Can't give you an argument

The ts wenger comparison is also true wenger buys wingers n plays em at striker smith buys full backs n plays em at half back

The bar is higher at Warrington than it is at Salford. When Myler and Ratchford were at Salford a lot of our fans admired them but were then critical of them at times at Warrington and its the same with GO'B just in reverse.

It seems Smith learned pretty quickly. Maybe he spent the week trawling through this board and took your advice?

You, RD, Wires71 are all very quick to jump over Smith's team selections when we lose, so it would be interesting to here an assessment this week.

Still, imagine what we would have to done to Brisbane with GOB at FB instead of Gidley...

GO'B wasn't hitting the heights we needed him to be at.

We've moved on.
So has he.

Fair play an excellent result, Brown made the difference in attack and kicking game for us in the first half. We were unrecognisable from the Catalans game. What we will never know is whether TS would have switched around if we had won at Catalan...

As for backs, Evans is still a weak link (did you see how he bombed that chance to pass to his wing?), impressed with Russell's try, Atkins a handful in attack and Lineham's lack of composure could have cost us.

Let's not get carried away though. Brisbane were pre-season with players missing, but as I say, fair play it was an exciting game and an excellent result.

Will we back it up against Cas?

PS I made no comment on GOB, he couldn't make a first team place his own at Wire.

Rhys Evans will be gone when his contract finishes this year. Toby King will take his place.

[iBrisbane were pre-season with players missing,[/i




From what I can see, Broncos were only missing two players; Korbin Sims and Adam Blair. Lets not forget that we were missing Hill, Ratchford, and Currie plus Brown only just returning. We were not playing an under-strength side, we simply put Broncos under far too much pressure and they made too many errors. Our completion rate in the first half was 100%, our kicking game penned Broncos into their own 40m for much of the game, Gidley was very secure and never once attempted to pass after collecting the ball from the last tackle kick. In fact, other than the 2 charge-downs and offloading, we played a very similar game to the NRL. I think the only valid excuse that Broncos can use is the fact that they were further back in their season than we are. But make no mistake, this was a rude awakening for a top notch NRL side who expected a comfortable win.

Coming in rusty counts for a lot especially when you've just had to fly the other side of the world.

It is a good effort from us and beating Brisbane is always going to be an honour but it would be interesting to see what would happen if we played them mid season 10 times, 5 at home, 5 away. My guess is Brisbane would win between 8 and 10.

Probably. I dont think I would entertain the 'flying the world' reason, haven't they been here a week ? And how much flying do they do in Oz. I guess they are about a third through their pre-season though, and the error count was probably indicative of that. I would say that was certainly a significant factor.

I was interested though in our 1st half completion rate and more conservative offload rate. Was that game a one off, a fluke, or could we replicate it if we really tried ? I am wondering if the reason that we see so many errors is simply because in the British game it goes unpunished. Ok, you drop the ball or try a ridiculous Ryan Atkins type offload, but a couple of minutes later the opposition give you the ball back anyway curtesy of one of their errors. If Wire played in Oz, what would our error count look like ?


But the value of the WCS for me is to try and extend the series and get some TV rights signed up. If we can sell it internationally then the cash starved game over here has a chance to grow again. So a slap in the face for the Broncos, and now Cronulla, is probably the best outcome we could have hoped for. The Aussies hate losing.

Hang on a minute, we've had 1 competitive game leading up to this, Brisbane are less than 2 weeks from the start of the NRL (and have had the 9s, etc) and didn't we have more players in internationals thus having short pre-seasons? There's a strong case to be made that the odds are stacked against the UK teams!

Home (crowd) advantage helps, but I don't think the flight is that big a deal (well, the flight isn't at all IMO, it's the time zone change, but for a pro team that should easily be manageable).

It doesn't fit with the self-deprecating narrative the game in this country has at the minute, but the evidence of this weekend suggests that our top clubs are a match for the best of the NRL.

It shows what an impact Tony Smith has had at Warrington. A few years ago nobody would have ever thought we would consider Warrington to be a match for the best of the NRL especially as the boom in TV rights has seen the NRL continue to rise in leaps and bounds. For Smith to take Warrington to that level without having the same money to spend is an incredible achievement. Of course this won't fit with the self-deprecating narrative some of our fans have about Smith.

You genuinely think Warrington are at the same level as Brisbane because we won a pre season match against them...? Does that mean Catalans are also better than Brisbane because they beat us the week before?

Money obviously isn't everything... Wire have invested more than any other club since Smith took over, we still haven't managed to win the big trophy.

If we have another trophyless season is this something to comfort us, we won a pre season game.

No. but rewind just 10 years.... would we have beaten Brisbane then? or would we have had a cricket score put on us? You seem extremely annoyed at the fact people may actually suggest that the club is in a better place thanks to TS. Obviously it isn't all down to him but he deserves a lot of the credit. Whether we've won SL or not, We're now a consistent top for side making regular finals, picking up regular silverware, Competing against NRL teams with 11,000+ crowds.

