It beats mwildcats rubbing our noses in it doesn't it?

I wasnt rubbing your noses in it.
I just find it disrespectful that you expect to beat us even though we have accrued more points than yourselves.

I want you to win next week, I really do the shudds mob would have a field day.

Sorry, but I never expect a win. Rugby league is too unpredictable.

TBH, I' not really looking at the table, with next week and all. Well done anyway tonight, you deserved it.

and Johnson. Seems like he was grasping for air everytime a wakefield player went near him. Both are on the way out, thats fo'sure.

Spot on JWP. Lots of shirt grabbing tonight, Not many shoulders going in, "The collision" as PC would say was lost from the first minute. This meant that the Wakey forwards were able to either a) get their hands free or b) get to the floor first and get a quick PTB.
Obst and Leo Latu benefited greatly from this.
Mcarthy put himself about a bit and Morley Doesn't know how to do anything other than get stuck in.
The form of some players in attack is pretty encouraging, Loius Anderson looks to be running more direct and Riley looks very confident.
In a way I can sort of forgive the way some of the players tried to go a bit lighter into the tackle. I cant handle things like not putting pressure on the kicker, you would struggle to pop a shoulder chasing a kicker down.

Wakey played some pretty good rugby at times though.

You are easily pleased JWP. We were pushing for 4/5th in the league 6 games ago. If you are happy with 1 win from 6 form going into the biggest game in 19 years you are deluded. It was abysmal today and the players clearly couldnt care less and turned it in. They do not deserve the support they get at times.

Dont worry he will be back talking about a widge very soon ace..

I thought we should've done better but Wakefield were much quicker at everything tonight and our weaknesses were easily exploited (Penny, Johnno, Rah) and the ref was poor.
I thought we might have come away a bit more upbeat and confident leading up to Wembley.
I suppose at least we know the the last game is deffo at home v Quins and hopefully a chance to parade the challenge cup around the HJ. I'll be happy with that as a season. Oh yes indeed.

Maybe, you're deluded Wires71.

Why get all obsessed about a competition that the odds against us winning are massively stacked against us, why not concentrate on the one that's staring you in the face, that you've one hand on, so to speak.

If you finish 5th, lose in week two of the playoffs, is that a better season than finishing 10th & going to Wembley, not for me. Reaching the final, is a huge monkey off our back, it gets rid of a few of these tags, not reached a final for 19 years etc, it's also a huge tangible reward for the work of Smith & Lowes, in a much quicker timeframe than expected.

There's only two trophies you can win, if we win next week, we're one of the two most successful sides in SL, awesome.

One win in six hey, am I happy to see our season fizzle out, as a sort of consequence of reaching Wembley, damn right. I've seen it fizzle out enough times without Wembley, at least this way, it feels like there's a goal, a purpiose to it.

If you talk any more greatly, I think you may be deemed a poet.
I think the playoffs is a dead horse too. Just get Wembley done and thats me a happy chappie.

I don't kid myself. It was a pre-Wembley win. We were always odds n to win it. Good luck next week. Both teams going into it with bad results so hard to predict.

The supposed spear tackle was not such. There were 2 wakey players in at the upper body of carvell and carvell driving forward put the head down to gain few more metres and his feet went from under him due to been inbalanced. There was zero maliciousness and there was NO attempt to lift either. Ref was correct and saw this and was closer than every one.

Wakey played well, wire just struggled to contain Drew, Latu and briers showed lack of interest after he took a big hit or two.

I most likely am deluded.

I had hoped that Smith would instill the discipline and winning attititude into the team such that we can compete in both league and cup at the same time. If we are not out there to compete why not rest the entire team for the meaningless game. Instead we risked the playing rosta for a game which, under your rationale, we didn't care about. It doesnt make sence. I am sure that Smith was not happy with what he saw.

I also think form going into a Wembley final is important. Am I alone in being concerned that we have conceded 214 points in the last 7 games (30 pts+ avg) and losing the 5 from 6 in the league. Perhaps I am.

Your logic relies totally on a Wembley win. Win and it has been a successful season. So when we win at Wembley you can rub this right in my face and I won't mind, I will be deliriously happy



PS - BTW We have reached a final more recently than 19 years (in fact we have even won one), maybe before you were watching mind, and pre-SL, but it still counts to some of us. Maybe it's a Gen-Y / Gen-X thing.

Your problem was that we'd won 1 in 6 right.

3 of those 4 prior to the semi were Saints at home, which we were good, followed by an inept performance at Huddersfield, and a corking performance at Leeds, which we deserved something from.

Post semi, we've shown nothing, nothing at all, I agree. But the problem is, we're playing for an away tie in a playoff series, that's it, that's the reward. You're making out as though last night wasn't good enough as 4th was at stake, it isn't, it hasn't been in truth since well before the semi final, so post semi, It's literally Wembley prep' vs 7th/8th place finish, which is more important, there's no competition for me.

