Can’t wait till the pitches dry out…
Ahh.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ma ... gMwwESnTsE Things aren't always black and white, maybe Powell is alluding to the club accepting more instances of what Matty is referring to. I was no fan of Matty when he was here, one of the worst decisions we've made as a club is giving him a 5 year contract, but this interview indicates that he didn't help himself and the club weren't on top of discipline. If your winger is allowed to get chubby and turn up hungover, you're never going to win the GF. Powell has butchered this club this year, he's done too much too soon in my opinion and i do wonder if he regrets the speed in which he has disposed of certain players, considering we've finished the lowest ever position. BUT, if he's clearing out hungover, ill disciplined players or those that contribute to that culture, it's ultimately the right thing. This doesn't excuse the rhetoric towards the fans that's been spouted.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ma ... gMwwESnTsE Things aren't always black and white, maybe Powell is alluding to the club accepting more instances of what Matty is referring to. I was no fan of Matty when he was here, one of the worst decisions we've made as a club is giving him a 5 year contract, but this interview indicates that he didn't help himself and the club weren't on top of discipline. If your winger is allowed to get chubby and turn up hungover, you're never going to win the GF. Powell has butchered this club this year, he's done too much too soon in my opinion and i do wonder if he regrets the speed in which he has disposed of certain players, considering we've finished the lowest ever position. BUT, if he's clearing out hungover, ill disciplined players or those that contribute to that culture, it's ultimately the right thing. This doesn't excuse the rhetoric towards the fans that's been spouted.

Blimey that is an illuminating read.

Really feel for the guy....just shows that you never know what inner demons that folk are dealing with.

You know, I always used to think Smith kept Russell in the team despite his deficiencies because he thought he was a model professional. He's always seemed like 'The Nice Guy' - far too clean-playing and the sort of individual who would be a Smith favourite, in the mould of the Sinfield / Burrow / McGuire under Smith at Leeds.

Wow.

Well, as Philth said, maybe this general malaise over training, performances and goals was endemic and needed addressing. Maybe this is part of what Wane talks about with Warrington. I really hope this season was a train wreck for a good season, and I hope Powell can live up to his reputation and turn our fortunes around.

We are all human, whether we earn a living from brain surgery, emptying bins or professional sport. We're all guilty of doing things that have impacted on our ability to do our jobs at some point in our lives. Some find it difficult to learn from their mistakes and keep on top of the things that keep us from the straight and narrow.

6 games is a long time in sport, isn't it??...

Is now the time to judge him..

No, not at all. But neither was last season.

Some of the comments among these 70 odd pages are absolutely hilarious - there are quite few posters who look distinctly daft at some of the nonsense that was posted.

The early call of keeping Mike Cooper over keeping Powell is particularly funny...

He as to go, didn’t get Morley’s deckchair the 40 points tonight

Fair play to the Powell In crew, kept your head while everyone else lost theirs.

I’m happy to concede that this season is a marvellous shock. Not sure there was evidence of this happening until round 1 of this season, but kudos to the board.

Edit: Gaz, in particular. Tip if the hat

To be honest, as much as I didn't join in the knee jerk reactions last year, which led to calls for Powell's dismissal, neither am I getting carried away by the good start this season, as I think we need to be aware that our form could turn for the worse very quickly if injuries or a simple dip in standards was to happen, as often happens in all sport.

Let's just enjoy the ride and see where we are come season's end and let's not get carried away, whatever unfolds... well, unless it's a league and Cup double - we can probably allow ourselves a little reaction if that was to happen

There were some classic posts and plenty of toys thrown out the pram, but it's in the past now.

Powell, so far, has been justified in taking the biggest risk in terms of clearing the decks. It nearly ended in disaster but so far it's been proven a risk worth taking. Most of our fans were calling for a clear out and when players like Cooper were kicking up a fuss because they weren't able to call the shots, they had to go, no two ways about it - you can't have the tail wagging the wolf. We needed a strong manager to go in and tear things up after 4 years of mediocrity under Price where players had become apathetic. Any manager going in to do this would have had my full backing, despite the risks.

We're playing good rugby too; Powell's sides have always entertained. So if we're winning (so far so good), and playing good footie, we've got the right man. And there's a chance we could finally remove that monkey. Saints, as good as they'll be come the end of the season, can't win it forever. No side in any sport has done that. Thing is too, we've only played 6 games meaning there's plenty more gelling time; it's no coincidence that succesful sporting sides have been built over years, not just over a season or two.

