Oliver Holmes and Peter Matautia sign for Warrington

[Old Frightful]

Williams not going there then?

[ELBOWSEYE]

12 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Williams not going there then?

According to sources nailed on with widdop going back

[Just Browny]

24 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Williams not going there then?

Why, does he not get on with Holmes and Matautia?

[Just Browny]

More seriously, these signings have been well known about for a while.

Holmes seems like a good signing, he has bags of experience and is a good player.

I still haven't thought of a good reason for signing Matautia: he is an honest player, but strikes me as a bit of a utility and a very similar type of player to one (Mamo) we already have and who is doing really well.

[Alffi 7]

With Greg Inglis, Tom Lineham, Blake Austin, Chris Hill, Jason Clark, Jake Mamo, Sitaleki Akauola, Danny Walker, Samy Kibula, Matty Ashton, Nathan Roebuck, Riley Dean, Eribe Doro currently listed as out of contract, we have plenty of space to play around with.

 

Not all will leave, but looking likely are Inglis, J Clark, Austin, Widdop, Mamo, Sita & Kibula.  Hopefully we can hold on to Hill for another year, Lineham I'm not too fussed either way.  The rest of the youngsters hopefully we can retain.

 

Holmes a replacement for Clark and Matautia likely to take up the centre spot vacated by Inglis.

[Cheshire Setter]

I'm hoping Widdop stays to partner Williams.   In reality though he'll almost certainly get a NRL gig even if it's on a little bit less money than he got before he left.   

Holmes I'm happy with.   A bit 'meh' about Mata'utia but SL isn't full of Percivals and Kings so I trust Powell to get him playing at a good enough standard.

The big question is who will partner Williams?   Maybe Riley Dean will get his chance or Ratchford will give up his FB berth for Thewlis who is probably the most promising academy product since Paul Sculthorpe.

[Manfred Mann]

I thought that Inglis had signed for two years! 

Warrington should re sign him. 2022 will be a good year for him.

[Damien]

10 minutes ago, Manfred Mann said:

I thought that Inglis had signed for two years! 

Warrington should re sign him. 2022 will be a good year for him.

2022 will be Warrington's year too.

[Manfred Mann]

24 minutes ago, Damien said:

2022 will be Warrington's year too.

With the departure of the current Warrington coach Steve Price and the arrival of talented Daryl Powell the club will surely have a renaissance in 2022.

[Cheshire Setter]

8 minutes ago, Manfred Mann said:

With the departure of the current Warrington coach Steve Price and the arrival of talented Daryl Powell the club will surely have a renaissance in clear-out before 2022.

Typo corrected! 

Seriously though, Powell will see a different approach brought to recruitment at Warrington. Any big signings will be young enough to see their best years and I don't think we'll see any publicity stunt type signings just for marketing. Not at the expense of team performance standards anyway.

I was glad to get to see Inglis in the colours of my club anyway, even if it was only a couple of games. Happy to see things done differently going forward though.

[dkw]

Holmes is an excellent signing and a big loss to cas, he's a very good player both in defence and attack.

Not so sure about matautia though, often flatters to deceive and doesn't play to his capabilities sometimes.  

[Harry Stottle]

4 hours ago, Alffi 7 said:

Matautia likely to take up the centre spot vacated by Inglis.

Pardon?

[ELBOWSEYE]

52 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Pardon?

Come on he played 1 and half games. 

[DemonUK]

Wire doing well to sign players having just announced a 750k loss last year whch would appear to be after players and backroom staff took pay cuts plus donations from supporters groups.

[Cheshire Setter]

2 minutes ago, DemonUK said:

Wire doing well to sign players having just announced a 750k loss last year whch would appear to be after players and backroom staff took pay cuts plus donations from supporters groups.

So what would you do differently? All the big clubs (in fact probably most clubs) are operating to the cap limit. What is different about Warrington?

We have a bunch of big players off contract at the end of the season, and we’re possibly losing Widdop to the NRL imminently. Next season it’s likely to be Daryl Clark and Williams as marquee players with the rest of the squad put together by a new coach and on pay that will take us up towards the cap limit. Regarding the losses, that’s in part down to owning our own stadium. A problem which won’t be around going forward after this season hopefully. Add to that the security of two very wealthy benefactors and there’s no reason why we can’t sign new players.

