Alffi 7

Only a few games in but it seems to depend on the referee. As Harry mentions sometimes it looks no different to last season, however one referee can be much hotter on it than others. Some focus on high tackles, some focus on offsides, some focus on play the balls. We haven’t had an ‘adult’ ref yet, so that could be interesting and a truer reflection of what to expect in future.

Martin Gleeson is attack coach, Marshall focuses on defence.

Surprised the vote is so close. We’ve come up against top 3 opposition twice this year and lost both times. Saints intensity will be too much - but hopefully another step on the road to show Burgess’ Wire are developing and will compete against all. Saints by 8.

Victim of circumstance at Warrington, Sam Powell has done well as bench 9 and does a good job at 13 too. 3 frontline hookers was never going to work in a first team squad. Makes sense from a Wire point of view. He’s a 100% kind of guy, great attitude, can’t speak highly enough of him in that regard. Watched him at Wire for a long time. He can be dangerous out of dummy half but has his drawbacks. He’s chaotic and his concentration can be an issue - see his defensive effort for the Burgess try today. He’s a good guy - hope he goes well for Leigh.

With three frontline props missing I fear we won’t have enough upfront. Will be an interesting test of Burgesses ‘Next man up’ mentality.

True, though it could be written in to the deal that the club pay a maximum of x months payments to terminate the contract. Good news for Wigan, though I’d agree it’s a long time for a coaching team to stay together, Tony Smith was at Wire for 8 years I think? Though there were plenty of assistant changes in that time - it felt a tired coaching team at the end though. If Peet and his team can still feel as fresh and impactful as they have the past couple of years they will have done incredibly well.

It’s testing my memory a little but I’m sure we (Warrington) got a loan from the local council of £1m to keep the club afloat as they moved from Wilderspool to the financial security of the new stadium. Somewhere around the turn of the century I think. There’s also talk (not sure how true it is) of the council investing in new training facilities at Victoria Park for the club as the current base at the University is being sold off for housing. This is after failing in a ‘Levelling Up’ fund’s request from central government.

Not sure I like the idea of monitors, I agree it would mean even longer stoppages. I’d prefer we look at the RU system of a sin bin given by the onfield referee (with no VR consultation) which is then reviewed by the Video Ref for potential upgrade to a red. Referee makes initial decision, then VR decides on severity - should mean less in game stoppage I’d also prefer the VR not to review tackles for potential cards when a player stays down, it’s just encouraging players to stay on the floor from the slightest contact. If the ref / touch judge doesn’t see it, play on - the disciplinary committee will pick it up.

Is it confirmed the 6 games will be live and free on Sky every week? I thought I read somewhere that was just for the first 15 weeks of the year?

30 years ago a friendly neighbour used to record the NRL (as was) and pass the tapes over to us every week. I loved watching Langer (hence the user name) and then later on Johns. I loved them long before they signed for Wire and felt so privileged to watch them in p&b. Not sure why I was so Aus focused at the time, I’ve rarely watched Aus RL since, maybe it was the free videos!

Think Warrington wise Currie and Thewlis debuted at 17, for balance Warren Stevens also made his debut at 17 and didn’t quite have the same impact!

For Wire I'd guess at Dufty Thewlis Tai King Ashton Williams Drinkwater Vaughan Walker Musgrove Currie Fitzgibbon Nicholson Powell Philbin Kasiano Harrison Main Squad cover: Ratchford (FB/CEN/Half), Matty Russel (Wing), Connor Wrench & Wes Bruines (Wing / CEN), Leon Hayes (Half), Dwyer (Hooker) Dudson, Crowther, Bullock, Lucas Green (Prop / 13) Could easily see Tai on the wing in place of Thewlis and / or Ratchford at centre ahead of Tai, plus I still think there is movement to be made in the squad Kasiano & Dudson could well be moved on, as could Dwyer. Oli Partington and the 3rd coming of Mikaele have all been rumoured.

