Oh well, another season over before its even begun. Personally i`d write this season off after last nights result and start the rebuilding for 2011, the first big game we play and we fall at the first hurdle. We should use the rest of the season to have a look at the squad to see where changes need to be made for next year.

what did you think of atkins last night rob?

I didn`t go the game mate so i can`t comment on how he went last night or how the team went, from what ive seen of him in the past he seems a very direct player, strong and hard to put down with a decent step and turn of foot. I think we`ll be stronger for signing him as i`m not convinced about Mat King`s centre skills, he doesn`t beat the first man often enough and doesn`t really create that many openings for others with ball in hand. Where King is strong is close to the line, he is powerful and hard to stop plus his height is a huge advantage to have from kicks.

On the centres for this season its a tricky one, i don`t rate Chris Bridge as a high calibre centre, he`s just solid and does the basics fairly well. He`s certainly no Bateman, he also won`t do a lot of what Martin Gleeson used to do at his peak where he easily beats his opposite number on a regular basis. I`d have Atkins as the left centre with Riley as his partner, i`d be tempted to start with King at right centre to partner Hicks. Its just my opinion, Tony Smith will know whats best as he see`s them a lot more than we do.

I don`t expect to get any pats on the back from the Chris Bridge fan club but thats how i view him, he didn`t exactly shine for England, he will do well ok against weaker backlines but i don`t expect to get many match winning performances from him like you`ll get from Gidley and Senior on a fairly regular basis.

Think you're spot on.

The next game against Wigan will be my first of the season and I still expect to see a Wire win even after last night.

Doesn't count as it wasn't a SL match, Wigan were only there for our lads to practice on, a bit like crash test dummies but thicker.lol

nice run out for the lads i think ... we just didnt seem to want it

doesnt matter though we will prove em all wrong when the real thing begins ... come on the wire !!

I know he played in super league last season and I genuinly want him to be the next andrew johns. My points are that last season he didnt have the price tag he has now and theres alot of players out there who cant wait to bring him in line, We played Leigh when he scored the tries and looked good and I put most of that down to hard work in the forwards. Im a life long wire fan and dont want the penny syndrome to hit myler.....You know the 1, Hes great penny ,better than Offiah .....Hes f#$^ng crap Penny shouldnt be in a Wire shirt.

Have a look at his assist for the Riley try. That looks top class to me.

Yeh that was good centre play which i agree with, its standard centre play though to draw in your opposite number and slip the pass to your winger. How many games in the past can you count where you would say that Chris Bridge was the difference in us winning and losing ?

If you look at the big clubs down the years that have shared the bulk of the silverware they all had at least one destructive centre who was always a danger when ever they touched the ball, we had that in the past with the likes of Davies and Bateman, Saints have had it with Newlove, Gleeson, Lyon and Gidley to name a few, Leeds have had it with Senior, the Bulls had that with Hape before injuries set in.

I`m hoping that Ryan Atkins can be our destructive centre, he has the ability to beat players with pace and power, he`s also capable of long range individual tries. I don`t see any X factor with Chris Bridge, i seem him as solid rather than having that special play in his locker where he creates something out of nothing on a consistent basis.

Bridge on his game can outfox anyone with his step and footwork.

This will be the first time he has started a season with us knowing what position he will actually play, I would reserve judgement until the season progresses. I think his balance and footwork ARE special.

here here,

Fair comment Mark, nobody is saying Chris Bridge is a bad player, i certainly aint anyway. Its just opinions, some fans will like a certain style of player where as other fans will prefer a different type player.

Thought the game was very flat, but the centre and wing positions looked promising especially Atkins who seemed to offer something we have been laking. In support of what has been posted before when we get up to 20 m line we lack idea's, it did remind me of last seasons negative performances at times but this is what friendlies are for, to work out the problems. Smith will be working on that this week and I am sure a different team will turn up for the quins game , maybe not individual wise but definitely tactical wise.

