It possibly could be judged a better season because we wouldn't be bottlers.
The 2011 season, when we were knocked out in the playoffs after winning the League Leaders Shield, was probably the peak of the TS era, and we didn't bottle a final.

Quote ="sally cinnamon"No it was during the first half of the first game: i.rlfans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=612841 '" The old "reeling them in" chestnut

Quote ="sally cinnamon"No it was during the first half of the first game: i.rlfans.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=612841 '" The old "reeling them in" chestnut

There was me biting my lip!

He is making the right k8nd of noises about coming over which is a positive and with family in tow hopefully he can get settled in quickly. My preference would be for there to be a new partner for him to work with.

At present we can only speculate on how things will work out but it's a fair assumption he will work out better than Roberts.

So, what's everyone's verdict on Blake after his first season with us?

We can tell you when he's played one.
Next question.

The unsurprising obvious verdict would be : refreshingly great for the first few months, then never quite the same after a period of injury.

He was excellent until his season became hampered by injury.

Very happy with him. Bought in to the club and the town and seems happy here. As expected he has a very strong running game which suits SL, we just need some other threats around him next year to make him even more dangerous. It became a bit predictable last season that our only real attacking threat came from him or a Clark run from a quick play the ball.

Never got chance in the final third of the season following injury, would have been interesting what would have happened with us had he stayed fit for the full year. I don’t think we would have won it, but I think we’d all be a lot more confident going in to 2020z

Looking forward to injury free BA in 2020.

Yeah buzzing with him, literally like old school Wire relying on Briers sometimes and he did his best on his own. Next year with Widdop coming in to control the game can only be a great thing for us and Austin. Great player and great guy from everything i've seen, ran harder than our GB props today and made more metres after impact than them aswell. Can't wait to see him refreshed and 100% next year for us

Real competition for our wing spots next season with him being the current GB winger!

I live in hope rather than anticipation.

I cant wait to see him next season.... we saw a glimpse of the player in the opening 10 games of the season... Then injury and poor team form really hampered him.

Play him in a good side, with rampaging forwards and quick backs... he will carve people wide open.

When we were decent, near the start of last season, teams didn't know if they should close him down or stand off him...That doubt was what made him so dangerous... the drop of the shoulder into a defence on the backfoot..... thats what Austin's about. Towards the back end of the season, everyone knew they just closed him down, as we didn't really have any other plays.

When the team is playing well, Austin will be the best player on the pitch... thats just how he is.... I expecting him to have a good season next year with Widdop. Thats a PROPER half back pairing behind a half decent pack.

Imagine the season without him? Shudder.

And herein lay the problem. The first part of the season we had D Clark, Austin and Ratchford all offering an attacking threat, together with the cross field kick to Toby King, and we were 12 wins from 15. Without Ratchford we were at 50% win rate and once Austin was out or playing on one leg we were woeful save for the cup games. Coaches studied Austin and were more effective at shutting him down and Patton offered very little.

Price just didn't have a plan B.

A creative spine of 9, (13), 6, 7 & 1 is required. In the modern game Loose Forward is increasingly becoming a third Prop, which is fine, but we had a 7 who is not Super League standard and either J Clark or Davis at 13 a lot of the time, neither of whom can be considered a Prop.

Widdop plugs one hole but we are still light in the Prop Dept.

I wouldn't loose ant sleep if he goes back home...
We had Ashton a rookie, trying to win us the game, while stone cold Austin was negatively luke warm.

What's he on £10k+ per game?
If he's put in a £10k game more than I can count on one hand. ..I'll show my ass at Market Gate.

I've seen enough from Austin to be glad we have him, however he's a big example of the current coaching setup not making the most of the talents at their disposal.

Patton into the halves yea?

sign me up.

Too right...his previous coach worked him out and dropped him to the bench.

hmm....its a bit early to be giving him the 'Roberts' treatment. What worries me though, is the similarity with the story that the Aussie fans were saying about him before he came. From earlier in this thread: Quote ="sally cinnamon" I had a look at a Canberra Raiders forum, they are are few of his "season review" threads archived which make for interesting reading: 2015: https://www.thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30136 2016: https://www.thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31426 2017: https://thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32272 2018: https://thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=33029 Doesn't sound like the greatest endorsement. One thing that worries me is there seemed to be a pattern that repeated at all three of his NRL clubs - he was sensational when he arrived, then gradually tailed off. '" He scored 14 tries in his first 13 games for us, but if you take his form from about June last year (which coincides with the team being garbage apart from the Challenge Cup) he hasn't had the same impact. I wonder if teams just get tape on him and work out how to shut him down.

hmm....its a bit early to be giving him the 'Roberts' treatment. What worries me though, is the similarity with the story that the Aussie fans were saying about him before he came. From earlier in this thread: Quote ="sally cinnamon" I had a look at a Canberra Raiders forum, they are are few of his "season review" threads archived which make for interesting reading: 2015: https://www.thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30136 2016: https://www.thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31426 2017: https://thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32272 2018: https://thegh.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=33029 Doesn't sound like the greatest endorsement. One thing that worries me is there seemed to be a pattern that repeated at all three of his NRL clubs - he was sensational when he arrived, then gradually tailed off. '" He scored 14 tries in his first 13 games for us, but if you take his form from about June last year (which coincides with the team being garbage apart from the Challenge Cup) he hasn't had the same impact. I wonder if teams just get tape on him and work out how to shut him down.

12 months ago he was the greatest player ever to adorn the super league who , and i qoute was gonna "lead warrington to a domestic treble flowed by a world club title"........what went wrong ?

You'll be the first to know in 12 months

Austin plays well behind a dominant pack, last night th was far from it. Coops having to do the full 80 says it all. Austin has shown he can be a quality player and has a good defence. Show me any player in SL that plays out of their skin every game. Our negative 5 drives and a kick would make Jonathon thruston look bad. Price has to go for me, take Briers with him. Give Henderson a go until the end of the season and see what, if anything develops over in Australia, if nothing does then give McDermott an offer to come back to the UK. A proven winner with Leeds, Toronto May be winless atm, but have the most offloads in SL, and their rugby was much better to watch than ours last night. Nothing has to be better than watching the dross Price is serving up, he is making a team of good players look truly awful. There weren’t many plusses from last night. Ashton looked bright, yet naiave. Widdop a few short kicks. My new coat kept me warm.

With Hill back, Hughes and at some point maybe even that new Aussie fella who must be about as fit as a Pound Bakery obsessive there's your dominant pack.

With Widdop, Ratch and Clark keeping the opposition defence guessing, Austin should have all the time and space he needs. I'm waiting but with diminishing confidence.