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.
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.
Love it, cant wait for the next one. Just picking up on your point about attendances. We have been ST holders for years. But not this year! We both work in Manchester, so getting home for Thursday, Friday games is tough. Considering most of them are on these nights this year, its just not worthwhile. I also think its a killer for the younger generation. Who is going to take there kids to a Thursday game when it finishes at 10pm.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and your kind comments Stuart. I'll be doing another one prior to our Cas game
ReplyDeleteA good write up, written from a Wire PoV however fair in the analysis I believe. I too thought the attendance was disappointing given the magnitude of the game. It's somethings the club could and should review in the future because if we can get the ground full for a game so electric, the more they are likely to turn up more regularly. Enjoyed the fact that we had so many lads who have come through our system and that we only had 2 overseas players. That's the way of the future.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading more..��
Thanks for reading Geoff. I agree about bringing our Lads through the system. Players like Currie, Livett, Patton, & Moran are our future
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