Plus One

We have to have had one lined up for when Briers was supposed to retire this season.

Let's face it, things go on behind the scenes that us fans will never be aware of, however much we like to think we know everything.

Despite Moran's claims of no more signings, its highly likely that various clubs and agents in the game will have been made aware that Warrington are extremely open to offers to certain players.

I'm pretty certain that if a reasonable offer was made for any of O'Brien/Myler/Ratchford, then I don't envisage Warrington particularly putting up much of a fight to hold onto them.... Myler and O'Brien are particularly expendable, Ratchford probably has more value to us through his versatility, but if we were given the chance to free a squad place then I reckon we would pretty much give any of them a taxi ride to their new destination.

If you look back at some of the earlier postings there was a consensus on here that we needed two props, one hooker and a half. That has turned out to be a fairly accurate assessment at the end of the day. And if you had to choose which position was the most important you would probably go with a HB (well I would anyway). I think the only reason we would continue with Bridge in the halves next year is if we don't manage to land our preferred player, regardless of Moran's quote that Clark and Sims are "the main ones". I think there is pressure to sign high class players other than for the obvious opportunity to win silverware as well. Standing in the South this year has been akin to attending a funeral at times, we desperately need some high quality plays and a bit of excitement. Last year our attendances fell by 7%, and this year they fell another 7%. Although the reason for that is certainly multifactorial, I suspect that the 'product on the field' has played a large part in this years decline.

The decline is the glory hunters going away.

We won the LLS in 2011 (considered meaningless), then the CC in 2012 (not the main prize, already won it twice on the bounce, so what?), then nothing last year. After 2 losses at the final hurdle in 2012 & 2013 I can see why the new fans (post-2009) would rather go back to their armchair and watch, especially after the start we had.

I'll support Wire through it all but you have to consider the two to three thousand attendees who only showed up recently to ride the wave of success. Now that looks like wavering, they'll throw out any excuse not to come to matches (Thursday night games, "poor customer service", "too expensive", "poor performances"icon_wink.gif and that is why the average attendance has been going down.

The expense and/or inconvenience is an excuse, not a reason. If we won the GF last year, those fans would still be coming to matches no matter what the cost.

Spot on - Rightly or wrongly, a good percentage of our fanbase are those of the 'fair weather' sort. Much of their attendance is dependent on whether Wire are likely to win, or they are at least going to be watching an entertaining match - Thus why during a winning streak, or when playing a Wigan or a Saints, you will find you get a bigger crowd.

I know its going over very old ground, but the whole situation isn't helped by the present play off system and the fact that league games are often seen as meaningless - It will be interesting to see if next year's competition revamp can help to turn around the decline in people turning up to matches.... The addition of a top class half back could also help to convince some doubters that the 'product' on the pitch might be an improvement on some of the mediocre fare that has been served up this season.

The article i read in the Guardian quoted Simon Moran as neither ruling in nor out any more signings.

It isn't just the newbies though, die-hards like me are picking and choosing games. I just haven't felt connected this year.

"Wolves have not ruled in or out any further signings for next season.

Moran said: “These are the main ones. A lot of our young players are getting upgraded to allow players to progress, to give them the chance to become elite players.” "

Same.

Question. Which game(s) have been meaningless this year and do you determine how some mean more than others?

Wire have been on Sky 11 times this season, 7 of these games have been at home. Don't think we've ever had that kind of exposure before and I'd say this is a huge factor in the decline of attendance this year. Season ticket holders like myself will always be there but I'm sure there's quite a few fans out there that would choose the pub or telly at home rather than spending 20 sheets on a ticket while our team's performances remain inconsistent.

Games are meaningless when the result/performance can and often is written off as being superflous in the context of the season as a whole. Sadly, TS often does a very good job of this in his comments, and it doesn't endear him to people who are operating on the breadline but still find the money to indulge their love of the game. It fosters the mentality of "If they aren't bothered, why should I be?"

I'd hope the club are rewarded for their ambition with the signings of Clarke & Sims with an upturn in attendances, but it won't happen by default.

+1 multitude of reasons for me but standard of super league the main one

Whether we will be strong enough next year I don't know, but I have heard today that England is on his way out.
I am a season ticket holder who is considering whether to bother next season, not because of the product on the field, but because of the inconsistent refereeing of the games, and the date switches.
The more I see forward passes ignored, offside by defending teams and not standing square also ignored, the more I am inclined to say enough is enough.
Then there is the little matter of slowing down the PTB. How many of you at the Hudds match laughed when Wire were penalised for "holding down" after being held down in every tackle till then.
Refs are ignoring players who are offside directly in front of them and getting involved in the tackle.
How many of you have noticed the tactic, mainly used by Leeds, whereby 2 or 3 men are involved in the tackle and then another player arrives to put his hand on a players back to slow down the play the ball even more.
Watch next time Leeds are on Sky and see St Kevin use this tactic.

