To not go all out to see off Warrington in our upcoming game would imo be almost criminal and disrespectful to the history of this competition. To the players who have produced sweat blood and tears for our club , do they not deserve every chance of playing in a final as remote as that may or may not be . I’ve heard that old chestnut of ( let’s concentrate on the league) far too many time over the years . We have a team assembled now who can challenge teams on more than one front , we have a coach who the players believe in . This year may not be our year but we must try with every fibre of our being , not only for the club but also for the players , some who may never get another chance .Hopefully Willy will buy into the iconic nature and history of the cup and put the wires to the sword with another rousing performance. Keep the faith and keep the band wagon rolling I say .

Well, after that match - warrington, they are hurting & their fans are angry towards all at the club ! They will play their secret weapon against us next week, he nearly played in the match against us this last week. He is their big signing NRL loose forward ball handler,
Magouliss, not sure of the spelling, Powell says he is something special & very differant,
Will we have a plan to deal with this, + all their players will be coming @ 100 mph - ww 3 & so I will be there, this will be very physical & very fast !!!

He's hardly a secret. He nearly signed for us.

He’s probably one of the better NRL imports of recent years but I’d say he’s not that special in that the NRL is full of his type which is probably why he couldn’t get a gig over there. He will probably be successful in SL no doubt but he’s not a sort of player that most SL haven’t come across before. It will purely be a case of what level he’s at and I suppose we will soon find out.

This week is deffo going to be harder than saturday and id love a cup run but if i had to choose which game to win out of the 2 i would choose league game

Well we have our own quality loose forward it seems after the last match
Jordy Crowther!
Best game ever from him and be certainly looked the part - hope he continues!

The script for these new Aussie signings seems to be try to impress too much on your debut and get sent off. I hope he's read it.

Billy is a good player and a great bloke… never really lived up to his potential at the sharks… got big wraps for a play which won the reserve grade grand final… but never really showed much in he’s first grade career.

I'd say we should be more worried about the other 2 NRL superstars who were playing for top teams in the Playoffs and Grand Finals.
.....oh wait........never mind.

Have to agree. I'd love a cup run but for this year I'm happy to put it on hold. It was a tricky draw to start with and it won't be any easier now. We have a chance but I can't see lightning striking twice, but then again.

Far far more important are our next two league games, both at home. If we beat both Salford and Cas, we drag them into the mire and ourselves out. It's as obvious as that. Two huge season-defining games IMO.

If we lose both we will be scrapping all season and it won't be fun. If we lose only one, then it gives us a decent platform to keep off the bottom. If we win both I reckon we could, injuries permitting, make a serious push for the top six. All down to the players and the kind of season they want. Simples.

Nice post, sounds simple But at least the Coach as got us believing in the team again

Am hoping this week in the build up to the game WP spends time stressing to the troops the importance of the challenge cup!

Lets be brutally honest...we've been terrible in it for such a long time with just the odd flirting of getting to the back end of it...got a really poor record when drawn against Super League clubs.

I think he will though...he's been massively impressive so far in everything he's done! He's hit a couple of snags like the defeat to Leigh last season and the friendly loss at Fev this season but on the whole has had a brilliant start to coaching at the top. He's got a side playing out of their skins for each other....we're looking supremely fit which for me is by far the biggest difference from previous seasons...I loved what he did with the current players getting in touch with past players to find out history of the club and what it meant to past players...a brilliant initiative...he's a very smart bloke....

The way he took us to Saints with a gameplan to go there and have a go and believing we could win and not the old just try and spoil and keep the score down...he's not been afraid to throw the youngsters in with the likes of Hall nailing down a regular starting spot....Bowes, Aydin, Murphy, Shaw all tasting first team already this season and chomping at the bit for more games....I love the way he dropped Kelepi early on in the season...sends a huge message that no matter who you are, what standing in the group you have as a player....if you're not performing you'll be out....that straight away creates a culture of players having to play to their best or they'll lose their spot to players playing well in the reserves....competition for places has never been more fierce and as they've already shown if called upon they'll not let us down!

We'll go to Warrington on Sunday absolutely full of confidence and will probably go with the same gameplan of four forwards on the bench against what looks a weak Wire pack...they may have a few back...the Aussie signing for one but that wouldn't concern me really...he wont be 100% fit and fully up to speed and I can't ever remember any Aussie signing come straight in and be a brilliant player straight away...they usually need time to adjust and get used to the game, their new surroundings, new team mates etc...