Can't wait for that testing run of 3 v Cats, Pies and Stains. That'll really tell us where we are. COYW.

I agree with this. But would say that the logic seems now to be there. My issue last season, and this to a point, is the communication with the fans. We were never told or informed what a shambles the club was allowed to become, and nobody was held to account for that, even now. The recruitment of the new coach was billed as finding the right coach to improve the players we had and to promote and develop youth.

Under difficult circumstances last year, granted not the coaches fault, we bought our way out of trouble. Short term Amor’s and Wardle’s don’t fall into either of those metrics. And even this year, which is an amazing start, as good as we’ve seen since 2019/2016 from memory, can we genuinely say that any player is better now than last season, or even under the previous coach (qualified statement, as there are so few left). And is there a succession plan given that Ratchford, Matautia, Vaughan, Kasiano, McGuire, Bullock, Dudson and maybe even Clark will be leaving over the next 1 - 3 seasons. What happens then, do we buy our way out again, rolling the dice with 50/50 odds of getting a Magoulias, Holmes etc.

As I’ve said since the end of last season, I’m trying to be positive, so I’ll enjoy this momeng. The plan, which appears to have come into place mid way through last season, is to buy big bodies and plug the gaps around them with whatever’s left. And it’s working. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that there has been a change in the position from the start of last year where there was a stubborn insistence that the pack was sufficient, despite it appearing obvious to everyone that we were desperately light.

I'm enjoying the start of the season like everyone else. All the right signs are there. Like others have said, the main test will be the next 3 games. If we lose all three i will be very disappointed. Win 1 maybe underwhelming but not so bad. We need to be winning at least 2 of the next 3 games IMO. Catalans will be the biggest test. However Wigan & Saints will no doubt raise their game against us. Saint's have been well off the boil but still grind out wins like Wigan. They won't have the defensive frailties like Cas did last night. I watched Wigan v Salford and i thought Wigan were awful. Only a few moments of brilliance from French that saved them.

Agree with much of this. I'm hoping we can establish some success and in doing so, raise the expectations of our younger players to add to and displace those who are nearing retirement. Powell has a good record of improving players also, so hopefully we get more joy on that front.

I don't really fear anyone apart from a full strength saints side. Not been overly impressed with anyone including Huddersfield who are now in their 3rd season with Watson - I was expecting more offensively from them though they are missing pivots.

Who is this rubber duckie?


A voice of hindsight and reason within a melting pot of

Yes, there would be some disappointment if that happened, but, for me, in those games it will be now more be about how we look against those 3 sides, rather than the results, because the good thing about winning these first 6 matches is that we have given ourselves a good cushion, where 3 losses wouldn't be a huge catastrophe with regards to league position - if we were to compete well in all 3 games, but lose them all by 2-6 pts, similar to how Huddersfield have done against us, Wigan and Saints, then I'd be ok with that - a couple of good confidence-damaging hidings and I'd be more concerned.

.... there's a couple of my posts in this thread that show a similar hindsight and reasoning.

Maybe a small lesson in how to analyse without jerking the knees too much?...

I think the performance is the most important thing in the Catalans, St H and Wigan games. And if we play badly in one of them, how that affects the following month in terms of confidence. Of course, all that really matters is a couple of games in the autumn, but performance, approach and resilience are what I'm looking for over the next month.

Spot on this. We've still only played 6 games and there's plenty of time for our team to develop much further. I have a funny feeling we'll do 2 out of 3.

I think we’ve had a great run of fixtures to blow the cobwebs off - I’m not always in the optimistic camp, but also the “why the hell not enjoy us playing well in Feb/March” camp. You can only play what’s in front of you but to win 6/6 with the rotation we’ve had through injury/suspension is the most pleasing for me. Looking forward to the big games in April but I hope the team are purely focused on beating Hull next Saturday.

Plenty of people were willing to give Powell the first 6-8 games of the 2023 season to see some positive change. If we were still dog dirt like 2022 he would have to go. I am delighted this isnt the case. It appears the club had descended into a bad place under the last few years of Price and Powell needed a massive clearout and the ability to spend a lot of money in rebuilding. We will know if we are the real deal after the next 4 games. Having said that it's become a real pleasure to see the players so enthusiastic and to see flowing RL again.

Just been awarded Manager of the Month for March. That's 2 out of 2 Manager of the Month awards for this season.

Obviously, the most important one is Manager of the Month award for October, but extremely encouraging.

As he not gone yet.