An escape rout from the rumours thread!
I think the majority of us agree that we have been fairly toothless at centre this season, question is why and how will it improve next season?
First let me put my cards on the table re Ratchford. I couldn’t disagree more strongly with the view that he has never really fitted in.
In fact he has done a good job wherever he has been asked to play and in his earlier days was a real running threat although the one handed carry was a concern. It seems strange that all those people who say they just want players to give their all rarely credit him for this aspect of his play.
I do think this season has looked a season too long for him at times, but given at the start of the season the left side was scoring regularly perhaps the blame doesn’t entirely rest with him.
In the other centre berth we have Matautia, I made no secret of my view at the time that he was a poor signing and take no comfort from being right. He was obviously brought in as Powell’s lieutenant in the dressing room and that hardly seems to have resulted in harmony. However bat crazy Mamo was he definitely posed far more of an attacking threat than his successor.
With regard to Wrench we have seen glimpses of what he may be able to do, I reall hope he kicks on

I agree that some of the criticism of Ratchford is OTT and doesn't show enough respect for what a good player he has been for us.

Plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the centre position: we have just brought in as assistant coach the best English centre of his generation. And our head coach is a former England Union centre (ok maybe let's forget that bit).

Both Tai and Bruines come with a bit of a gamble but Wrench is (for me) a real talent and needs game time in his position.

Ok, in terms of grammar, punctuation and spelling thats a somewhat difficult read.
Are you a failed TEFLER per chance?

Regarding your content I concur that Ratchford has been a positive for the club but due to our lack of goal kicker succession planning his tenure is 2/3 years too long. Gleason should play himself next season

Ratchford has never let the team down, apart from the one handed carry at times. IMO though he is better creating space for himself than being a part of the three quarter line.

There should be an apostrophe in thats, perchance should be one word rather than two, and the correct spelling is Gleeson. I believe TEFL UK is based in Winmarleigh Street, if you fancy popping down?

hopefully gleeson is a big help for wrench, if centre is to be his position long term

Sorry about that, I’ll try using pictures in future.

I’ve got nothing against Ratchford. Good pro, seems to be a likeable man and has served the club well over the years. But the speed and elusiveness has faded away, and with it the threat. He can still catch and pass, but that should be a prerequisite.

It’s a Warrington thing. We often hold on to those who have served us well for too long. We did it with Westwood, accommodated him in a different position because he’d lost the ability to play his proper role.

A bench spot, maybe. Cover across the backline and a bit of 9/13 at a stretch. But he just doesn’t have it in him to be a strike weapon in 2023.

Developed into an excellent goal kicker though, to his credit.

In addition Ratchford was the last full back that I felt confident about when a bomb went up.

60/40 for me

This season centre has been our weakest position..... Next season it could be our strongest... There will certainly be competition and plenty of running power.

That’s MY confident after 51(!) years. For many of those I was petrified when the ball was passed, let alone a bomb!

Yes, but the problem is, you're supposed to kick it from behind the 40 and get it past the 20. I don't care how good his shorter kicks are...

If we're looking at a direct replacement for Mata'utia but with more pace, I think I've found it:

[urlhttps://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/112626-fastest-moving-crustacean-on-land#:~:text=The%20fastest%2Dmoving%20crustaceans%20on,to%204%20m%20per%20second.[/url

The Ghost Crab:



Problem solved.

Aaron Lindop is a big, quick centre to keep am eye on. He is only in his first year U18 and was injured for the first half of the season but has still made quite a mark this year.Top try scorer with 16 atm including a sequence of 3,3,3,1 in his last four games. He played 5 games for the Reserves, 7 for the U18's and one for Lancs. Academy.

A few commas in your post wouldn’t go amiss.

I bet Ellery Hanley could run sideways across the field faster than that crab, whilst handing off anybody who tried to tackle him.

But would his legs make a tasty meal afterwards?

Now the dust has settled just wondered what the thoughts are on Toby King returning?

How will he be received.

Been very vocal about how positive his time at Wigan has been and also had a couple of thinly veiled digs at Fitzpatrick for the way he handled the rifts created by Powell.

I’m sad to see him leave Wigan think we will be worse for not having him, just curious to see the thoughts of the Warrington faithful.

