the RL world has shifted considerably in favour of the NRL since then (16 years ago)

I disagree Moe, DP was Cas coach and all he asked was that his back staff and 3 players out of contract come with him. He wasn’t building a team for 2022. He just put in some foundations he trusted where there was opportunity.
Unfortunately for Wire, his next opportunity for change can only come now for 2023.
Everything wrong with 2022, was down to Fitzpatrick and Price in 2021.

Thats true enough but we aren't the draw we used to be in any case. Saints and Wigan certainly still are though. It obviously helps that their youth development is prolific to say the least.

Back with dufty I think he may end up playing in the halves for us with thewlis staying at 1, I certainly hope so anyway.

Dufty 6
Thewlis 1
Ratchford utility
Dean reserves.

That is how I see it panning out.
Dufty played his best rugby at 6, perhaps he wants to play 6 and that’s why he’s coming Wire. Pretty sure Saints would have wanted him to play 1 this season had he not pulled out of the deal. Fortunately for Saints it turned out good because of the elevation of Welsby.

Powell has come right out and threw Dean under the bus, so that’ll be an end to any chance of him being a half in 2023. DP would rather play Peanut.

So I will say Dufty and Dudson are done deals.
Kassiano I’d say isn’t, but played like he was in the shop window with a fat pice tag.
Cooper is still wanted and in talks.
…and 2 other props, I suspect are the 2 from the NRL, Paul Vaughan and Thomas Mikaele.

From the tone of Charnley’s Twitter account, he’s been given a few truths from somewhere. He isn’t injured and wasn’t on the plane, I guess dropped, for sure, he isn’t playing anywhere near as good as Wrench has on the wing, and neither has King when Wrench has played centre.

King is fortunate he has a 3 year deal, my guess is that if his contract was up now instead of last season, he’d be free to talk elsewhere too.

haha. Hopefully not.....definitely squeeky bum time though...

Do we know if he's on marquee money I'm guessing not therefore do we have Widdop salary to get a BIG PROP

To be fair to mata'utia playing in the halves, it was proberbly the best game he's had for us. Bar 1 man of the match game at centre.
I didn't realise Dufty could play in the halves, i thought he was a specialist fullback?

All this talk of Powell throwing Dean under a bus... Has he actually done that? All he did was mention that Dean made a few errors in the heat of the moment during a press conference. I doubt Powell intended to lay the blame solely at Dean's feet, out that he said it to keep him grounded. He probably just blurted his thoughts out loud in a quick interview after a game.

Dean is a talent, and he's only played a few games. He's currently no worse than our other half backs, that's true, but also he doesn't yet look as assured as Thewlis for example, who's had a gentle introduction over the last year or so.

I doubt he's been thrown under the bus, and if we MUST sign Dufty I'd rather it be at half-back for one year, allowing Dean to develop with a gentle introduction in '22 and '23, and Thewlis to keep the place he's earned.

I maybe wrong, but Dean is the only person Powell has come out and publicly criticised this season.(apart from the referees that is). I'm still annoyed about it.

Powell didn't criticise any other player by name after the Wigan game and there were plenty others he could choose to criticise before Dean. As a head coach in pro sport he should know better than to blurt out criticism. It's got a lot of peoples backs up for sure.

i see the “KF is responsible for recruitment” opinion/rumour has seemingly become a self evident truth. I still don’t buy it except to the extent that he is told who to try and sign and he then gets on with it.

KF boasted about seeing Austin and getting him signed, I reckon he had the same cavalier approach with Sandow, only I think TS many not have wanted him.
Theres no getting away from things going really sour as soon as KF took the reins. Perhaps it’s all coincidence.

Draper was chief egg when we signed Sandow, it was nothing to do with fitz.

Though I'm sure you'll tell us you know otherwise

Thanks for that. I retract the Sandow comment.

He’s CEO.

And?

So you think he has no input into selection but just performs the contractual execution?

Is it the coach who decides who we sign - 100%?

What if the coach wants to sign a player that has courted controversy in the past - maybe assault or drug use, which would reflect poorly on the organisation's image - does the player still get signed?

What if the club know they are not extending the coach beyond the current season and the coach wants to sign a player to fit their playing style - what then?

Genuine questions, not disagreeing.

Still think we need a director of RL who can take a longer term view and joins up all things on the performance side.

It's certainly got peoples backs up who like getting their backs up. For others it doesn't mean much.
Move on.

When is a CEO not a CEO?

It is when the CEO is employed by Warrington Wolves RLFC.

Isn't a director of rugby just anorher person to blame when things go wrong though? Certainly here it would be, it adds more ambiguity.

Just to say, as a fan of the nba, and their complicated management structures, it does baffle me that in some organisations you've got
Ceo
President of basketball operations
General manager(assistant gm)
Scouting

And then you get down to coaches. Who seem to have not as much say in players as you'd think, granted it varies from team to team but theres teams where coaches get brought in to play a certain style, and management just expect them to make chicken salad out of chicken , or will trade players quite willy nilly. They end up having pretty public disputes. The tony Smith thing at kr would barely raise an eyebrow.

Different cultures though, I suppose

He may get a say but I don’t for one minute think he and he alone decides who we sign which seems to be what the diehard KF detractors seem to think.

Do you seriously not know what a CEO is RESPONSIBLE for in an organisation?

Touchy

I wonder how Dean felt? Publicly blamed then dropped.