I was in favour of Powells appointment and I was quite happy that he came in and tried to change things as what we had before was clearly not working
I am sure that he didn’t expect it to be easy but I also don’t think that he really understood what a soap opera this club is sometimes.
Even with the benefit of hindsight I still didn’t expect the situation surrounding McGuire. It is quite a complex case and easy to see how that can create a rift. I am not sure that Powell was at Cas at the time of the Brett Ferres / Craig Huby situation but even that would have been a bit more clear cut in that most if not all would have realised that it was out of order.
If McGuire has been going round telling his mates that he didn’t say anything then it makes things a bit more grey.

So there looks to have been a clear the air / golf day / mickey up. I am fine with that. I don’t expect us to beat Saints or Wigan on current form but I hope that the evidence will be in the performances that we are turning the corner and that there is an eagerness to turn up for each other.

If there is no noticeable reaction (I hope there is) and an improvement in spirit and all the small detail effort areas then things could get quite messy over the next couple of weeks.

Not for me. They are elite professional sportsmen they shouldn’t be out there drinking in the middle of a season let alone when current performances and results have been embarrassing. And when, there’s so much scrutiny currently on the board as there is now, which Lomax who is pretty active on social media will be aware, it’s a silly move from him to go along with this. It gives a general impression that ‘we’re not bothered’ and kind of rubs peoples faces in it.

We’ll have to agree to disagree. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t want any of the players ‘doing a Westerman’ but I don’t think a few beers mid season is a problem as long as it isn’t taken too far. If it helps bring the club together a little all the better, though that wasn’t the reason for the get together.

I get it can rub people up the wrong way, but they aren’t robots and can’t be confined to quarters just because things aren’t going well. There were plenty of kids there on the off chance getting pictures with players etc, all good in my opinion.

I think if we're winning every week it's a different story but the evening after we'd just lost our 6th game out of the last 7 thus being embarrassed by the worst Leeds team ever, to then hear of some of our players and a board member out in the local pub drinking copious amounts of beer it comes across as a bit impolitic.

I have heard some twaddle in my time. Nothing wrong with going to a leaving do & it certainly doesn't give me the impression that "we're not bothered". Are you seriously suggesting that rugby players ought not to socialise? Poor old Wakefield ... you'd have 'em locked up between games. Get a grip of yourself.

There was no leaving do. Jason Clark left the club in September at the end of the season. You're spot on, I don't think they should be getting leathered 24 hours after a big defeat. Obviously you do which doesn't surprise me.The club could get relegated and you'd still think we've had a good season.

It was a leaving do as it was Jason Clark returning to Australia, he was over from France visiting people ahead of returning back to Aus and the evening had been put on especially for that, I was told about it a few weeks ago. His kids were there and mingling with friends they had made over their time in Warrington. No one I saw was leathered.

I understand how you feel about it - and that's fine - just clarifying some points.

You sometimes give me the impression that you don't actually like rugby players particularly Wire players & this is a bit strange for a fan. Everyone has a right to socialise in a reasonable way with their work mates ... why should a sportsman be any different? Using the word "leathered" is very unfair and unnecessary.

I don't think having a few scoops the day after a loss is going to affect this week's result in a negative way . Maybe the air has been cleared & a professional performance this week will be the result.
If we are going to beat Saints ,or at least make a game of it , the most important aspects will be game plan ,attitude ,application & effort.

Players being seen out drinking is one of those things like when people analyse the coach's comments after a game.

Guaranteed to be an issue that winds fans up when we are losing, nobody cares if we are winning.

Back to the topic… My big concern is that we are yet again seeing a lack of confidence in our players, reflected in poor decision making, dropped balls etc etc. Last season this was put down to the number of players at the end of their contract. The coach now has a team largely made up of players he wanted and we are seeing the same problem. I also look at the form of eg Josh Charnley who looked a broken man when with us, totally lacking in self confidence (indeed I criticised him for lacking the faith to back himself on many occasions) who now looks like the player we signed. The coach must play a significant part in setting the tone for the team and I have significant fears that Powell is not the man to do this. I appreciate that a good performance on Friday could lead to me being ridiculed but I am now in the “Powell Out!” camp.
(Holbrook before you ask!)

