2002 was the closest we came to being relegated, and the most depressing season most of us can remember because we just had too little flair in the team. Anderson had brought in wholesale changes in the off season, we had to cut our cloth financially so the type of player we brought in was very different, we got Domic, Rodwell, Marquet and Burns from the NRL, some NL players like Sturm and Crouthers, some unfulfilled talents Fozzard, Cardoza and Rivett. Craig Weston had initially joined but backtracked and went back to Widnes. Despite the low key signings a lot of us were looking forwards to a new start under Anderson who spoke well and made all the right noises about focusing on youth development. However he turned out to be a disastrous appointment, antagonising lots of the squad especially the younger players.

The most damaging problem was the pre season conditioning programme, we went into the season seriously underprepared and it hurt us all year. Anderson’s plan was to undercondition them in the pre season so as to leave “energy in the tank”, and instead of being in peak condition for round 1 we would be in peak condition for round 10. Problem was when round 10 came we were joint bottom of the league.

We started at Barrow in a mudbath in the Challenge Cup, then got Saints at home so it was a short lived Cup campaign. Then the league started, with us 16-0 down at half-time to Halifax, which set the tone for what was to come. We actually came back and won that game, with Cardoza and Kidwell getting late long range tries. We would only win one more game in the first half of the season.

As often happens at Wire it was Easter that things really went bad, we lost to Salford, Widnes and Wakefield, all teams we needed to be picking up points against. The main scapegoats, Anderson and Rodwell, left, but things were no better.

We got one really impressive win away at Hull with Briers kicking three drop-goals, but he tried the same strategy away at Halifax and kicked five only for us to lose in the last minute. It was a sign of how much we were struggling, we had no strike players in the team with Hunte and Kohe-Love leaving, all we could do was fire pot shots at goal from distance.

The board put some money into the team midway through the season to try and get us some spark and they made some decent signings, Nat Wood, Appo and Westwood. Wood was the one who made an immediate impact, Appo wasn’t fit and took till the last month of the season to get in shape, and nobody would have thought that year that Westwood would eventually go onto be one of our best ever SL signings. Danny Halliwell came in from Halifax on loan and scored a few tries, also coming in was an 18 year old Richie Mathers.

The new signings improved things a bit and crucially we beat our relegation rivals Wakefield and Salford, without those wins we would have been marooned because we didn’t beat anyone else apart from a great win away at Leeds with Briers kicking a drop goal at the end (not for the last time). It looked like it wouldn’t be pretty but we would struggle to survival.
Then Knowsley Road came and we got smashed 72-2, and we looked absolutely flat the next week at home to a generally unimpressive Castleford side. Plange got sacked and in came Paul Cullen. We had six games to go and won two, away at Halifax and home to Castleford, those were enough to keep us up so we didn’t need to beat Salford and Wakefield in our final two games (just as well because we got whacked).

Typical 2002 team: Penny; Smyth, Westwood, Burns; Rivett; Briers, N Wood; Hilton, Clarke, Laughton; Marquet, Guisset; Domic (Fozzard, P Wood, Noone, O’Reilly)

So let the memories begin...

oh dear.... what a year that was!

My debut season as a fan/supporter.

was gonna say 2002 was the worst year of my life but i did get married that year

It was my first full year as a warrington fan

Burns putting THAT ball dead at home to Cas. The closest i have ever been to tears watching the Wire, primarily because i knew the months of anguish were over, and we were safe. Hairs standing up on the back of my neck just thinking about it. Made Wembley this year all the more special.

Still sticks in my memory! HAVE IT!

The game at Leeds was a classic aswel, stood there in the pooring rain all game! Nearly caught the drop goal aswel, landed 2 steps infront (just a little bit far to dive for)

It's the ups & downs of being a (faithful) Wire fan

Having had so many false dawns it was great to shut the doubters up last year with our Wembley success; can't wait for next season to start

2002 - The only year I have been ashamed to be a Warrington fan

Not because of the awful rugby but because of the behaviour of a minority of our fans after some matches. The abuse given to some players ,who were with their families, was shocking.

Never understood why Rodwell got so much stick. If ever a season disintegrated the myth that Aussies didn't have an empathy for their SL clubs, Burns and Domic put it beyond any doubt.

The worst thing for me was, I went to every single league & cup game that year and got little reward.

The Hull game was memorable for me, not just the x amount of drop goals we scored, but the fact it was one of Shaun McRae's milestone games in charge of Hull, so I was expecting to be on the receiving end of a thrashing that day.

I'll never forget that Leeds game, on a Tuesday night IIRC in the pouring rain, it took forever for that drop goal to go over.

And finally, Castleford at home. I didn't ever hear the hooter go that day. I just remember everyone cheering at once and realised we'd stayed in Super League for another year.

IMO if it hadn't been for that dreadful season, we wouldn't be where we are now. When Paul Cullen came in he inserted some passion into the team, and later some optimistic ambition. Its a tale of rags to riches in just seven years.

I would love to see Saints fans stick by their team in times like that. Fairplay to the guy who had that as his debut year and carried on watching

It was my first year as a season ticket holder and what a year it was. I remember going up to Barrow with my Dad for the challenge cup game and winning 10-0 on a mudbath pitch and after the performance that day I was reasonably concerned for the rest of the season.

