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.