I guess we need to be looked at in relation to other clubs. Wigan & Saints will be some way in front of us, Catalan will have a big transition of players next season, Tomkins, Pearce & May all leaving amongst others, so I'd say there was a risk they could go backwards - though McNamara has recruited well at Catalan over the past few years it has to be said. Of the remaining teams Leigh & Hull KR probably need to prove themselves next year (in terms of year on year consistency) after great seasons in 23, Hull & Leeds too remain unknown quantities I would say, and finished behind us in 2023. I'd say 3rd is the highest I'd expect us to finish next season, but I can't see Wigan or Saints being outside of the top 2.

Think I read somewhere Burgess would be on approx £250k at Wire.

At this stage of his career Walker will want to be the first choice 9, not sharing it with Clark. Clark similarly wanted to be the first choice 9 with no time spent at 13. We can’t accommodate both so have opted for the longer term option. Inevitably it will leave us weaker in that position, but will also free up some cap space to fix up other areas. Time will tell whether Ratchford gets that back up 9 spot and whether he will be any good at it.

Apparently we are looking to move Ratchford to an interchange 9 role next year. So two frontline centres in Tai & King (or new NRL centre) with Wrench & Bruines in reserve seems sensible.

It’s too simplistic to say 2x losses means things aren’t improving. I thought we were better vs Catalan, days after Powell going, and better again at Leeds - a couple of dropped balls away from winning. Hopefully that improvement will continue and we can finally pick up a win.

It could well be people passing on their own assumptions rather than fact, and Vaughan still seems to be banging out decent stats despite apparently being unhappy so hopefully it's not the case. Dufty on the other hand... I agree & I always think we suffer more from injuries because of that over reliance on big names. When looking at the likes of Salford & Hull KR particularly, they play almost as well when they have players missing as they do at full strength, which has to be credit to the coaching staff and the players flexibility / toughness. The gap between Wire on a good day and Wire on a bad day is huge, literally from one of the best best teams in the comp to worst team in the comp, there is just no consistency.

I have zero confidence that we will win this one, Leeds by plenty. We’re not a happy ship atm, fallout from McGuire causing problems I hear.

Marquee money, which surprised me. Walker is ready to be our 9 full time and at a much lower salary cap cost I expect. Walker is a much more rounded 9 then Clark, but Clark has his obvious strengths in his running game and defence. I think it’s a good move for all parties and I’m looking forward to who we bring in as marquee no. 2 as I don’t think Clark leaving weakens is too much.

Hull KR started great, we started the way we have for the past 5/6 weeks - very passive with very little aggression. Philbin & Kasiano came off the bench after 20 minutes and the game seemed to change. We stopped the offloads that were killing us and McGuire brought some controlled aggression that has been missing from our game. I thought we were the better team for 60 minutes but KR were great with players missing. Would be good to see us both full strength going at it.

From a Wire point of view, Walker needs to be playing good minutes now - he’ll be 24 next year and is more than ready. Clark will want to be the main 9 wherever he is, which he deserves. For him to stay at Warrington he would need to take a significant drop in salary and probably need to accept splitting his time between 9 & 13 in the game - which he does very well, but I’m sure hd would rather stay at 9. Clark is allegedly on close to marquee money at Wire, if we can free that up and with potentially a 3rd marquee spot on the horizon, it will put us in a good spot to strengthen other areas with a key signing. Clark has been a great player for us and would be a shame to see him go, but I think it would be the right move.

Yes was impressed with that attendance and the travelling numbers from Leigh, been a while since the South stand has felt that full. I was a little disappointed with the Leeds game first up, at 11k, but then it was on a Thursday night. Agreed, hopefully if Wigan & Saints come to town in form, we could push the new 15.5k capacity - which would be a record.

Yeah that’s not complete, analysis stops in early May, so that is an early season avg, boosted by 15k lock out vs Saints.

Where’s that from out of interest? I could only find this https://www.totalrl.com/up-or-down-an-in-depth-club-by-club-look-at-attendances-over-the-past-decade/