Moments that stand out in 'THAT' season were the comeback at home to Halifax in the first game, where Kidwell scored the winner and ran 50 yards with the ball in one hand above his head. All the Warrington fans around me had their hearts in their mouths as he did that. The wins away at Leeds and Hull stand out and so does the day we secured safety at home to Cas. The lowest I felt that seson was the Easter period and also losing away to Widnes, in Cullens first game in charge? I really thought we were down that day.

I can’t agree that with Sally that 2002 was one of the most depressing years; looking back on 2002 now I realise that I thoroughly enjoyed supporting us through the 2002 season.

We were crap but we knew we were crap. No false hopes or false dawns. The previous season I had become disenchanted with the un-fulfilled promises that came with big names signing to the extent that I missed what was probably the only match I missed for many seasons by carrying out a one man boycott of Van-De-Velde’s last game at Wakefield (I believe DVDV is still emotionally damaged by my actions).

The 2002 season engaged you as a fan like no other and evoked all the emotions that sport is capable of. The Wire dragged you along kicking, screaming and crying whilst all the time a nervous wreck with only one or two moments of pleasure that were heightened by the dross they emerged from to the point they became pinnacles of orgasmic ecstasy.

2002 gave us Sid Domic. At times we all call for the players to “just give us 100% effort and pride in the shirt”. Sid never gave us anything less; never, ever for a single minute during his time at Warrington, in or out of his match kit, never.

Nobody who was there could forget the mid-week, rain-drenched win at high-flying Leeds. Sid ran his blood to water that night to the extent where he, through exhaustion, collapsed on the pitch after the hooter. I must admit I had to drop to my haunches as well too when the hooter went; I was elated and following the Wire had left me emotionally drained. That night Sid as a player and myself (and not too many others that night) as a fan had given everything we had to get a win for the Wire, nothing was left in the tank. Driving to the match that night, with Big Dave and his lad, lack of hope had left us desolate; we were going down. Two hours later we knew that the team of mis-fits weren’t going to let the Wire be relegated for the first time ever without a fight.

The other memorable away win that season would be at Hull. Probably most memorable not so much for Rodwell having a great game but for the lack of Warrington fans in attendance. I’ll go with wires71’s assessment from earlier in the week of less than a 100 and I’ll bet if you line up our following at the first away game next season I’ll be able to pick out fifty of them. Not because I know them to speak to or by name but because I recognise their faces from year after year of trekking back and to across the M62. Same faces year after year. They’ve been supplemented by many new faces as our support has grown but go to Hull again last year and amongst the 150 or so their last year I’ll bet at least half made the trip to Hull back in 2002. Loyal and true through the good and not so good.

Barely a week went by in 2002 without something happening at the club. Anderson’s three year master plan being ripped to shreds in three months to be replaced by Plange’s “love-shack” and finally the returning local lad to save the day in Cullen. Loan signings a plenty – some good like Mathers but mostly bad or even worse. On-off signing of Turley; relegation rivals offering us two of their best for them to stave off the creditors rather than relegation and for the players to go on and become two greatly appreciated players at Warrington in Wood and Westwood.

Finally 2002 gave us a glimmer of hope for the future as I think that is where Squadbuilder first took off. It’s certainly when I think I first joined as a member and probably the year I first came across Sally and his analytical questioning at Q&A’s with coaches, players and administrators.

When I think back to 2002 I think bad team, good support, good friends and a glimpse of a better future. From the bottom the only way is up, even if you have to slide down a few rungs of the ladder before you get to the top to lift the trophy. The 2002 season for me was the year we set out on our journey along the path to Wembley in 2009.

It was an amazing season.

My eldest was born that night we beat Leeds, Thursday 4th July 2002. I'll never forget being sat in The 'Borough, with a GP's loaned radio, she's conked on the gas & air, and I've yelped as Westwood has scored, i'm borderling shaking her trying to tell her but she couldn't give a monkeys, barely reacted. We've won 23-22, I feel like i'm on gas & air. At 2307, my lads born [after three scans telling us he was a girl, on the spot, what you calling him, "Err, Ben ..."

Awesome.

I'll aso never forget Fax away. We'd both got new coaches, Tony Anderson was paraded there. It was an insane game, so many moments of madness, Alstead sin binned. Burns scoring under the posts, it felt like teh whole team chased after him to ground the ball with him, by the time he was under the posts, at least ten must have caught up, but the games was defined by Tom O'Reilly. With minutes left, us barely in front, they made a break, through the middle. I'm pretty certain it was Jim Gannon, it was like 6 on 1, the whole team were in support, and somehow O'Reilly made the tackle, I haven't a clue how to this day, but he did, and we won, and we stayed up.

I'm with PY, I hated it, but I was enthraled with it. I can remember tears, after games, being in the car, upset thinking we were going to get relegated. When Burns kicked the ball in the crowd against Cas, he didn't just kick a ball into a crowd, he kicked the past into the crowd and allowed us to welcome the dawn of a whole new Warrington Wolves.

