HT
Wire 6 - 10 Leigh

FT
Wire 22 - 10 Leigh

I didn't see what McGuire was sent off for.

Dissent they are saying, could be banned for the Leeds game already, what a start to his Wire career

I'm not reading too much into the game. We certainly didn't steamroller them up the middle but Kasiano made an impact. Some fluid attacking play and the team looked like it had togetherness. Currie had a good game with 1 break leading to a try and then a try for himself. MOM.

Thought McGuire, Vaughan, Currie and Williams were excellent. Some promise especially compared to last season but not getting carried away. Also thought Drinkwater had a tidy game on debut.

Good attendance at 5512 also.

Leigh have had a couple of games already haven't they? Beating Saints in the progress?

I thought we looked far more assured despite the ring-rustiness. Not exactly fluid on the attacking side, which was understandable for the first full paced hit out, especially in the rain. Looking mar more defensively cohesive than we did this time last year, and also handling the pressure better the things don't go our way. Shame about McGuire, hopefully what he said wasn't too bad and he gets sending off sufficient. Especially when you think about some of the dangerous tackles that players get away with. In a way I'm glad he gets a bit passionate about the game - something we've missed the last few years in on-field leaders. As long as he learns to channel it in the right way after this little misdemeanour.

I didn't go the game but reading some of the comments it sounds reasonably positive and importantly, it sounds like the attitude was good - that's the big thing for me given the past number of years. As we get more games under our belts then hopefully things will look increasingly promising.

I thought at times we looked quite decent with ball in hand, particularly the last try we kept it alive. The double kicking threat from Williams and Drinkwater looks handy. Ratchford looked sharp for his try.

Leighs break down the middle just before half time was a missed tackle from Kasiano I think and we werent lined up quite right. Leigh were well up for the game. The ex Warrington players were pretty anonymous I thought.

Little bit of biff as passions were raised which was nice to see.

We looked fit and conditioned.

It was a warm up game, and should be taken as such.

Penalty count of 9-0 helped Wire though.

Correct Budge. It had to be done so it didn't mar Ben's testiclemonial.

Is that tess tickle or Rodney Tickle, the Leigh winger who won the Powderhall Sprint back in the sixties.


The Powderhall sprint was held in Edinburgh each New Year Day.

Bit of broken play, they came back into the line where kasiano was having a rest and mikaele was blowing out of his despite having only been on for about 5 minutes, he doesn't look wrll conditioned,

You should have tried to con a penalty at the scrum more, it didn't work the first 4 or 5 times, I'm sure it would the 6th time

Of course. But we are comparing it to last season’s friendly (also our only hit out with the primary squad) and the team looks a world away from that. So hopefully this shows a lot of promise.

Heard Paul Vaughan played really well and played good minutes. I've got high hopes for him this season. McGuire getting sent off rings alarm bells, he's spent the past 2 years getting bans so i was hoping he would be better over here. Hoping it's just a one off slip.

Quote ="Fantastic Mr Cat"Bit of broken play, they came back into the line where kasiano was having a rest and mikaele was blowing out of his booty despite having only been on for about 5 minutes, he doesn't look wrll conditioned,'" According to https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -happened/ It was 9 minutes but I take your point.

Quote ="Fantastic Mr Cat"Bit of broken play, they came back into the line where kasiano was having a rest and mikaele was blowing out of his booty despite having only been on for about 5 minutes, he doesn't look wrll conditioned,'" According to https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -happened/ It was 9 minutes but I take your point.

Vaughan was very good, strong in both attack and defence. McGuire showed good leadership and had played well until the sending off. McGuire is clearly the pack leader and we’ll miss him if he’s banned

Quote ="Wires71"According to https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -happened/ It was 9 minutes but I take your point.'" No clock visible from where I was in the South, so it was a guesstimate, he hadn't done vaughan minutes though, I knew that. He was bent over gasping about 2 minutes after he came on. Kasiano has got some good hands for a prop, some good short passes near the line. Bit worries about him playing the ball though

Quote ="Wires71"According to https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -happened/ It was 9 minutes but I take your point.'" No clock visible from where I was in the South, so it was a guesstimate, he hadn't done vaughan minutes though, I knew that. He was bent over gasping about 2 minutes after he came on. Kasiano has got some good hands for a prop, some good short passes near the line. Bit worries about him playing the ball though

Green shoots of recovery.
A few mistakes, as you’d expect, but nobody had a shocker. Looking at the new lads you didn’t come away thinking ‘what have we bought here?’. McGuire was the pick of the bunch for me. Vaughan works hard and has a good engine, Kasiano looks to be a threat (but was clearly carrying a niggle), Dudson will be a solid interchange (although he could miss a few weeks due to a broken hand) and the Drinkwater / Williams combination should come together over the coming games. Ratchford looked solid at Centre and Mata’utia didn’t feel the need to run around like a headless chicken trying to make things happen. Dufty did nothing wrong but didn’t set the game alight as maybe we were expecting (he did chime into the line on a couple of occasions). Currie had one of his better games and he needs to carry this through the season. Harrison also looks to have a good engine and decent pace for a prop. Russell clearly has a point to prove and may turn out to be a good (re)signing if we pick up injuries.

Leigh, to their credit, are not in Super League to make up the numbers and it was nice to see that they’d brought a decent following with them.

After last season, a win was welcome, if it was only in a warm up game. The second half shut out was a positive, given the way we collapsed on too many occasions in 2022, but McGuire's red card was a blot on the evening.

Quite surprised at ppl saying ratch looked OK.

He dropped 2 or 3 horrendous balls in the first half, south west ish corner.

Crap passes, whatever you want to call it, but pretty much the stuff that was annoying me last year.

Russell using his ball carrying arm to bump/fend is going to annoy me greatly this year.

Drinkwater wasn't noticeable at all in th first half, George was doing all the kicking, however thar 40/20 was a beaut in the 2nd. Which also somehow lead to a skirmish as we ran up field.

Thewlis took a decent high ball, mainly unchallenged but that will be good for his confidence

Yes, Ratchford blew a couple of chances in that first half. That said, it was the first run out in slippery conditions, and the more he gets used to playing at centre the more he'll be ready for the ball. I think it was probably a case of him having one eye on the defender. His footwork did look useful when he caught the ball that one time

.

Quote ="Wires71"According to https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -happened/ It was 9 minutes but I take your point.'" I really can't understand this. A professional athlete in his 20s presumably injury free. A full pre-season and struggling after 9 minutes. Why? Has the right balance been struck between strength and stamina (aerobic fitness)? Ok I didn't go to the match, but still find this incredulous. He'll be targeted all year in that case. Reminds me of how Monas targetted Feka years ago playing Wigan at the HJ. He simply destroyed him and the team as a result.

Quote ="Wires71"According to https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -happened/ It was 9 minutes but I take your point.'" I really can't understand this. A professional athlete in his 20s presumably injury free. A full pre-season and struggling after 9 minutes. Why? Has the right balance been struck between strength and stamina (aerobic fitness)? Ok I didn't go to the match, but still find this incredulous. He'll be targeted all year in that case. Reminds me of how Monas targetted Feka years ago playing Wigan at the HJ. He simply destroyed him and the team as a result.