I can't see them being as bad again as last week so we will need to raise our game too for that...they'll be fired up as it's knockout stuff and over the years they've tasted plenty of success in the challenge cup so no matter how poor they've looked this season I'm expecting a totally different proposition.....the important thing for us is starting well and not letting them get off to a fast and dominant start and getting the crowd up on their side...we need to dig in and scrap and fight for everything early to stay in the game. If we can do that the crowd will get restless, the pressure will go up on the players and we'll benefit from that. Too many times we've got off to bad starts and been chasing games and that doesn't see us at our best....as long as we can keep with them and not fall a few scores behind I'd be extremely confident our fitness this season will see us home 2nd half...vital we stay with them early though...

Hopefully wins at Wire are like buses....none for years and years and then two together!!

2 huge games the weeks after this fixture. So the cup distraction along with the draw of playing a team we just upset the timing of it is less than ideal.

They are going to be very motivated after the boos rang out on Saturday, and it's obviously going to be a big ask but confidence should be high.

I'd much rather pick up 2 wins the following weeks than win this game but we need to go and have a real dig. Confidence is a fragile things and the last thing we need is to go in half hearted and be on the wrong side of a big score.

Key as ever is injuries and keeping bodies fresh. It was a fantastic effort on the weekend hopefully the team have a low intensity week this week focussing on recovery. Keeping the lads fresh and picking up wins in the next 2 SL rounds could go a very long way to securing our place in SL in 2023 and give us a solid foundation to recruit early this year.

Yep, this weekends game will be a much tougher ask, Wire will want blood and we have to be at the top of our game.
We have shown that we are more than capable so it should be an interesting match.

Totally agree.

Agree keeping bodies fresh and free from injury is important as are the salford and cas game.a cup run will bring in revenue but as i have said in other posts for me this season is about staying up with the intended ground improvements due as i see this as where the club will move forward most with the extra revenue rhis could bring

Listened to the WP interview on Trinity Heritage over the weekend. He's very much in his infancy when it comes to head coach role, but the ethos that comes across should stand him in good stead. He's not only bothered by the on field rugby related stuff, he's into making his group be the best they can be inall aspects of their life which is all you can ask for in a leader.

They have just lost Jack Hughes for the game - 1 match ban.

Reading posts on their board they will be celebrating that one! Got to say I’m amazed there’s no mention of Rob Butler leading with the elbow! In the minutes they’ve got Philbin down for similar but saying contact was with chest…surely they’ve not got players mixed up? 5 minutes into the 2nd half looked clear cut to me! Thankfully no mention of Dave though…was worrying he might have been looked at for a high tackle late on!

We’ve been staying up for 20 years ,let’s all please change the record and have a dig at the challenge cup ,one big player for wires missing due to disciplinary Wires on their uppers ,and all we can say is we have some league games coming up ,jeez .We owe it to the players past and present to go out on Sunday with our strongest possible squad and give it our all . What the hell is the problem ,keep the winning momentum going ,we aren’t some kind of vehicle that you can stop and start ,winning becomes a habit just as losing does, let’s ride that wave and see where it gets us. Nothing personal luppylad but we’ve been too long in the shadows and subservient to the big boys

They missed it I think because from what I watched it
Was clearly raised and hit Crowther first contact in the head.

Schoey predicting Wire to win by 28 points !!!!

TBF they might. On paper, they are still a cracking team and Powell is a decent coach.

I hope not but we will have to play well again to avoid it.

That said, again all the pressure is on them, even more so in this game.

Be an odd kind of justice in it, Powell was our nemesis at Cas for the best paper pf a decade, be great if we were his now he's the Wire

It'll be interesting to see what tactics WP employs.
Do we go with a repeat of last week and try and beat them upfront with 4 forwards on the bench and as much experience as possible or do we try and take them by surprise and try to go round them?
I have been impressed by WPs coaching in the way he adapts to the opposition. Against Saints was completely different to Warrington.

We still played faster rugby than we have done for years Was always looking to get rid of the ball when been tackeld, backing up was good too.. Far better than the one man rugby we have been used to for the last 3 year .WPs is transforming the way we are playing ,and by the look of it out fitness and long may it continue