I see there keeping there old guard on for at least another one year. Adrian Morley, Ben Westwood, Micky Higham and Brett Hodgson (2 year deal????) have all signed on the dotted line. There in danger of going down the Wigan route of a few years back if you ask me.

did anyone ask you?

You could be on to something. At least the super league team you're coaching won't go down that route; what team is it again?

I am, of course, joking. But I'd hope that SAints make some bigger announcements that Brown and... Manu, is it?

Warrington have a strong, well balanced squad. They've been coasting all year and find themselves in 2nd comfortably and in a Cup Final. The likes of Hodgson, Morley, Briers etc, whilst not being able to play every week are still performing well in the big games. Tony Smith is handling his squad well, slowly bringing the young players through and is obviously a very good coach. I don't see any decline next year and it'll be once these big game, experienced players leave that Warrington will hit a cross roads (like ourselves and Wigan beforehand) and may start to decline.

I thought Adrian Morley rolled back the years with his performance on Monday. Top class effort. 36 at the end of his contract he will then surely retire or have a year at Salford as a swansong.

Warrington are in a different position to us. They are a top, top side and need to maintain rather than improve. They've got some outstanding younger players like Ratchford, Atkins, Evans, Currie, Hill etc and have a squad that can be rotated. They can rest their key players without much risk of losing and Smith has planned this season brilliantly so far. Only the Challenge Cup can stop them now, particularly winning it. That might take the edge off their momentum, but if they get past that they are set for the double IMO.

Ye, another year for the old guard, but, more importantly, another year for all the younger players to learn off those older ones.

Rather than Gareth O'Brien be left exposed in such a vital position, he gets to slowly learn his trade from Briers...Similarly, Hill will learn from Morley, Ratchford from Hodgson, Currie from Westwood, etc.

When these guys do eventually move on, the younger players will move into their spots with minimal disruption....The future looks very rosey, and looks to be very well mapped out by Tony Smith.

It doesn't necessarily work like that. Those key players have a huge influence on your team and it's difficult such quality and experience. Losing Briers, Morley, Monaghan and Hodgson at a similar time won't be easy as we have found out with Sculthorpe, Cunningham and Long even when we tried to phase them out.

To be fair, despite all the negative stuff from your supporters, you really aren't faring that badly - The problem is, you were royally spoilt back in the good old days, and it was always going to be impossible to maintain that standard without the odd bit of disruption.

Your main problem in the last couple of years has been in the coaching department, where, from an outsider's point of view, it has looked like your board have tried to cut corners by appointing guys who have not been upto the job of ushering through your younger players - With Smith in the hotseat at Wire, I'm a lot more confident of a smooth transition than if we employed a Royce Simmons or a Mike Rush/Keiron Cunningham type of set-up.

But overall, third in the league is a good platform for your squad to build on....You just have to hope that Nathan Brown is as good as all his supporters reckon he is, otherwise the Lomax/Gaskell/Makinson generation will be sadly wasted.

May be it took a two year deal to get him to reject the assistant coach job he'd been offered.

True, but I don't think the standard below is that great to be honest which hides our flaws slightly. Catalans have been the biggest improvers but are still a little inconsistent and don't have that big game mentality. Huddersfield have weakened and Leeds seem to turn up for big games only these days. Saints are a miles away from winning trophies. I can't see us making the Grand Final this year, I just don't see Leeds, Warrington and Wigan all collapsing in the Play Offs.



I agree with alot of this and I'm hopeful that Nathan Brown can get more out of the current crop than Potter, Simmons and Rush have. Wigan couldn't get past a Semi Final until Maguire came in and his mentality and strong coaching improved the Wigan side and they became Champions. He laid a brilliant platform and they have been allowed to develop under him and now Wane.

Makes you wonder how they manage it doesn't it. Managing that salary cap must be 'challenging'

Only Warrington can beat themselves, certainly - noone else is going to do it. Luckily they do have a bit of a record for doing that so some hope still remains. Their fans will certainly fly into a panic very quickly and easily and get right on the players' backs if things do go a bit against them at any stage in the playoffs - it's not a fait accompli quite yet.