Maybe they’re all great coaches in their own right. One thing is clear though - it’s not working for us, and hasn’t really delivered for 3 years (in terms of a consistently high standard). Maybe it’s just not clicking despite what happens in training. It’s quicker to refresh the coaching team than the playing team - although I’m sure we’ll see some stalwarts move on too - so let Powell bring in his own back room team and style and see what happens.

It seems positive for you lot that these changes are being made. Henderson seems to have a good reputation in the game, but perhaps needs to be a head coach somewhere now. Briers is more of a surprise as he seemed part of the furniture like Paul Wellens at Saints. I'm not sure which direction he'll go in now if this is true, whether he'll stay in coaching at another SL club or look for a head coach role further down the ladder.

I wonder if there will be more changes. Your youth recruitment isn't good enough, at the last two age groups now you've completely missed the best players in Warrington. Last year too many went to Saints/Wigan, this year because of covid a couple have just been missed completely. Several incredibly average players have been given scholarships, including some playing in the lower divisions, yet a couple of the best players in the top league in the age group are sat unsigned waiting for the first club to come along and take them. If you can't even put the effort in to get your own town looked at properly it's not good.

Imagine if Briers took over from Woolf as the next Saints coach, the atmosphere on Merseyside would be electric, it would help right the anomaly that probably Saints greatest ever home grown player only managed a handful of games in the red vee, but now he'd have the chance to coach the team. It would be like us appointing Bobby Fulton.

If you were an assistant coach under pressure (like Briers and Henderson) and the coach hadn't listened to your ideas for three years, would you still be at the club or would you have left a long time ago?

James Roby?

Henderson left London as coach to join us as assistant. The higher ups must have liked what they saw to appoint him. He may have continued to do all the right things, hoping that despite results the bosses still liked what they saw come Price’s inevitable moving on. He wouldn’t be the first assistant that has stayed on longer than healthy because of hints/hopes/loyalty (this doesn’t just apply to managing sports teams).

After their last foray into appointing a superstar hooker as coach they may hold back on this!

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"Both will be gone with Price and I am glad. Allow Price to freshen things up and bring his own staff with him.'" Now official:- https://warringtonwolves.com/news/2021/ ... 21-season/

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"Both will be gone with Price and I am glad. Allow Price to freshen things up and bring his own staff with him.'" Now official:- https://warringtonwolves.com/news/2021/ ... 21-season/

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"Now official:- https://warringtonwolves.com/news/2021/ ... 21-season/'" Ahh only just saw this, i just opened a new topic as i thought nobody had posted about it yet

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"Now official:- https://warringtonwolves.com/news/2021/ ... 21-season/'" Ahh only just saw this, i just opened a new topic as i thought nobody had posted about it yet

Briersy was a joy to watch with his kicking game & he could dummy & create gaps too.

Good luck to Hendo & Briersy for the future.

Like Cunningham great player, not so great a coach what ever the reason just took us longer to end the relationship.

All the best to Henderson & Briers, hope they are not lost to the game, and the change of scenery does them both some good.

Genuinely, how do you know what his coaching ability is?

Whilst it's sad to see Briersy and Hendo going, I can only hope that this turns out to be a win-win, in that they go off and find that a change of scenery does them good and helps them become better coaches, while at the same time, new coaches and fresh ideas will help Wire make the improvement we all want to see. The times, they are a-changin'.

So looks like Powell will have almost total autonomy, or as much as you can when somebody else is signing the cheques.
There are a few things recently that makes me think the club has taken a more ruthless stance.
Burrell released
Latu Released
Hill replaced as captain (Not an easy decision)
Then Price being replaced and the assistant coaches and analysts going. (Again not an easy decision to move Briers on after 20 odd years)
So it looks like we have a new sheriff to clean the place up. A bit like when TS came in and shipped Gleeson out and dropped Briers It could be a bit of a worry for some of the players.

No Karetaker. Too harsh. Have you seen him coach. Have you coached? Have you played? Not on. Have respect.

