Knew there was one I'd Miss.

Promoting the youth in our club is a waste of time because if they're not playing like Johnathon Thurston, Sam Burgess or Greg Inglis in their first 2 games everyone calls them poop and wants them out.

There are warrington lads and Warrington Academy players all over the leagues and they most definitely do a better job than half the lads out on the pitch at the moment. There are some terrible ones though an all granted.

TS doesn't trust the kids bar a few. With Tony its very much either your face fits or it doesn't. how else do we explain the same team being picked in week in week out? Is Fat head wayne was in charge it wouldn't matter what your name is, certain players would be dropped like a sack of spuds.

Linham missed half the season and Russell is still there week in, week out! Patton struggles to keep his place but Brown walks in every week. Mogan Smith has achieved more at hooker in the two halves hes played than Dwyer has all season. Its a joke.

My worst mistake ever was recruiting someone who wasn't good enough.
It gave me headaches all the time I was involved with him.
A total energy drain.

Ideally you develop your own talent with occasional outside recruitment.
Overall the clubs' recruitment has shown a lot of desire but they've not got the right players enough of the time and spent a lot of money on some who have not delivered.
Clark and Hill are 2 big positives, but quite a few haven't done it.... Asotasi, Wheeler etc etc

who says all these players were available, Gidley never spoke to any other club as he wanted to play for us, how many of the players on the list were in the same situation. Barba being a prime example we tried everything to sign him including a larger wod of cash than saints but the connection with the new coach and them both sharing an agent meant he was going to saints regardless so we didn't miss out on him he never intended coming. Its such a simple thought to put a list of players who have moved and say look what we missed out on !!

Warrington lads at wire/other clubs and Non Warrington lads but have come through our academy.

Thought the list may not be wall to wall with quality and I'm not saying they'd win more games than this current team by any means. But what I would however argue, is that they would play better as a TEAM.

Jack Johnson
Sam Wilde
Gareth O'Brien
Tyrone McCarthy
Kevin Penny
Harvey Livett
Chris Riley
Joe Mellor
Joe Philbin
Morgan Smith
Mike Cooper
Declan Patton
Ben Currie
Andre Savelio
Danny Walker
Ryan Shaw
Ben Harrison
James Laithwaite
James Mendeika
T. King
G. King
Jono Smith
Ben Moores
Pat Moran
Ryan Jones
Daniel Murray

There are others I'm sure, but that a lot of local lads/academy trained lads right there.

its the Warrington way....we've done it on and off for the 30+ years I have been watching.

Take a chance on somebody...hope for the best.

It should be no surprise to anyone that when we sign quality (Morley, Carvell, Hodgson, Monaghan, M King, C Hicks etc etc) we win stuff....and when we sign hopefuls (England, Blyth, Asotasi, Russell, Brown etc etc) we win nothing and struggle.

This is not rocket science. I knew we were going to struggle this year....it was obvious to anyone who has the most basic of knowledge of the game.

That's very true and may account for some. But what we can do is look at those we have signed - very few could be described as good or excellent. We are the 5th most successful club in the entire SL era, and 3rd in the last 8 years. I'd like to think we would be able to entice a higher calibre of player.

The balance of evidence is suggesting that recruitment is poor, youth development success is low, and on the pitch we are atrocious. If it wasn't for Ratchford and Clarke we would be well and truly in trouble.

I was hopeful of an improvement with the addition of Cooper, Crosby and Savellio replacing Evans, Dodds, Cox and Bailey but as soon as Sandow said he wasn't coming back we knew we were in trouble even if we didn't admit it.

It's not Eden so much it's Shenton. Swap Atkins for him and Lineham will be bouncing like a pogo stick down Canal St.

I think the Sandow saga has had a bigger impact on the team than we realise. Not only in the fact that he is not out on the pitch but also the fact that he is not in the dressing room and the way it was handled.
He was on fire before he pulled up in that Wigan game
He then spends a bit of time "recovering from injury" which may or may not have been the way the coaches expected him to do his rehab.
IIRC he spent one game in the south stand with Key Penny.
He then makes a return from injury but was not the same player (was that still an injury or was that when the "home sickness" was kicking in)
Then he is gone and kev penny has barely been seen as well.

If Tony Smith expected Sandow to be as good as gold and not need managing then that is naieve at best (could say incompetent)
I get the impression Sandow was well liked in the dressing room and maybe it could have all been dealt with in another way.

When Smith first came here he threw his weight around and Gleeson was gone and Briers dropped but Briers was not going to run off back to St Helens saying he was home sick.
I would love to know if Hodgson, Wood, Higham and others still send Christmas cards to Tony Smith.

I am all for discipline and professionalism but I wonder if there are only so many players that you can fall out with before word gets round that Warrington may not be the best place to be.
So maybe Barba and others may have different reasons for choosing other clubs.

