interesting first game at Headingley.All joking apart, i don't see it as a bad signing really for Wire.They were short on front rowers for the squad, Bailey comes in as a player with vast experience on a 1 year deal on what has to presumed not mega bucks and probably clauses allowing Wire to tear it up on any misdemeanour.Hardly a big risk, and considering they just got rid of one of the biggest money overseas flops ever in Assotasi there is a good chance Ryan will provide far better value at much lower risk to the club.

Would you have had him back at Leeds, given the issues he had at both Hull KR and Castleford?

If not, then why should Warrington fans be happy about his signing?

He's already done that with Cas. He did ok in that game, no dramas, otherwise a waste of space.
As regards his reputation, most of it is undeserved, positive & negative.

Andy i'm not saying they should be happy,i don't really care either way, just that i don't see any reason for outrage as in the reasons I've stated. I wouldn't have him back at Leeds mainly because we have finally got plenty of front row options but looking at the hole Wire seem to have in that department he could be quite useful for them.

oh,and we have just got Kirke back, Bailey and him back at the club inside a week would be too much to take!

I think at Leeds he had just enough support from key players like JJB, Sinfield and Peacock and others who came through at the same time as him and considered him "misunderstood" rather than a (insert own swear word here). It's probably a testimont to the leaders we had in our group that he was able to keep going at Leeds until 2014. Walking fresh into a new club, and one that probably still remembers some past encounters in CC finals and the incident at the end of the GF when 5 Wire players went to have an argument with him instead of trying to score will probably see his every move closely watched.

Also whilst Smith worked with Bailey before doesn't Agar do a lot of the stuff over there now?

Because they support a bunch of mid-table plodders?

Best Bailey moment has to be him trolling half the Warrington team in a shoving match while they are on the attack with space out wide in the last minutes of the GF.

Agreed, couldn't believe how they got sucked into that one.

He plays where he wants, he plays where he waannts. He's Ryan Bailey, he plays where he wants.

Lets be right, Bailey has never been a top prop. There have been no awards for big metres, tackle busts or number of tackles.

What he offers is the ability to draw players to him even if he doesn't have the ball. Is that what Warrington need? Who knows, but as long as they understand what they have signed, and Smith should, then he can do a job for them. I just don't see him really improving on what they had last year.

For me it's a bit of a 'so what' signing.

Another great bailey moment was the barnstorming run from a kick off in away play off game v Catalan where he banged off ian Henderson and others and gave danny McGuire a run in to score. As a youngster thought he may be a world beater but still had good career.

It was only one other that he barged off. You;re confused because he barged Henderson off twice. I like to think that when he did it the second time, he muttered 'You again?' as he shrugged him off.

Yes he does....

As I Wire fan I really dislike him - consider him a cheap shot merchant and past his best.

But if anyone can get anything out of him it's TS and from what has been reported if he steps out of line he'll be out of Wire.
There's good odds on him not lasting the year because of discipline but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

I wish him well. He may be all sorts of bad things, but I'd prefer to see him mature and make the best of what's left of his career and beyond than read about him for all the wrong reasons down the track.

Enough about Ben Westwood.

Smith added: “Ryan’s signature is not going to impact greatly on our salary cap, but his experience and attributes will make him an extremely valuable squad player."

So...pay as you play but we don't expect him to play much??

Warrington board

Westwood sucker punches Blake Green, fine
Briers sucker punches Carl Ablett, fine
Wood sucker punches Carl Ablett, fine

Bailey drops down heavily on Chris Riley, WHAT A DISGRACE OF A HUMAN BEING, HE'S SCUM AND NOT THE TYPE OF PLAYER WE WANT AT WARRINGTON BECAUSE WE ONLY WANT ROLE MODELS!!!

Role models such as Joel 'Dog Botherer' Monaghan of course.

The meltdown over on their board right now is great. 4 different threads in reference to the Bailey signing with the main one already being 19 pages long and the first mentions of people refusing to buy Season Tickets because of this signing.

Classic Bailey

Hilarious stuff



All very OTT though.He has only signed a 1 year deal, probably on peanuts and with stipulations. You would think he had been signed the same terms of contract Asotasi has just finished the way some of the wire fans have reacted.

After being on their forum I'm starting to want Bailey to do well for them

Some people on their forum laughingly suggest Les Boyd was preferable - a genuine hardman. That may be but he was also guilty of one of the most vicious and cowardly attacks ever seen in pro RL when he smashed Darryl Brohmann's jaw with his elbow (very Moriarty-Waddell). That's what gets me. There is zero footage of Bailey doing anything remotely in that league of thuggery, and a guy who has played pro RL at prop for over a decade is somehow a coward.

I don't think Bailey came close to being as good as he could have been, but the hysteria over a squad player is ridiculous.

I second what Biff says above.

Like him or loath him, he was a cornerstone of our pack for a decade. He's a winner, pure and simple. He will add some much needed experience and aggression to wires pack and is on a claused contract to keep him ont strait and narrow.

The fact some wire fans can't see past their own nose is neither here, nor there...

It's the kind of meltdown for which the wigan board was once famous. Should wire struggle there's gonna be some serious, serious whining from that part of the world next year. Bring it on

I think there is also this to take into consideration, imo Bailey left Leeds to HKR believing he was a bigger star than he actually was.He came down with a bump there and failed again to get back on the horse at Cas.He has had a few months to digest it all and I'm sure it's been made clear by all and sundry that this Wire chance is really last chance saloon at top level.I expect him to approach this challenge with far more effort and determination than the last season.It remains to be seen, but I'm tipping Ryan to go well and earn a new deal with a few wire fans eating humble pie come October

I hope and think you are right about him being smart enough to work out this is probably his last shot at top flight rehabilitation. The response from some on the Wire board is comically OTT, you'd think they'd used their marquee spot to bring him in. If he goes well for them, you'll struggle to find one of them that didn't think it was a shrewd move by TS.