IIRC plenty of us hoped him taking over would go as smoothly as the last couple of changes where the assistant had taken over from the senior man. As I recall nobody at the time said that he was hopeless and we should steer clear.

Can't disagree with that.

The pool of talent in last few years hasn't really helped Poaching. From the snippets I have heard about him did appear he was bit too nicey nicey around the place, and some of the players saw him more of a ''mate'' than a coach.

Interestingly enough, there's been a few whispers that has been the case with McClennan. Whether or not they're true, we will never know!

From my albeit limited info and from what I've witnessed myself, I'd have to agree with that.

most teams no matter how good they are need a change in coaching personel every so often just so fresh ideas and tactics can be tried
it also stops players becoming too complacent about their places and improves focus on trying to get a place in the starting 13

as for the u20s no doubt there will be at least 1 player thats failing to impress now that leaves the club only to return in a few years as an established super league player, just because they didnt roll every team over last season doesnt mean poaching wasnt a good coach, the cream like clarkson will still rise through the ranks to reach the first team

Looks to have been a good swap from the Wire side of things.

Maybe from our POV as well since our junior teams seem to be going pretty well, despite or because of losing Poching I don't know.
So looks like a win/win situation.

Has it really?

Not many Wire fans gave Jimmy Lowes credit for being assistant coach when we won at Wembley twice....so why would they give Willie Poching credit for our current form?

All this Lowes v Poching stuff is just speculation from fans who have no knowledge on their respective abilities on the inside, the diverging fortunes of Leeds and Warrington reflect more the difference between Brian McDermott and Tony Smith.

Correct!

It makes me laugh people commenting on how poor Lowes is. How can anybody comment on his input, unless they have seen what he does at training first hand.

Although, having said that. I would argue that its not just the head coach, its the whole management/support team that has an affect on fortunes of the team (aswell as the players obviously).

...yeah but he has a little piggy face and his eyes are too close together - my mother said "never trust a man whose eyes are too close together".

Foetal alcohol syndrome: not his fault, his mother's!!