Aren't players encouraged these days to find a career for when their playing days are over ? They can't all become pundits like footballers.

Whats Coops going to do when Wigan won't let him leave early?

Agreed, Wigan won`t give him any time off.

Just look at Lee Briers now, he looks normal.

When he was at Wire, he looked like a homeless person

Quote ="ninearches"Aren't players encouraged these days to find a career for when their playing days are over ? They can't all become pundits like footballers.'" Yes but not at the expense of missing training sessions surely. In this (201icon_cool.gif article he says he is at Bubble Clothing "every afternoon". https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/

Quote ="ninearches"Aren't players encouraged these days to find a career for when their playing days are over ? They can't all become pundits like footballers.'" Yes but not at the expense of missing training sessions surely. In this (201icon_cool.gif article he says he is at Bubble Clothing "every afternoon". https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/

There's being "encouraged" and there's 'taking the mick'. I don't have any facts to back anything up so I'm not accusing Cooper, but there has to be fairness, especially in a squad set up, where the actions of one will affect another. It's fairly simple to me and goes beyond Cooper and applies to business in general IMO .

Coach "lads we are full time professionals; we are all in it together, we all want to improve/maximise performance, this is how I think we can do it, these are the rules, NO EXCEPTIONS" Player "Can I come in late on Tuesday/Leave early on a Thursday as I have an appointment"?

It can't work, especially if you extrapolate that across half a dozen senior players by setting a precedent. BTW whatever the culture issues that Powell perceives we have need fixing as the proof is in unfortunately in our 'performance pudding'.

If this is the reason I'm disappointed and the 'butting heads' thing could be construed as a situation that's been engineered. In the case of Cooper I acknowledge that he's been a great servant, one of our better performers and he's a free agent but..... .

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"The crux of it is Price used to let them leave training early sometimes for their other businesses and meetings. Powell put a stop to that (and rightly so) and Cooper and others don’t like it.'" So Hill with a plumbing business. (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... a-plumber/) Cooper with a clothing and T-shirt business (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/) Philbin with a socks / sportswear business. (https://gripzofficial.com/pages/our-story) Any more?

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"The crux of it is Price used to let them leave training early sometimes for their other businesses and meetings. Powell put a stop to that (and rightly so) and Cooper and others don’t like it.'" So Hill with a plumbing business. (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... a-plumber/) Cooper with a clothing and T-shirt business (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/) Philbin with a socks / sportswear business. (https://gripzofficial.com/pages/our-story) Any more?

Exactly, if we were tearing it up every season with multiple GF wins you could make an argument that it's not affecting the team. But we ain't.

It must have been the wild west under Price.

Was it all Price though? We’ve been saying for years that we are too ‘nice’ as a club. There have been rumours that management and the owners are too close the players and that we’ve forgotten our clubs Raison D’Etre… to win trophies, not be the nice guys.

I’m all for responsible employment, but if Powell wants the players to put winning and the team/club ahead of side businesses, then that’s fine by me. At least until we have a few grand final wins under our belt and a world class youth production line.

How many hours a week do RL players spend at the club? About 20?

Plenty of time to train for another vocation/start a business without it affecting club commitments.

I just asked a question. I don't know or speculate on what the acceptable rights & wrongs within the club are or who is extracting the urine.

Quote ="Wires71"So Hill with a plumbing business. (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... a-plumber/) Cooper with a clothing and T-shirt business (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/) Philbin with a socks / sportswear business. (https://gripzofficial.com/pages/our-story) Any more?'" I dont know but I wish Currie would hurry up with setting one up. Doesn’t Charnley have some clothing sideline as well?

Quote ="Wires71"So Hill with a plumbing business. (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... a-plumber/) Cooper with a clothing and T-shirt business (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/) Philbin with a socks / sportswear business. (https://gripzofficial.com/pages/our-story) Any more?'" I dont know but I wish Currie would hurry up with setting one up. Doesn’t Charnley have some clothing sideline as well?

Not a problem with your question BTW.

The irony is that their off field success is probably linked to their on field reputation. I'm not suggesting that either have done anything to tarnish that, but a successful Wire and international honours, what great marketing

Exactly this. Im hearing certain players been asked to do things by Powell and them making excuses like 'ive got a business to run' and just leaving....if that's what they want to do then good riddance for me. I understand they need to things like this for their futures. However, bottom line is they are Full Time rugby league players and should act as such. Well done Mr Powell i say....

If we are in this position same time next year, then il start to worry.