I'm a little perplexed by this, dont get me wrong and as many will know I'm a fan of Chris Bridge but last night he had a shocker, he threw one ball into touch, knocked-on twice, didn't look threatening whatsoever as his little step fooled nobody and failed to pass the ball to his wing man who would have been in.

He did however put out one nice pass which if were honest you see week in week out from most centre's in the league and Gleeson was doing it all the time down here but because it was from Bridge it was spectacular.

So can anybody give me some valid reasons as to why you think he had a good game last night as I'm struggling to think of them.

I'll bet you 2/1 that Padders does.

The Challenge Cup Quarter Final 2009, most recently.

That's a funny one because at the time you and many other were blowing smoke up Mr Briers for winning us that game when in my opinion it was Morley and the forwards that won the game.... I guess your suggesting Bridge's goal kicking and try kept us in the tie because he certainly wasnt the differance between us winning and losing.

and kicked goals from the touchline, so yeah, he was important.

Folk make me laugh with Bridge, they just move the goalposts. Now he's 'fit' and not biscuit, he's not quite good enough, not a matchwinner, well, he looked every inch the class act to me putting Hicks in the corner in the CC Final like.

What happened to all the folk questioning his attitude. This time last year, this board was full of people proclaiming he'd barely play last year, he finished getting rep' footy.

He's Warringtons first choice centre, so Smith must have some faith in him.

I`m not sure who that was too, with the opinion i gave i didn`t put him down. What i said is he`s a solid centre but basically nothing out of the ordinary, its horses for courses with the type of player that people like to watch.

I was a fan of the likes of Alan Bateman and Jonathon Davies, i also appreciated Joe Ropati and the Keith Senior style of centre play. I just don`t see Chris Bridge as anywhere near the above standard or anywhere in between the above styles. To win or get to grand finals you need some cutting edge out wide especially at centre as you won`t avoid any of the big 2 like you can in the challange cup, in the challenge cup you can get away with it a bit more because of the format.

Its like with Matt King, he lacks a lot of centre skills through no fault of his own as he was converted to centre by one of his previous clubs, he`s technically a winger thats been playing in the centres, it worked for Melbourne due to them over loading the channels with class players like Slater, Inglis and Cronk so King wasn`t needed as a techincally creative centre, more often than not he was the power at the end of a move.

My point was aimed at the centres in general, i just don`t see a lot of natural creativity with King and Bridge, one is a winger that got converted to a centre and the other is just fairly solid rather than being spectacular, this is why i hope Ryan Atkins can turn out to be our destructive centre as like i said earlier in thread the teams that have shared the silverware during the modern era have had at least one dangerous centre that teams fear with ball in hand.

Like Mark said, its probably best to give Chris Bridge a full season in a starting position and see how he goes. I hope Chris Bridge turns out to be something great for us because at the end of the day you just want to see us winning and winning trophies.

I take your point Rob. I know where you're coming from, he's not yet a week in week out 'match winner', but his career [touch wood is on the way up, he looks fitter, more focused, more comfortable with his game than he has done before and hopefully he'll continue to progress, and progress at the same rate he did last year.

I think in all honesty, he was a little undervalued last year by most, he played a lot of games, was pretty consistant and breached the gap of losing a GB centre to a point where you never felt we 'missed Gleese'. He'll look back at 2009 as probably the best of his career to date, and I don't think we've seen the best of him yet.

According to whom? He started his Storm career at centre, moved out to the wing for a around a dozen games, then played out the rest of his Storm career at centre.

In 2004, playing on the wing, he featured in 24 games and scored 16 tries. Thats before he became a centre at Melbourne.

Considering he debuted in 2003, at centre, I would say 2004 is rather moot.

Bridge is out of his depth internationally but in SL he's solid and dependable and his interchangability makes him a valuable player for the wire.
I like Bridgey, rarely puts a foot wrong