I have a sneaky feeling you are correct. I'm not calling for a sacking as this would be too easy on Fitzy and the board. They, like us, can suffer and watch the entire show play out and be fully intertwined with the outcome. They can witness the net result of all the decisions they have collectively taken over the last few years and how they run the train set. Then hopefully they will reflect on their decisions and desire. It will also give Powell an opportunity to turn matters round and prove all us doubters wrong.

Charnley made a comment in the week that Tomkins persuaded him not to quit the game at the end of last season, such was his disillusionment with how things went at Wires.

That for me is pretty damning when you now look at his form.

Mulhearn is another one who looked like 1982 Bruche U16s when he was here and now looks like 1982 Kangaroos.

i have defended him as much as i can... almost had enough now.

Feels a bit like his ship is starting to sink... matter of time now until the trigger is pulled.

Time for Powell to worry is when he sees a group of lady supporters knitting & smoking clay pipes beneath his crow's nest.

All a bit Dickensian.

Interesting comments from Charnley on the recent Out of your league podcast.
He said that his spell with us was generally good (under Price) and that the team had a really good bond and togetherness just like they had when he was at Wigan. He said we just fell shorts a couple of times with daft mistake ala 2018 grand final. He didn't mention anything about problems in the camp.
One interesting snippet he mentioned was that the training was slightly tougher at Wigan and that could have been a contributing factor in coming up short in big games.
The discussion around his departure to Leigh was rather vague only commenting that he got banned and fell out of favour with Powell and then they didn't quite see eye to eye after that.
I feel that there are some big question marks over Powell especially with the way Charnley is playing for Leigh this season. Are players like Charnley really bad apples? i'm having my doubts now.
We have certainly been downgraded with Russell or Minikin. I know we sometimes play Thewliss on the wing but he is really a FB.

I don't feel we played to Charnley's strengths when Price was in charge. Tbh we're not the greatest at set plays or moving the ball with 30 meters of the opposition line and haven't been for years.

One thing that always irked me about Charnley was his laughing and joking on the pitch with opposition players after a galling defeat. Not many did it but he certainly stood out.

Well we should sign Davis from Catalan and move Thewlis to FB next season.

You are really believing Charnley's rewriting of history?





So we were a good bunch, all playing for each other, when he was here under Price? - Is this the bunch that crashed out of the play offs in 3 consecutive seasons in totally miserable fashion, with, after each exit, fans demanding Price's removal and the removal of many of the squad along with him?

You have to take these type of stories with a huge pinch of salt. What he probably means is that they were one huge clique, who enjoyed the comfort zone of constant failure and who were happy picking up a wage while underachieving and little threat to their roles in the side - A new coach turned up and proceeded to upset their clique, as they knew many of them would be found out as the underachieving bunch they were.

Powell isn't perfect, not by a very long way, but let's not pretend the era Charnley was here was all roses. He was part of a highly regarded squad which consistently found ways to fail in a miserable fashion - Good on Charnley for managing to revive his career with Leigh, but let's not pretend he's some misunderstood good guy, who deserved some special treatment off the new regime. I have no doubt he (& all the others who have left recently) could have still been here had he showed the right attitude to Powell, but it's obvious he, and the others, chose not to.

Charnley had other personal things going on, it wasn’t just eye to eye.
The club helped Charnley by paying his full contract out early in away to financially help him out while dealing with things.
In the end, those things turned out nice for him.

Errm we got knocked out of the playoffs as follows

2019 Warrington 12-14 Castleford 14
2020 Warrington 14-27 Hull FC
2021 Warrington 0 - 19 Hull KR

Grand Final/CC RU followed by 3 play off qualifications (home tie) with a CC win thrown in. I agree it isn’t good enough but it’s a lot better than 11th, out first round of the cup followed by out of the cup second round against 12 men and highly likely finishing out of the top 6 again.

Things were far from rosy under Price (and dire rugby) but compared to the current car crash it was rugby heaven.

I dream of being knocked out of these so called play-offs first round

Prices reign wasnt good enough.
Powells reign currently isnt good enough.

My post was to point out that we should be wary of looking back with rose tinted spectacles as others have alluded to.

Hard Times seems rather apt.