No I have not but someone else said earlier if it was a case of the head coach not listening to his ideas or plans then would he of stayed or was it just the pay check, either or any of them things showed it clearly was not working on a coaching front, it’s not an intention to be harsh, I mean come on how much as been said about our attack in the final 20 it’s been poor for a long time. Saints saw is was not working with Cunningham but our club of for me always over done the loyalty thing.

But you aren’t comparing like for like. Cunningham was the head coach, the buck stopped with him. I feel like a broken record but we have no idea what Briers is like as an ASSISTANT coach.

Anyway, he’s a Warrington legend. Thanks Lee, good luck and best wishes.

Let’s move forward now and try something a little different. I’m excited about Powell and his approach to the game, but it sure does feel weird looking forward to next season when we are only 3 games in. Bizarre in fact.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your POV but loyalty is a balance not only does it work both ways but there are mitigating factors based on how previous performances are judged. I think this was part and parcel of the TS debate on here which was lively at times.

We are certainly no Tottenham Hotspur that's for sure if only we could be as ruthless as them we may have a trophy cabinet just like theirs

The opinion of the power of assistant coaches varies massively on here, and unless you’re in the sessions we won’t really know what influence assistants have at Warrington.

But what I know for certain, after watching Lee Briers play, is that he would not advice/teach/coach/encourage Blake Austin to kick the ball dead on goal from attacking positions. He wouldn’t have spent years mastering the craft of kicking to the corner for Fa’afili/Hicks/Monaghan/King only to show Austin how to be effective at finding the third row of seats.

Again, we don’t know Briers’ coaching philosophy, but we can reflect on a career of attacking skill and trickery. Unless he’s had a ‘hard reset’ and lost all of that creativity, game knowledge and craft, he still sees the game in the same way.

In our own workplaces, we all have good ideas of how to do things better, yet we’ve all had the boss who instructs you to do as you’re told. I’m not saying this is the case, but from my experience the head coach decides who/what/how, the assistants put that into practice.

You know it wouldn't surprise me(and I'm not saying I have inside knowledge so don't be spreading rumours) if Briers bloody detested austin and his obviously limited game, and what that right hand side has become.

Not even just the kicks, swann and Westwood, and gleeson and bridge and hicks fa'afili and monaghan all running off him, space being created cos the defences were ting themselves for whoever might get the ball, and we only needed half a gap to exploit

Its a far cry, from Austins slow dummy, or Hughes putting the breaks on and running centre field

The right side is a shambles. I’ve said on other threads about the vulnerability that having such a passive back rower brings to a team. And the centre, be it Mamo or Wrench so far or even Gelling last year, is there to plug a gap in the defensive line. They offer nothing in terms of a threat.

For as average as Austin has been, there needs to be some work on that side if we’re ever going to make genuine attempt at the GF. Inglis, if even half the player he used to be, will make a huge difference, but that back rower needs to act like a bulldozer in attack and really make defenders stop and take notice to create some room for the outside men.

I’d consider letting Robson have a go, or Longstaff. Both young, but not necessarily raw. They’re talented players. And all you need them to do is run that lead line at 100 miles an hour and defend for all you're worth. Hughes, good pro and all, but is a poor mans Ben Harrison. Lots of effort, good defender, but on an edge he’s just in the way.

Hughes is bang average. His defence last week for both Hull tries was a shambles. There’s a reason why Wigan didn’t think he was good enough and now he’s our captain!

This thread has gone down the same road as my way of thinking as I walked the lad to school this morning. Our back row just doesn't run the angles or give our halfbacks the options that Briers enjoyed in his career, particularly down the right hand side. Briers played with Westwood, Swann, Waterhouse, even Steve McCurrie... guys who could hit a ball at pace on an angle and score, or create a decoy to make space for the outside backs. Currie is a fine player with good hands, but is more dangerous from 40+ metres out than he is close to the defensive line. What we need is a player of the type described above on the right, which would improve everyone's game. Hughes has (or had) the physique to do that, but just hasn't for some reason.

None of that is a complete pass for Austin btw: he should do far more and is senior enough to be making the guys around him make the runs and create the space to score tries.