Switching dates, especially to Thursday or Monday, deprives teams of the support of some of their youngest fans who need to be at school the following day. Getting fans young inevitably leads them to be long time supporters. Playing games when it is inconvenient for them to attend, especially away games, is commercial suicide. Or would Sky prefer to have games played in empty stadia?
Rant over. I feel better now!

Fully agree - My main criticism of Smith is that, both during games and in after match interviews, he often has the demeanour of a man who quite simply doesn't give a f*** ..... I remember during the away game at Widnes, whilst we were being battered by a pretty average opposition, Smith just sat there as casual as you like, chewing gum - Now I accept not every coach is the ranting, raving type, but it would be nice to see your coach acting a little less passively in the face of an abysmal performance, from a side that HE has actually sent out there.

Like Morrissey says, if it appears your coach isn't particularly bothered, then why should your potential customers be??

You guys remind me a lot of us over the last few years in that your squad is actually good but you don't have the leader/playmaker that you need to give you that cutting edge. A common theme with us over the last few seasons was plenty of possession and territory thanks to our pack, but we could spend 20 solid minutes camped on an opponents try line and still not score. Unless you recruit an organising half-back then it will stay the same next year, despite the good signings of Clark and Sims. We improved our squad from 2011 to 2013 but we never got that half-back so we stayed out of contention for the major trophies. We added Luke Walsh this year and we've gone from 5th to 1st. He's out for the play-offs and we look a long way from contending again! We've learned next year and signed Travis Burns (allegedly) so that we have a back up when Walsh is injured.
Point being, a good half-back should be top and centre of your shopping list for next year, and should have been since the get go. Leave it too late and it'll be another season of looking decent but not as good as the top teams, I'm afraid.

Bar one of our rivals signing up Cameron Smith/ Billy Slater etc in the next few weeks, then there's no need for a change of underwear.

You can throw a handkerchief over the top 6 this season. To be fair, it's been pretty lacklustre from everyone. Yes, it's more equal, BUT, I think a lot of the top teams have a certain amount of apathy to the weekly rounds. Wigan (and us and Saints a few weeks ago) being turned over by Widnes really isn't on. Yes, a team can raise it's game (us in the past), but we can't call our league seriously competitive, if we regularly have results like this.
In the past, you would get freak results in a season, but they're happening week in - week out, and it's all down to apathy.

Will we be strong enough for next year? I think so.

New winger, with GENUINE speed.

Another second rower. Laithwaite and Currie cannot carry the burden alone. Westwood's virtually at the end (this season, he's been VERY disappointing, to his standards) and 'house is going home (now, Trent. Is everything packed? Got your passport, and Roy Trevor's got all your belongings. Ta. See ya).

and a new prop. Woody's time's up, and Asotasi's about as welcome as Mary Whitehouse at a "gentleman's evening".

Even without my wishlist, I think we'll be strong enough next year.

It's also down to not being that much better than the lower teams.

When Saints had Cunningham, Sculthorpe, Long, Britt, a younger Wellens, they had the occasional bad reverse associated with pre or post Challenge Cup final hangovers, but you didn't get them showing this 'apathy' on a regular basis.

Neither did the great Bradford team of Brian Noble, when they came up against a lower team in a 'meaningless' league fixture they tended to put the steamroller on them and do them by 50 odd points (eg against us most years).

Now who is top of the tree. St Helens. Are they a great team that's just apathetic a lot of the time? I guess we will find out in the playoffs.

Judging by the inevitable outcry after any defeat, games that we lose are never meaningless. They always seem to mean a great deal.

I have been informed that we will have Gary Wheeler joining us from Saints next season.

Saints fixtures this year had been mostly kind to them.
When they were missing crucial players they had a run of easier fixtures. Leeds and Pies were missing crucial players when Saints got them.
Hence top of the league.

What does my head in is that crazy decision not to kick a penalty v Hudds that will effectively have cost us the LLS should we beat Pies and Saints lose again.

To be fair after a tricky opening set of fixtures we had an extended run of 'kinder' games where we went on our run to get the season back on track

We will be fine next season as long as we get a decent halfback, not Wheeler!!