Some great posts here. Yes it was the first year of Squadbuilder and there were some animated meetings.

I remember feeling disappointed that the Turley deal didn't come through. For ages I'd thought we needed a running fullback with a bit of pace and Turley's try record in the NFP and playing in the Origin game the year before he looked like he was going to be big news, plus a goalkicker. I was pretty underwhelmed when we ended up spending the money on Ben Westwood instead and I thought at the time we'd got done, panic buying and paying over the odds for an average player. Looking back now how well has that worked out, getting Westwood instead of Turley!

After the Turley deal hadn't come through I used to harp on all the time about us needing a new fullback and the one I always wanted us to sign was Cardiss at Halifax. When we got Mathers in, the England Academy fullback (this was the year when Mike Gregory was coach and they beat the Aussie Schoolboys) I thought that was our man, especially as Plange said in a Squadbuilder meeting that a fee had already been agreed in principle with Leeds if we wanted to make the deal permanent. Unfortunately Mathers played quite well for us and Leeds offered him a new deal, and we hadn't got anything firmly in writing about a fee clause, so I was back to wanting Cardiss. Then at the end of the year Stuart Reardon went on loan to Salford and looked really good, I thought he was just the type of young upcoming centre/fullback that we needed and we should have gone for him rather than Westwood. Cullen was assistant on the England A tour that winter where Reardon was on it, and some of the RL papers linked us with signing him, I got hopeful again but it didn't come off. Ironic after all that that in the end I got what I wanted with Cardiss, Reardon and Mathers all signing for us in recent years, and in Cardiss and Reardon's cases they were never what I had expected.

Another arrival that season worth mentioning was Dean Gaskell who signed from Wigan Academy and made his debut in the hammering at Knowsley Road, I think he got injured and missed the rest of the season.

That, my friend, is one of the best things i have seen written on here. It does not surprise me that it came from you.

I remember being close to tears walking out of Knowsley road the day they put 72 on us i thought that we were down that day...
I think there were 6 games left and couldn't see how we'd recover...I have to give thanks to the board and acting but bringing Paul Cullen in, that decison saved us...

The board saw relegation as not an option and took action i applaud them for that...

The Cas game sticks in my mind for 2 reasons the first one is obvious we secured our Super League status for another year..

Reason two is i was on antibiotics and was off the drink so decided to drive to the game when i returned to my car parked on the blue bridge near the Village some scumbag broke into my motor and robbed my stereo.....

The day of the hammering at Saints I was at my (ex) sister-in-law's wedding, at the St Helens Hilton. I kept getting updates from the bar & clearly remember sitting alone at the table feeling utterly dejected.

I heard of the departure of Plange & the replacement by Cullen while welded to a toilet in a hotel in Rome suffering the worst food poisoning of my life.

I seem to recall we also tried to sign the other centre from Wakefield around the same time as Westwood/Wood - a certain Gareth Ellis.

One thing I always wondered about Matt Rodwell was how he would have fared if fit & playing the way he wanted to rather than sticking to Anderson's flat attack. I always felt Rodwell was unduly criticised and tried his best within the limitations he was under at the time. I also feel had we employed Anderson in a behind the scenes developmental role as he had at Leeds then on the field success would have come about quicker - never forget the impact he had at Leeds working with their youth setup...

I agree with that but not the last sentence, we can't credit Anderson with much impact at Leeds, he was only there a few months as Performance Director. They had already got a good junior set up in place.

On Rodwell I have always thought he got hard done by from our supporters, the biggest mistake he made was coming on the official club forum and making himself answerable to people, he was an accessible target for everyones fury. It was disturbing though to see the level of spewing hatred directed at him when he was with his family, the Rodwells must have a terrible impression of Warrington.

One aside about Rodwell, anybody that met him when he was here would agree with this, he had star quality as a person. Everybody liked him, he made everybody feel special no matter who they were, club staff, fans, journalists, cleaners whoever, seeing him round people was like a lesson in how to be sociable and relate to people well. Frank Endacott was also like that and Mike Gregory.

Halifax away about 4 games from the end of the season. This was the game I believe that kept us up. A 19-16 victory.

The 2 memories from that game were

Jim Gannon making a break in the last minute and had a 2 on 1 on Lee Penny. If he had drawn Penny and passed Halifax would have scored under the sticks and we would have lost. He chose to dummy, Penny tackled him and Warrington won.

When the final hooter went Darren Burns going down on one knee pumping the air like a madman. One of the very few players that season to shine.

Someone fancy posting this thread on the Virtual Terrace as an argument in favour of promotion and relegation?



Sally - I thought the Turley saga was all drawn out during the off-season? Not sure it was connected to the rumour that we had a deal to sign Briers at the end of the 2001 season had we not lost to Oldham and then Widnes in the play-offs?

Halifax clarification: It was Paul Davidson running at Tommy O'Reiily.

Despite swathes of paper, I have never worked out how he brought Davidson down, subsequently keeping us up.

Hey ho, crazy days!

The conga round The Shay, the win at Hull after we got tonked by London on the tuesday night and Darren Burns kicking the ball dead were the highlights