I'm sure Smith will have hoped that the team he put out last night would have done enough to win the game, sure. I don't disagree with that, or the lack of enthusiasm, or anything. Point i'm making is, I'm sure it'll have been put across you compete in this match, but not at risk of jeopardising the final. I watched the game, nobody tackled with venom above moob height, nobody.

I don't mean this exactly, but it was almost as if we just wanted to play when we had the ball last night, and hoped to win by outscoring Wakefield, like we tried to do for about three years under Cull. Next week, we'll go out, full of venom, and look to attack on the back of our defence, if that makes sense.

Yes.

I can understand your post JWP, course I can. Your argument does seem to hinge on "we lost 3, so now ball's to it". I just do not agree with your rationale. We don't need to agree.

In my view we should, all considered, be in the 8 Wembley or not. If, as you suggest, there is a considered opinion amongst the powers that be that there is no merit in pushing for an away playoff anymore, then why play a strongish side last night. It makes no sense to me. Maybe this should have been communicated to our club deputy chairman before his video interview.

In my view, your arguments for our 5 from 6 losses sound like those which kept PC in place 3 years after his sell by date and hold little water with me. Again, I'll be in the minority on this too (as I was back in 2006) and take the critique.

Anyway, more positively, I hope we can turn form on like a tap next Saturday as you think we can. I really do. I will go on record as saying I believe the players can lift themselves one more time this season and will support them with all my heart, like I have always done since the 70's.

In closing, I do long for the day when we aspire to more than just a trip to Wembley and 9/10th in the league though. Maybe next year.

And if I may comment on your rationale, Mr 71, I would say that it's based on a completely false premise - that we're a good side.

We're not a good side.

Smith has shown us a snippet of what might be to come - exciting rugby, scrambling defence, last-minute drop goals/winning tries... we've all loved it.

But the fact remains that four, five months ago the team was a shambles. Our team consisted of 20-odd blokes fumbling at nothing having been prepared appallingly by Smith's predecessor.

Now, not even the greatest coach ever to have lived can forge a top side in that short a time, not from such a poor base.

Nathan Brown, at Huddersfield, has done a terrific job, but a lot of the groundwork had been done over a number of years - mostly by prolific whinger Jon Sharp, who was just unable to take them to that optimum level. But they were a settled side and their recruitment had been consistently good.

Smith has tweaked things here and there and tried to improve things, but it'll take him probably a year from when he took over to get things moving fully in the right direction. What he can do - and this is why he's a great coach - is produce good gameplans for individual games. You can't do this for every match - it's simply too complex a process - but you can earmark individual matches to produce a string of fine results. Smith has done this to get us past Hull KR and Wigan, both better teams than ours.

The fact remains, however, that Warrington fans seeing this team as anything like a finished product are living a delusion. The defensive frailties in the middle are clear to see, as are the lack of defined roles in the spine of the team - SO, SH, hooker, LF.

But we have won the one-offs so far, and we've got a decent chance of doing it one more time. But we can't attempt to do two things at once, as much as we'd love to - Saints have been a top side for 13 years but they still haven't quite found the ability to juggle both.. it'll be a long time before we can do that.. it's a case of walking before we run.

Mate, that is a belting post and I salute you for it.

My Hero.

We did play a very odd style on Friday night. Briers is famous for pinning the opposition back with long kicks turning the fullback and making them start from the try line. We did not do that once on Friday, opting for the bomb even from forty yards out. Wakey were the ones to deploy this tactic, Drew often kicking as early as the fourth tackle. As a result, we started nearly every set no further up the field than our twenty.

As posted above, we are a long way from the finished product, and, though I will be disappointed if we don't make the eight, a Wembley win will more than make up for it, so I can't blame the club for concentrating on that. After all, Hudds are doing the same thing - they just have the luxury of the early season points and so can afford to rest most of their starting 17.

JB,

I kind of agree with you, we have the components for a good side, but as you quite rightly said, it is patently obvious we were underdone in pre-season. What Smith has done in his time here, relative to what was witnessed at the start of the season is a borderline miracle.

I'm still at a loss as to how Smith prepares the team on a week-to-week basis from such a weak starting point.

What the above does make you realise is what can be potentially achieved once Smith has his team and methods put into place.

All I can say is 'thank God that's over.' The main thing is no serious injuries. Now the team can settle down and prepare for next week.

bit harsh. i saw what i expected. obviously there not going to put their bodies on the line with next week in mind, and there going to risk injuries as little as possible.

with them not caring, i couldnt care less about the result tonight, as has been said the grand final wont be won from 7th and 8th, so we have no real chance of success in the league.

I completely disagree there wasn't any effort on friday.
Personally I was expecting less effort and I genuinely thought we looked up for it in most areas.
Certain things didn't go for us on the night and wakefield had a good gameplan and stuck to it like glue.
On another night we would have won imho.