I certainly hope not, I don't mind those sort of antics but get the product right on the pitch first.

All I care about is how Powell feels with the performance of the team. Because it seems Steve Price isn’t able to interpret what he’s seeing each week.

So much sense in this from SC. I'm really looking forward to the changes that need to happen and hopefully the success it will bring.

I said this at one of the fans forums, got told by that Clare we are trying to move away from that, so I asked do you want me sitting there clapping for our team when they getting beat 80-0, for these guys now fan entertainment seems more important than results. Fans are fickle, won’t go unless it’s a winning team, need to get that right first.

League Express saying apart from our interest in Trueman we are also after Peter Mata’utia whose contract runs out at the end of the season. Henderson looks favourite for the Cas job and looking like Sheridan is coming with Powell and other coaches at the Wire have been given no assurances that they will still be here.

Not keen on Mata'utia. I'd be throwing money at Watts if we were to sign anyone from Cas after Trueman.

Can’t you just buy the whole of Castleford, it would stop all this backwards and forwards malarkey.

O’Neill would be next behind Trueman for me. Really talented youngster and I think he might be off contract too.

That wouldn't stop castleford being backwards (also see widnes)

We going to and rename the team to Castleford Wolves.

I know Price is not very good, and I wanted him gone before his contract renewal and at the end of last season. I’m pretty sure virtually all of us agree on that. So rather than repeatedly posting how rubbish he is why not email the club (shop) instead.
This isn’t aimed at any one person in particular btw

Now this made me chuckle, thank you for the bright start to another day

We throw so much cap at the backs, it’s no wonder we’ve struggled to sign decent props over the last decade. We had a much better balanced team back then and a pack that would maul our current crop forwards.

Our backs a decade ago were in a different universe to what we have now: Hodgson; J Monaghan, Bridge, Atkins, King; Briers, Myler.

I don't know how much cap those guys took up but it left enough to have a pack of Morley, M Monaghan, Carvell, Westwood, L Anderson and Harrison, with guys like Paul Wood, Cooper, Higham and Grix on the bench.

I'll bite.
If 5 years ago somebody would have said that in 2021 our backs could include Ratchford, Charnley, lineham, King Inglis, widdop and Austin the biggest question mark would have been against Toby King. I would have bitten your hand off with the others knowing that all the players from the 2011 team would have retired.
Strange to think that the one I would have questioned would be the one that I now have the least concerns about.

I mentioned in another thread, if you take a like-for-like player out of Saints or Wigan into that back line, does it turn us into world-beaters? If Warrington lined up with Coote, Grace, Bibby, Gildart, French steered by Fages and Hastings would we blow Hull off the park all of a sudden? I'm afraid I can't see it myself. It's about getting the best out of what is already a pretty decent squad.

I think it's true that we only have two first-class starting props at present, and maybe our backup signings aren't quite at the level of Paasi or a couple of Wigan's home-growns. It's not making that much of a difference though. Mulhern and Butler are more than capable of stepping up. I like Davis' attitude and Mamo's utility value, but not sure if Saints or Wigan would have taken them over their academy talent.

I'll be interested to see if Powell goes fishing into Moran and Middleton's pockets once our out-of-contract players are gone this season - I think he'll tweak what we've got left with a couple of key additions to pivot around. Maybe a young crafty half like Trueman on a long-term deal, and a pacy centre on the right side.

If someone had told you when Super League kicked off that in 2001 we'd have Langer, Walters, Gee, Nikau and Hunte you'd have bitten their hand off too.

I wonder if in 2026 we'll have a roster that would have won the Grand Final in 2021.

That's a fair point



But looking back to 2009/2010 did our squad look like it was going to be at the very top for the next three years? You could argue Morley was just here for a retirement booster, Carvell was a slightly above average prop from an average Hull team, Higham couldn't get a gig at a top club any more, Monaghan looked like a Cullen vanity project that failed badly and Briers was the inconsistent enigma that only Warrington fans could see the potential of. Bridge and Atkins were rejects from Bradford's academy, Mathers was found out at Wigan after Leeds binned him, and we had a former Wakefield winger trying to become an enforcer prop/second row.

Yet somehow a coach with a fresh mindset came in and tweaked that bunch of misfits into 5 finals, 3 trophies and a league leader's shield (yes, I know we didn't win the big one).

Apart from the key players we know will probably not be staying - Austin, Widdop, Hill and maybe Lineham - I don't think Powell will want (or need) to make any major changes. Ratchford is an excellent all-round fullback with a great brain, Charnley still a very decent winger, King's ability isn't in question, Cooper, Philbin, Mulhern as decent as any front-rowers. Currie no question, Hughes who knows?

To put things in a sort of roundabout way, if Powell was staying at Castleford and went on a spending spree for all our big names, they'd be happy as Larry. And I'm generally happy for him to work on what we've got at Warrington, plus a few tweaks.

I agree with most of what you say but I will take some convincing about Charnley. He looks like a spent force and has for some time.

I wrote Charnley’s name tentatively, I’d like to think it’s a poor few games rather than a loss of class. His first 12 months here was great, but he doesn’t see the ball except for a kick return.

Charnley is still a good winger, I hope Darryl Powell comes in and gives the whole place the lift that Tony Smith did. We have a good squad which is underachieving. I want to see more professional attitudes and the lads enjoying their rugby again. We look like a team going through the motions.

Widdop is contracted for next season so why the certainty he will leave. There were no takers in the NRL for this season so what will have changed. Austin is out of contract.

It would be very difficult to have to recruit two halfbacks and I can imagine nigh on all our transfer budget going on one.

True on both counts.
Too many on here (and more than likely, Facebook) are of the mindset, " well, our Michael's newsagents uncle, who drinks in the King's Head, has heard he's off to the NRL. Plane tickets booked for him and his family, and everything". It's just people making up tosh. Widdop doesn't strike me as dishonourable type. He'll see his contract through. He's in his 30's, with a not great injury record. I imagine Aussie clubs have moved on, and have younger options.

As for recruiting TWO new halves, can the club PLEASE stop with the[i throwing huge money at stars[/i for a while. It's not working. Talk of Truman coming here, when we've a squad full of names already here, and another who's STILL not yet match fit, despite signing a contract 11 months ago, really is galling. If Widdop and Austin are continuing to misfire, play one of the youth. No one should be undropable

Dead right. I cannot see Riley Dean playing with York for long. We will need him back.

I don't know about Darryl Powell, but Robert Powell or even Jenny Powell will be an improvement on our current coaching set up.

Clueless.