He was out of form in 2022 and threw a hissy fit after an honest appraisal from the coach (allegedly). Was never the same after signing a big money contract. I'm sure there's truth in the Fitzpatrick murmurings, but at the time Fitzpatrick was tasked with getting a coach who would eradicate the comfort culture. Maybe he had to trust Powell's judgement as the old way hadn't worked under Price.

In hindsight, the best thing (for the club anyway) would have been to drop him and explain why (handled by the player welfare manager). However, this is a clean slate and hopefully the Wigan environment has forced him to grow up a bit and readied him for the wrath of Burgess (who I'm certain will be happy to drop any player not giving 100% every week).

Time will tell.

hmm I think that it ill have opened his eyes to how a professional sucessful club is ran. his form automatically changed as soon as he turned to for wigan.

I think most fans will be sceptical about his return and he will be asked to "prove" himself which I dont think he has to do, he is a grand final winner and was instrumental in their succesfull season which is ironic given most people on here were talking about him being average and a mid table centre ?

I have maintained for a long time we are toothless in the centre and I do think its a very important position, the best centres in the league throughout super league history have all ended up as grand final winners we have been lacking in this for an awful ling time king and tai look to be a more strike orientated pair with wrench to cover for them .

ratchford is a hard player to asses as he is competent in many positions but excels in none he has probably been a victim of his own versatility and caused many coaches headaches of where to fit him in. theoretically if we did not have ratchford we could have signed an alternative that the coach wanted and fitted into his plans.

As mentioned there were some off field issues that affected his reputation within the club, moving in to a new environment - especially one like Wigan - It's always easier to 'tow the line'. The issue is the salary he is on which obviously isn't his fault. For the money he should be one of the best strike centres in the competition, he isn't he's solid, dependable and does his job well but he's not going to create something from nothing.

He's a positive person, so doesn't surprise me he's been vocal how much he enjoyed his time at Wigan - he did the same at Warrington for 95% of his career so far and I'd expect that to continue in 2024.

At the end of the day, Powell wanted him gone, probably because of his salary as much as Powell waning to enable change of attitude within the squad. Powell wanted to remodel the squad playing wise, having that kind of salary available by moving King on was probably very tempting for Powell - especially if there were off field issues. He also brought in a better player IMO in Wardle, real shame we couldn't keep hold of him.

Powell is gone, King is back, I'm sure as long he is being seen to be putting in the effort he will be welcomed back.

I still just don't see this "wonder centre". He is not even the best centre at Wigan. He is solid, hard to put down, offloads freely and good at catching cross field kicks. He is not particularly evasive, or fast, and I have never seen him make space from nothing and slip a pass to his winger.

No doubt he had a better season with Wigan in 2023 than he did with us in the season previously where I think he managed 1 or 2 tries in the half season that followed his contract extension before he was ejected. I congratulate him on his GF win but that does not make him an exceptional player. Ryan Bailey, (the oft cited example), has a bucket full of GF wins.

But we will see when he comes back, clean slate.

I’m not sure on this. King has been superb this year, not just in those glossy areas but in carries, meters, offloads, tackle busts… he has contributed to the team really well. Still made double figures for both tries and assists.

In truth, he’s done everything that Ratchford and Matautia didn’t in 2023.

Back in the England squad again too, granted without Farnworth available so might not have made it without that, but Wane (who has an inside view to his year being inside the Wigan system) must like what he has seen.

It was difficult to watch our player in a Wigan kit winning the grand final at the weekend. Even worse that we were paying part of his salary. Sad indictment of the management of the club over the past few years.

Completely agree with this. He has been superb for Wigan.

I’m struggling to understand what people expect from a centre these days.

I think people have this perception that good centres have to make tackle busts every carry like Inglis in his prime, have the pace of Offiah, the offload of Gene Miles and defensive capabilities of Dean Bell.

I genuinely cannot think of many centres in the modern game on either side of the World that have this mystical “strike” ability people seem to crave.

The modern game generally sees the primary creator of tries to the winger as the fullback he generally also provides the strike.

King when used to his strengths is an excellent centre.

Strong carry, great work ethic, good offload and can put his winger away.

This whole create something out of nothing line is almost like people think SL is under 12s rugby.

Defences are generally very well organised. All players rely on space except the very special ones and they tend to be fullbacks.

I’d much rather Wigan retained King than had to recruit Keighran.

Wardle has caught the headlines in the last couple of months but over the course of the year King has been the more effective of the 2 in 2023.