Having no searing pace in the side is one thing, but we also suffer in respect of having no elusive runners. I think of the likes of Rob Burrows who could run in two circles pulling in defenders and then away through a gap that was created before offloading to support to finish off.
Gelling has also partly alluded to this in his comments that Austin needs to step up in that sort of running role

Again though there is no point in out players backup running. We don't play an offload game. It really just takes 1 who can back up the players who make breaks
We have 2 of the best in the league with Clark and Austin. Myler was a brilliant support runner, didn't have much else to his game but a brilliant support player none the less.

searing pace
elusive runners

that stuff only really existed back when the players drank 15 pints after a game.

I'm no expert on RL tactics but it seems that a lot of our passes are so flat that the receiving players have no time to do anything before they are tackled. Compare that to other sides, particularly the top 3, who have deeper runners who have time to receive the ball, sidestep, run at gaps, or simply just pass outside a split second before being tackled, by which time they have dragged defenders out of position leaving space for their team mates.

the main tactic in RL is to draw as much attention as you can, into the middle of the pitch, then spread it quickly to talented athletes.

No, no, no it's 2 drives by wingers, 3 by forwards and then if you by some miracle haven't made a mistake and still have the ball, kick the ball towards your tallest centre. Then repeat the process every single time you get the ball back.

Maybe it's the darker nights setting in but the more I've thought about it the more I'm gloomy about next year.

I've seen NOTHING that leads me to believe our boring, predictable play will change.
I put this fundamentally at SPs door.
He's got to sort it out.

Getting Widdop is massive and a great signing and we have many other very good players but they've not been playing well for months and SP hasn't sorted it out.

I reaĺy hope I'm wrong, but I can certainly see a massive drop in season ticket sales and attendances next year.

Reasons to be positive....?

I think it's better to spend the off-season with the hope of beautiful attacking rugby and well coordinated flowing moves backed up by iron defence and high levels of flair, team spirit, and determination all packaged together into a wonderful match day atmosphere with the attendance average back up to 12,000+. Or you could watch DVDs of the 2011 season.

We just havnt got anybody with that initial acceleration, then sustained pace.
The sort that strikes fear into opposition defences, or comes anywhere near a Powderhall Sprint entry level.

Yeah i'm not full of joy looking at next season, 1 great signing, a centre not as good as Goodwin and another potentially good centre, a potentially good winger, an 8th-9th choice rookie Prop and a "Surprise" more than likely gonna be a disappointing prop........like if these are the signings that are supposed to entice fans to renew season tickets and get us excited for next season they've fallen completely flat on their face. Definately make or break for price next year.

I think the best policy could be for the club to issue mind bending drugs to the fans then we can imagine we are watching a great team. All in lovely vivid colours too.

the club dont need to issue anything.... its magic mushroom season.

get yourself out there before the first frost and get your own

I also find it really hard to be positive about next season. I have a feeling it will be like this season, just without the cup win. I feel a bit like I did in the last couple of seasons of Cullen. We're a team that will be on the margins of the playoffs. We might just make the playoffs (and likely get knocked out soon in the playoffs) or we might just miss out. The Cullen team was far more interesting to watch though.

In particular, I just have a bad feeling about Widdop. I can see him missing a lot of time through injury and one of the alibis at the end of the season when the club brass are explaining why things didn't go as expected will be 'we lost our main signing for large parts of the season' etc etc.

Also I bet we're in for another season of hearing lots of stories about how innovative and imaginative the club are in terms of marketing gimmicks, lots about building a brand and management bullocks.

Im remaining optimistic until the signings are announced. Although it's not looking great right now, we're still looking whilst a lot of good business has already been done. We may gave joked about it but it looks more like we banked in wakey going down and going for fifita. But I have hope as barring gelling we've not really heard much maybe we have everything done and will be announced shortly.

Cooper Cronk is out of contract now

Can he play prop?

It's hard to be positive really, I just feel we will have a squad punching well below its weight because we have a coach who doesn't know how to get the best from his players. I think it's a poor decision to keep him on after our form and results towards the back of last season, it looks like we totally lack ambition and are OK with that rubbish. The fans certainly aren't. The only thing I am clutching on to is that price is himself a young coach and can learn from his mistakes. He has Henderson with him who really got the best of his London team and same goes for Anderson for a while at Huddersfield.

I'd love wane to come in and sort out our youth programmes and scouting network. We miss out on too much young talent and its the overriding key to success. It's not a fluke that Leeds, saints and Wigan keep winning the grand final and they bring through the most talent.

It's a chicken and egg problem. If you were a top youngster growing up in the NW and had identical offers from Wigan, Saints, and Warrington and had no allegiance to any side you would need to decide which club would give you the best chance of developing into a top RL player and to win league championships. It would be an odd decision not to choose Wigan or Saints based on track record.

I'm not going to knock Price.
He proved he can get up for big games.
Team deficiency was greatly down to injuries...but in the easiest looking season to ever win a GF, management of our props with quality depth so poor...exactly the same as Saints...'mattered'!
It really was a 2 horse race that Wire blew.

I think KF doesn't come out clean from this as he thinks he is. He was responsible for not assessing the weak depth running with our props and not putting resources there adequately after the departing King...Tasi ffs!
He misjudged off the scale if he thought BMM was the depth...at least we seen Philbin grow out of this.

KF needs to be aware that Hill and Cooper have peaked and are on the long injury recovery period slide. We need to focus attention ahead over the next 2/3 seasons to rebuilding a whole new front row to rival the next big threat...North America.

....I'm not blaming the season crash on Austin and Brown...we did very well in big ganes without them.

For all his recent indiscipline & giving away penalties we have been blessed to have long & regular service out of Hill ,as we also have with Cooper, both of whom have either managed to remain injury free or have chosen to play through injuries & have given coaches a stable & consistent front row to work with.There is definitely a lot wrong at the club but, unless they are disruptive, don't throw the babies out with the bath water.

Agreed, they're still top players for me. They just need a few bodies to help share the load better than the current supporting cast do, philbin aside. That said I think ohilbin covers second row and LF better than prop anyway.

Exactly this, Hill and Cooper cannot continue to prop up (pun intended) the front row for another season. Apart from Philbin the other prop recruitment has been diabolical and the CEO should be held accountable for this.

Entering 2020 without serious help in the front row will inevitably mean we struggle again, with the we have the backs we have.

CEO or coach?

Who signed Tasi and who re-signed Sita?

I'm OK with Sita getting another year. He has potential. He can be a game changer just with his ball carrying hits. Legal shoulder barge.