Patton

Cooper

Clark

Simms

Savelio

Hughes

Westerman

Crosby

Dywer

Philbin

Westwood

With Matty Blythe & Harvey Livett to miss out.

After Kurts Gidleys full back performance against Brisbane he has to start at No 1 which means Dec Patton to partner Kevin Brown in the halves. Harvey Livett has all the makings of a future star and he would do a great job for us so perhaps TS will go with Harvey on the bench & let Philbin drop out with Ben Westwood interchanging with our props. But for me we need the size of both Westwood & Philbin on the bench, so for now Harvey doesn't make it. Earlier I mentioned the perennial Andy Lynch, well at Wire we've got Ben Westwood who will be 36 in the Summer. When Super Ben does hang up his boots I think I will don a black armband & go into official mourning. I hold Ben in the same high esteem as I do my all time Wire favourite Dessie Drummond.  

So to the game itself, the bookies are making Warrington slight favourites and giving Cas a 4 point start on the coupon. Whilst with no handicap Wire are 8/13 & Castleford 11/8.  For me the decisive battle will be in the backs, I think Warrington have the strongest pack in Super League & we will not lose the game there. But will our backs be a match for Eden, Chase, Gale & Hardaker? Theres no reason to suggest that Brown, Gidley & Patton won't carry their Brisbane form over into this game & if they do I think Warrington will win & by a greater margin than the bookies are suggesting. Kev Browns kicking game will be key. A good kicking game is vital & it is an area where the game can be won or lost. I remember losing to Huddersfield a few seasons ago & Danny Brough's kicking had us start nearly everyone of our sets from our own 10 metre line. On Friday we need to do the same to Castleford. A facet of Tony Smith's Warrington team is how we pressure the opposing kicker, Mr Smith has gone on record saying that when Westerman charged down the Broncos kicker early in Saturdays game not only did we get a try but the Broncos were hesitant to kick for the rest of the game & this directly impacted on the Bronco's game management. So expect some charge downs from us. The problem with charges downs is as we all know it can give the opposing team the ball back and another sett of 6. I for one am not a fan of this tactic because we seem to give the ball back more often than we gain it, but I can see Mr Smith's point that it will affect the kickers psyche. 

Thats all from me, I'll be in the Kings Head before the game & the East Stand during the game. I just hope I'm not in the doldrums after the game. 

Oh quick footnote, Castleford have sold over 1,000 tickets for the game so its looking like a good attendance is on the cards.

A look back at our Brisbane game.

This is my 1st post of a series in which I intend to preview and review our games. We have already played one Super League game against Catalan Dragons, we all know the result of that game and how poor we were. I can't offer much insight into the game because not only did I not go to Perpignan I don't have Sky Sports so had to listen on the radio (which was painful for my ears).

So onto my review of last Saturdays game against Brisbane Broncos. The last time we played a game against an Australian team was in the World Club Challenge of February 2015 when we were beaten 18-12 by St George Illawarra Dragons. The attendance that night was 13,080, this attendance is significant & I will return to this topic later. Anyway back to Saturdays game, prior to kick off very few fans or pundits gave the Wire a chance. There has been a general off season malaise regarding the state of the British Super League and how poor our competition has become. The Bookies themselves got involved with the negativity offering odds on for a Broncos victory & 6/1 for a Wolves win, in a 2 Horse race they are quite striking odds. I for one don't share this general despondency, I loved last season and can remember many great games from 2016 not just fixtures which involved Warrington but across our great game. When the Warrington Coach named his 19 man squad there were 3 notable omissions, prop and team Captain Chris Hill, 2nd rower Ben Currie & full back come jack of all trades Stefan Ratchford, it should be noted that all 3 of these players would have been in the Wire starting 13. The most notable omission from the Broncos squad was prop Adam Blair, a further absentee for the Broncos was former Wire prop Mitch Dodds. Mitch had a very short season long stay with Warrington which was cut very short by a broken leg inflicted at Catalan Dragons early in the season. Mitch did not play for Warrington again. 

So to the game, for Warrington Kurt Gidley was moved from the halves to full back to make way for Kevin Brown to partner Dec Patton & Matty Russell moved from full back to the wing. Making way for Brown was not the entire reason for Kurt playing in the position he played for the Knights in the NRL. But I don't see the value in wasting your time & mine detailing them. With Matty Russell moving to the wing Rhys Evans went to centre to replace Toby King who injured his hamstring in Perpignan. The perennial Super Bennie Westwood returned to our squad from injury having not played a game since we played an unimportant game in London last August Bank Holiday. I don't intend to detail the game piece by piece as most of you will have been at the HJ or watched via Sky. Warrington won the game 27 - 18, this in itself is an unremarkable Rugby score. But what was most notable & worthy of mention was the nature & manner of the victory. Warrington played with pace, aggression, composure & a great deal of skill. The man of the match award was given to Warrington debutant Kevin Brown whose passing game was excellent, accompanied by a great kicking game which put us on the front foot and deep into Broncos territory on a regular basis.  Kurt Gidley at full back was a revelation and took me back to the full back play of Brett Hodgson back in 2011/12. For me Kurt must stay at full back.  Another home debut was for Mike Cooper who led our pack admirably aided by Ashton Simms. When he came off the bench Westwood was back to his aggressive & uncompromising self. Its difficult and given our overall performance churlish to list any mistakes made by our players other than to say one mistake gifted the Broncos a try & another denied us a certain 4 pointer. To sum up this was a great Warrington performance by both individuals & as a team & should not be underestimated. In fact it was the type of performance that after watching will have supporters of other teams put their head in the hands and say to themselves "Oh Fuck".

Finally, back to the game attendance, it was 12,080 which was 1,000 people less than for our other WCC in 2015. My take on the reason for this was the ticket pricing by the club. The most expensive North stand seats was an astonishing £45 for an adult. With East stand adult tickets behind the sticks at £30. I really want the club to do well financially but these prices were over the top and punitive for supporters with a family.