And you're moaning about fans being happy at the position the club is in. Unbelievable.

I think you are not understanding the salary cap....
No matter how much we invest on plasma screens outside the stadium filling in corners in the stadium or a comprehensive range of woolly hats in the club shop, we can still only spend the same amount on players wages as Salford. and they nearly went down.

Like it or not .... and certainly Saints fans and Wigans fans do not like it but we are a big club its a fact ...end of

yes we are missing one piece of silverware but we are still heading in the right direction...Imagine when we do win the big one Ron you can pick the bones out of it and keep our feet firmly on the ground with some nuggets of negativity....

Spot on. As one of a number of fans who saw us go from 1974 to 2009 without winning a major trophy, nor hardly ever even coming close, it astounds me that Ron and others seems to think that we are in a bad place with a poor coach.

We haven't won a major trophy in 4 years... the main reason for our success has been significant investment from the owner over the last 10 plus years, and yes Smith has certainly been a key factor as well.

But if we have another disappointing season this year, I would like a new coach... sorry if that offends you.

I have already said, I don't care about beating an NRL side in pre season, itS a friendly in my eyes.. we got beat by catalans the week before. Wigan comfortably beat the side who are the current NRL champions, we beat the side who finished 5th. Yes its nice to win these game, but I certainly don't use it as an indicator for how our season might go.

You are entitled to your opinion Ron of course you are, even on a thread entitled Gareth OBrien (how did we get here when there's already a TS thread?) but whilst we are here can you clarify whether you consider last season to be unsuccessful "another disappointing season" might imply that?

I class it as a disappointment, yes. We got beat by a Wigan team missing 5 first team players including their fullback and 9... and a half fit SOL. We got beat in the CC Final by a Hull team I didn't rate.

Considering the quality of the competition overall, the teams we faced in the finals... it was certainly an unsuccessful year to come away with no major trophies.

The GF loss just left a bitter taste because it almost felt inevitable that we would lose to Wigan. I think the most disappointing thing is that I don't believe we will win the GF anymore. Wigan will at least match us in the forwards (absolutely dominated us in the GF), and they have a better backline.

Well the person I am starting to feel sorry for is Gareth O'Brien. He comes onto RLFans, spots a thread about himself, clicks it with eager anticipation and then finds there are only two posts about him and all the rest is a random moan about some team called warrington wolves not winning the GF - which is never going to happen to him anyway because he plays for Salford.


Do you ever just like flex your foot wrong and it cramps, and your just like - this it, this is how my life ends ?

Ron, I started this thread because I am impressed with Gareth O'Brien and how he performed at the end of last year and the beginning of this year and wanted to establish whether others thought the same. I like to feel that although Warrington have historically produced few good class players,there are signs that some are beginning to come through and I would like the club to get the benefit of helping with their development. That's my opinion.
I'm also chuffed that the club has become a force in the game after many years of disappointment - I've been a fan since the late 1950s. The win against Brisbane on Friday is one of the best nights I have had watching the club. And as Uncle Rico says, you have aright to your opinion, but why do you and a number of others after such a great performance by the TEAM decide to start looking for individuals to denigrate. A piece of advice if I may, celebrate your successes when they happen, there will be plenty of other occasions for critical appraisals in the future. It happens to all teams and individuals, because as the song says, I'm only human after all.
Anyway, I would still like Gareth O'Brien back in the Wire's primrose and blue.

I doubt an SL player seeing a thread with their name on it on a rival club's site clicks it with eager anticipation, more likely with the tentative wincing of someone who is compulsively stalking their ex's facebook, hoping to get away without seeing anything that will destroy their day completely.

Simple question tof myself...would you play GOB ahead of.... Brown? No, Gidley? No, Ratchford? No, Patten? Perhaps...

I don't have a yes but a question mark about Patton. I'm comfortable about letting GOB move on and develop his career and become successful away from Warrington.
The lads has guts, I like him but I have no sentiment either.

The key part in all that is letting him develop his career. The most important person in all this is Gaz O'Brien, and he seems to be doing dandy.

From a Wire point of view I hope we stay on good terms with these guys so in future they come back and support our amateur teams etc, or even come back as a successful first team player.

Not sure of the reasons for the negativity about Patton. His positional kicking is superb, and has a few 40-20s to his name. His goal kicking ain't too bad either. Good support player, and whilst not as creative as some half-backs he compliments Brown quite well it would seem.

Whilst I'm glad O'Brien is doing well, the GOB we saw at Warrington didn't really kick on after the Briers era, for whatever reason. Patton seems to have done more in less time albeit in a better team. Let's give him more time to prove himself as he seems to have the composure required to manage the big games. If GOB continues to improve there's no reason why he couldn't return in the future if his heart is at the club.