Strange comment.

[Saint Toppy]

21 hours ago, dkw said:

Holmes is an excellent signing and a big loss to cas, he's a very good player both in defence and attack.

Not so sure about matautia though, often flatters to deceive and doesn't play to his capabilities sometimes.  

I agree with this but not sure why they actually need Holmes ?

I would have thought Currie & Hughes had the 2nd row spots nailed on so where would you play Holmes ?

[Saint Toppy]

16 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

So what would you do differently? All the big clubs (in fact probably most clubs) are operating to the cap limit. What is different about Warrington?

We have a bunch of big players off contract at the end of the season, and we’re possibly losing Widdop to the NRL imminently. Next season it’s likely to be Daryl Clark and Williams as marquee players with the rest of the squad put together by a new coach and on pay that will take us up towards the cap limit. Regarding the losses, that’s in part down to owning our own stadium. A problem which won’t be around going forward after this season hopefully. Add to that the security of two very wealthy benefactors and there’s no reason why we can’t sign new players.

Strange comment.

Unless there's others leaving not yet announced you'd think these 2 signings plus Williams probably take Wire up to the cap.

King has just signed a big money deal (allegedly £170-180K a Yr) and with the 2 marquee signings taking up £150K each then thats around a quarter of their cap on just 3 players.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, DemonUK said:

Wire doing well to sign players having just announced a 750k loss last year whch would appear to be after players and backroom staff took pay cuts plus donations from supporters groups.

Yes, I wonder why they managed to lose all that money last year. Any ideas anyone?

[Cheshire Setter]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

Unless there's others leaving not yet announced

Austin definitely, Widdop almost certainly. Hill and Lineham very likely. J Clark, Inglis and several other squad fillers such as Akaoula definitely.

So I think Powell will have the biggest cap space to play with of any Warrington coach. The bigger question isn’t whether we can fit them in, it’s who is available to sign.

I’m not convinced King is on £180k, he had an offer of £140k at a club where his continued success was unlikely and would make it a risky move. However, he’s been the best British centre for 2 years and there are not many decent centres out there. If almost a quarter of our cap goes on Clark, Williams and King that’s probably a decent enough risk and about as good as it gets. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

39 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

Austin definitely, Widdop almost certainly. Hill and Lineham very likely. J Clark, Inglis and several other squad fillers such as Akaoula definitely.

So I think Powell will have the biggest cap space to play with of any Warrington coach. The bigger question isn’t whether we can fit them in, it’s who is available to sign.

I’m not convinced King is on £180k, he had an offer of £140k at a club where his continued success was unlikely and would make it a risky move. However, he’s been the best British centre for 2 years and there are not many decent centres out there. If almost a quarter of our cap goes on Clark, Williams and King that’s probably a decent enough risk and about as good as it gets. 

A quarter of the cap, it will be a lot less of the cap but a high percentage of the wage bill, two marquee signing have a limit of cap spend and won't King have some cap dispensations being club trained. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

Yes, I wonder why they managed to lose all that money last year. Any ideas anyone?

Match day revenue, sponsors, corporate stadium use (non use) merchandise, some offset by wage cuts and season ticket holders generosity. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

I agree with this but not sure why they actually need Holmes ?

I would have thought Currie & Hughes had the 2nd row spots nailed on so where would you play Holmes ?

Jack Hughes has been poor this season and needs pressure to up his game. 

[Rupert Prince]

5 minutes ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Jack Hughes has been poor this season and needs pressure to up his game. 

Cover, injuries.

Wigan as an example have not been playing it's regular back 3 all season.  Im sure leeds fans will concur.

[snapski]

My favourite player Holmes. Absolute quality. Should be a regular at international, and would have been at a so called glamour club. 

[Cheshire Setter]

1 hour ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

won't King have some cap dispensations being club trained. 

Ah yes, I completely forgot about the club-trained rule. With Austin, Lineham and possibly Hill (who’s actually been great this year) going then cap space won’t be an issue.