When Fergerson signed Cantona I reckon he knew that there was going to be times when he would have to earn his money as a manager and not just get rid because he was a pain in the arris.

Just a thought.

People were laughing when Eden was announced as a replacement for Solomona.

I actually don't think we need that many players in. A half back and a centre and I think I'd be happy.

We need that along with someone who can get the best out of the likes of King, Patton, Livett et al.

Unfortunately I don't think that's Smith. For whatever reason things have gone stale, all good things come to an end and I'd like to see some sort of attempt to save us from the quite possible threat of relegation. An injection of fresh ideas and a fresh approach to reinvigorate a stuttering squad that is mostly capable, bar a few positions.

I think the salary cap has now evened things out so much its down to who has the best coach. Its like pure coaching....as go karting is real racing and not handicapped by car/money as in formula 1. I think with this i mind Smith is really struggling....a cracking hands off coach with great players maybe....and perhaps a quite poor one when he's got a level playing field and it comes down to tactics, structures and canny recruitment.

Last year, when Shenton missed the whole season, Snake broke the Super League try scoring record. Dorn was full back. This year Shenton playing, but no Dorn. Gale is the common denominator, and that coach nobody wanted until Cas came, Powell.

In case you misses my point, its that Eden gets a pass....and a winger is only ever as good as his last pass.

Ferguson?

He fell out with Beckham, Keane, Yorke, Heinze, Van Nistelrooy....

You are right sal. I shouldn't try and pretend I know anything about football.
The point I was trying to make (albeit poorly) was that Smith should have been fully aware of the character that Sandow was and been prepared to manage the situation.

I don't pretend to know all the details but If it was home.sickness then surely that could have been managed better and the player supported if it was something else then that also could have been managed better.

There are loads of players running round in the NRL and SL that have had "issues" but some of the coaches are able to manage those situations. Obviously a lot of players with issues drift from club to club but not all of them.

For the first few years Smith was here he managed to deal with some difficult situations but for the last few years it appears from the outside that these things are being more of a problem.
I don't think it is unfair to say that the last 2 significant halfback signings have been reaction signings rather than recruitment that was well thought out, strategic, long term planning for the team in key positions.

The signings that showed strategic long term planning were probably Myler, Ratchford and Clark, who have had mixed success.

As for Sandow - the reason he ended up at Warrington was because no coaches in the NRL could handle him / wanted him, which is why he's now in the Queensland cup rather than the top flight.

It does seem like the NRL are not big on 2nd chances, but that may be due to a much deeper talent pool (or the realisation of the harm such behaviour can cause to team dynamics).

I agree. It could be down to the talent pool, because there are so many elite players there to compete with, that there isn't the license to be a problem player that can get away with things due to his outstanding talent...because sooner or later clubs can find a disciplined player with similar talent.

But also there's quite a disciplined, moralistic attitude in Australia when it comes to sport. Although having a laugh and enjoying a drink and a bit of boofhead behaviour is part of their culture, they do seem to take a dim view of it in sportsmen, I think because sport is held in such respect in Aussie life, they expect to see their sports stars uphold certain values.

Apart from the 'It was better than Lego' interview by Matthew Johns after the GF win, still off his face. Unable to keep it together because of Andrew running round shirtless, flying so high he could smell colours

They played that interview a few weeks ago on the matty johns show.
At the time the live interview went out on breakfast tv the following morning.

And they were both still "very excited" on their win. ...awesome stuff

Not sure how anyone can criticise the recruitment for 2017, we signed 2 England internationals, one of Wigan's GF winning props who was arguably one of the more consistent players during the season and an up and coming second row who maybe by his own marketing is being tipped as a future NRL recruit but has come with big praise as an upcoming star. When you look at how they have performed you can moan, but not about the quality of recruit at the time of signing.

My club contacts say that Sandow was a nightmare to prepare for every single match, and to manage seven days a week, so TS can't be blamed for not trying.

Agree with this, on paper the squad is stronger this season. Big question marks against why it's going wrong and we aren't seeing the best of these players. We've had injuries but they shouldn't have led to what we are seeing on the pitch.

Completely agree with this, we have massively strengthened our squad from last year so the recruitment side can't really be to blame (for this season anyway) Really just can't but my finger on why it's gone wrong, people keep pointing fingers as they need someone to blame (like Brown) but most of the Squad are playing crap as opposed to just one player causing issues.
I'm hoping we further strengthen for next year and we pull our fingers out. Kevin Naiqama would be an ideal Centre for me, he's off contract again so I would make a play for him.
Mose Masoe is looking to return and I would snap him up, BUT he is out for the season with a knee injury so not 100% sure on him as he has had quite a few knee injuries.
For a half I honestly have no idea, as we all know quality halves are in short supply so i'm not sure on that one at all.
And I would love to keep penny and get him on the Wing again or make a play for Jorge Taufua who we were reportedly looking at last season if Smith lets him go.