Doesn’t Charnley have his own player agency. Not running it but owning it.
Him being a client of his own agency!?

Quote ="rubber duckie"Doesn’t Charnley have his own player agency. Not running it but owning it. Him being a client of his own agency!?'" Don't think so. Distinct Rugby Management is run by Iestyn Harris. https://find-and-update.company-informa ... 1/officers

Quote ="rubber duckie"Doesn’t Charnley have his own player agency. Not running it but owning it. Him being a client of his own agency!?'" Don't think so. Distinct Rugby Management is run by Iestyn Harris. https://find-and-update.company-informa ... 1/officers

There is a lot of sense in that sidelines story. If Powell wants players spending more time in the club and less time doing side projects, that makes a lot of sense. When Briers was here his Twitter seemed to suggest he was on the golf course by midday every day, which rankled after a bad defeat.

But regardless of it being right or wrong, why are the comms so bad about this stuff? Why is there no public explanation of what the strategy is, or why we are seeing very senior players who HAVE performed well for the club over many years suddenly joining rivals? I think it's really poor and I would be prepared to give Powell a lot more support if I understood what the plan is I am supposed to be supporting.

Charnley has a farm.

Who are the others?

I think Powell needs to tread carefully if he's being too dogmatic. He is a respected coach but he hasn't won any trophies and he's dealing with players who have.

Privileges like being allowed to leave early to pursue other things should be contingent on performance. Personally in the case of Cooper I'd be happy to allow him to do other stuff as long as he maintains his standards. He's a leading SL front rower, those are hard to come by, he's got a long track record of performance, so accommodate him and make him happy. If his performances start to dip you have to have a quiet word and say look I support you but I'm going to have to take away some of those privileges till you get back to your old level.

I don't think in the case of Cooper we're dealing with a bratty prima donna, if we were he wouldn't be going to Wigan. Something has gone wrong somewhere.

If this is true then Powell is absolutely correct and I'll happily accept 11th place at the end of the season if that is what it is going to take to change the culture.

How do you know he did not take this approach - but clamped down as performances slumped? Also you are in danger of describing Cooper as a Jamie Peacock or Adrian Morley. Which he is certainly not.

If Cooper and Hill were as good as you seem to suggest then they were easily silenced by Hull KR last playoff game.

I normally agree with your [iserious[/i points Sally, but on this issue I cannot.

This club has repeatedly failed to produce a side that sticks together as a team when it's most needed. The club has recognised this, and Powell is the man with the plan to turn things around. He's a big believer in leadership across the team. Everyone needs to be a leader in their own right. This was hammered home in the very first meeting, and Powell clearly stated he expects everyone to buy into this philosophy.

I spent a couple of years teaching leadership skills to pilots in the middle east. There are lots of quotes we used to borrow, from many famous leaders, but the one I think is most applicable to Warrington at the moment is this: In the US Marine Corp the motto is 'Until they are home, no man is left behind', not [i'You're the highly decorated Captain, so you can bunk off to safety and leave the footsoldiers exposed[/i'... Powell wants this in every little detail, right down to not letting the senior players choose to sit next to their mates at lunch. They set the leadership standard, and if they can't do that by staying for a full training session bringing on the likes of Wrench and Thewlis then that's tough. The coach has changed and the player roles have changed. They either adapt or choose another coach to work under.

I have no doubts Cooper is not a Bratty Prima Donna, but since we've repeatedly failed to fix the leaders problem, I'm happy for him to try his early finishes elsewhere and let Powell build a team where every player sees his wingman as an equal. I hope I'm not quoting Tom effing Cruise there...



EDIT: I've just remembered the humility quote that Powell borrows from the All Blacks: 'Sweep the Sheds'. It's in the book 'Legacy', written by some business journalist I think?

What message does that give to younger players?! That rugby isn't the priority for senior players and that Warrington doesn't need their full commitment? No wonder players don't seem to have pride in the shirt.

Senior players need to set a good example. It's becoming increasingly clear that Cooper didn't on the training ground.

Can you imagine Roby, Peacock or Sinfield asking to leave training early for such a reason? They wouldn’t even ask (even if they had an unlikely business) and that’s the difference. No matter what they’d achieved in the game even late in their careers they’d know the importance of setting an example. Completely behind Powell here, it’s exactly what we need.

I’ve also been to companies house to register Currie King and Williams Ltd.

Lots of great leadership and management seminars here but if we want to create a winning culture we could start by looking at Wigan. They certainly know how to beat us in Grand Finals.

Cooper will get to experience their winning culture at least.