Is it their year?!?!

[Fly-By-TheWire]

The change in culture that Powell wanted was one of humility.   It was the right change, but the wrong person to do it.   Burgess seems to have the right balance and commands the respect of the players.

It was always a risk to take Burgess on (and could have gone either way) but something completely left-field was needed, and it’s turned out to be a masterstroke by Middleton.

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

The change in culture that Powell wanted was one of humility.   It was the right change, but the wrong person to do it.   Burgess seems to have the right balance and commands the respect of the players.

It was always a risk to take Burgess on (and could have gone either way) but something completely left-field was needed, and it’s turned out to be a masterstroke by Middleton.

How was a lack of humility an issue for them? 

[JonM]

13 minutes ago, Dave T said:

How was a lack of humility an issue for them? 

Heads were so big that they couldn't run through gaps in the opposition defence without damage to their ears?

[Griff]

On 14/04/2024 at 23:18, The 4 of Us said:

Halley’s comet will be back first. 

That's only 37 years away.

[meast]

They're a bit late celebrating this time, wasn't it early April last season when they had their league title winning party in the Kings head?

[meast]

On 15/04/2024 at 16:46, Fly-By-TheWire said:

The change in culture that Powell wanted was one of humility.   It was the right change, but the wrong person to do it.   Burgess seems to have the right balance and commands the respect of the players.

It was always a risk to take Burgess on (and could have gone either way) but something completely left-field was needed, and it’s turned out to be a masterstroke by Middleton.

Don't be getting too ahead of yourselves, he's had an encouraging start but so did Powell, as alluded to in my previous post.

This is one of the reasons that Wire and their fans get the stick they do, you haven't won anything, Burgess hasn't achieved anything as a head coach, just keep enjoying what he's doing rather than bigging it all up.

That's a change in culture that's possibly needed from Warrington fans too.

[Dave T]

36 minutes ago, meast said:

Don't be getting too ahead of yourselves, he's had an encouraging start but so did Powell, as alluded to in my previous post.

This is one of the reasons that Wire and their fans get the stick they do, you haven't won anything, Burgess hasn't achieved anything as a head coach, just keep enjoying what he's doing rather than bigging it all up.

That's a change in culture that's possibly needed from Warrington fans too.

Considering you spend most of your time moaning about how Hudds fans are portrayed, it's weird you spend so much time fixated on Wire and their fans. 

[meast]

41 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Considering you spend most of your time moaning about how Hudds fans are portrayed, it's weird you spend so much time fixated on Wire and their fans. 

Not sure what this is meant to be, but I'll leave it at that.

[Damien]

On 15/04/2024 at 16:26, Dave T said:

Yes, I agree with that interpretation - and that can always be thrown at a club that has often been the best team over 12m but then fallen at the last hurdle - my personal view on that is that we have always been very competitive in our Grand Finals and each of them could have been Wire wins - hence my point that I'm not sure it's cultural. 

I think sometimes it is a claim that is thrown about lazily, often by fans when they are frustrated. They didn't complain about culture when we beat Saints at Wembley, but it became an issue when we lost in the playoffs to Cas a month later. 

I do think the culture point is lazily used in the way you describe, and I do think that was the interpretation that Powell had when he came in and treated long-serving players like a piece of s***, many who have gone on to to a good job at other clubs since. 

Warrington certainly didn't have a bad team or squad when Powell took over.  Powell did however seem to arrive with the preconception that there were issues with the players and that it needed ripping up and starting again. Whether that was based on what he had seen or what he had been told by management I'm not sure. Both are quite plausible to me.

Some coaches and managers do think they know better and want to make their own mark. Sometimes it works, sometimes it is a disaster. The example that always springs to my mind is Souness when he took over at Liverpool.

Equally the board seemed to back him to the hilt and seemed pretty onboard with his approach and clear out. That is until it became clear that it had failed.

I do suspect that it may be a bit of both.

[Just Browny]

2 hours ago, meast said:

Don't be getting too ahead of yourselves, he's had an encouraging start but so did Powell, as alluded to in my previous post.

This is one of the reasons that Wire and their fans get the stick they do, you haven't won anything, Burgess hasn't achieved anything as a head coach, just keep enjoying what he's doing rather than bigging it all up.

That's a change in culture that's possibly needed from Warrington fans too.

I didn't think it would be too long before you started. It's going to be a long month.

[Dave T]

14 hours ago, Damien said:

Warrington certainly didn't have a bad team or squad when Powell took over.  Powell did however seem to arrive with the preconception that there were issues with the players and that it needed ripping up and starting again. Whether that was based on what he had seen or what he had been told by management I'm not sure. Both are quite plausible to me.

Some coaches and managers do think they know better and want to make their own mark. Sometimes it works, sometimes it is a disaster. The example that always springs to my mind is Souness when he took over at Liverpool.

Equally the board seemed to back him to the hilt and seemed pretty onboard with his approach and clear out. That is until it became clear that it had failed.

I do suspect that it may be a bit of both.

I think the club were guilty of falling for this whole 'culture' narrative. 

I was one of Price's biggest critics, but I'm not sure how anyone could seriously watch the team and highlight culture as being the biggest issue. Imo it was frustrated fans repeating it, and the lazy media jumping on it it's an easy soundbite to repeat. Culture means so many different things to different people that I think they went a but basic and Powell appeared overly aggressive. Focusing on getting rid of the likes of Charnley, Hill, Cooper, Hughes etc was odd. 

It feels to me like the last couple of years was the response to frustrations within the club, and I think that led to us getting the actions wrong. 

And I'll be honest, I was very excited when Powell was announced - for me, our biggest shortcoming during Price's reign was tactical - we were negative and often went within ourselves. I think had Powell been given the brief of addressing that we may have seen a different outcome. Because I don't think Powell is a bad coach, although his brand is definitely damaged! 

[Dave T]

14 hours ago, Just Browny said:

I didn't think it would be too long before you started. It's going to be a long month.

I just hope they don't see the videos of you celebrating on the BBC. You'll never live it down, daring to celebrate and all that. 

[dkw]

I'm wondering how much the impact of Sam Burgess is a receny thing. Every player in the squad will have seen him play, will know about his attitude and will to win so is it likely to be easier for him to gain buy in from players who will have huge respect due to him only retiring from playing at the very top a few years ago?

[fieldofclothofgold]

Like has been said before we all know that " our year " thing ok for banter ,but they have had some good successful years .only thing is theve not one their Holy GraiI I.E the championship Final /Grand Final since 1954 . Ouch Sorry 

Edited April 18 by fieldofclothofgold

[Father Ted]

Warrington looked good v Saints and deserved their win.

Saints though had a couple of tough games prior to playing Wire. They played Wigan on Good Friday and won after a gruelling 80 mins. The following week they went to Perpignan and had another very tough game with a narrow loss. They then played another huge match in a C Cup semi final. 

Just wondered if the three tough games the last 20 mins against Wire caught up with them where they were completely overrun.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 14/04/2024 at 18:40, fieldofclothofgold said:

They're looking good just now just as they did with Powell 

In fairness Burgess looks different gravy 

[Faithful1865]

Even though he's not on the field, I believe he's leading by example.  They will all have seen him play and will know that this is what he expects from them.  Well done Sam.