Quote: easyWire "I know you’re emphasising the irony a little here but it’s an interesting point. Price has said he wants to instil the right attitude from the juniors right he way up through the system and that he’ll be working very closely and be very hands-on with those aspects. I’m not saying that will serve to control all bad attitudes but it may help to give more realistic expectations and encourage juniors to bide their time.
If you look at Wigan, there’s a high level of discipline and standards from the bottom up (since Maguire?) and despite the many youngsters that roll off their production line and don’t end up staying at the club, you don’t hear of many attitude problems over being dropped etc. Look at Tierney - he’s Wigan royalty yet he’s accepted his place and it’s not on the flanks of his hometown club.
The sooner all the players subscribe to the new regime, the better. Most of the seniors seem enthusiastic about it and wanted a freshening-up of ideas.'"
The senior players will be key to this. Not only do they need to show they are behind the new regime but also show some leadership on the field in the early part of the season because the ability of Price to stamp his mark on the club with a new attitude will depend almost entirely on results.
If we win 10 of the first 12 games and are top of the league and Price wants to call out a player for not showing the right attitude, the player will know that it's fit in or be shipped out, and he will see Warrington as a team going places and if he knows whats good for him he will sort his attitude out. If it comes down to a battle of wills between a disgruntled player who doesn't like being called out by the coach, he will know that there will be only one winner and he won't get much sympathy from the senior players if they are flying high near the top of the league.
If that same thing happens and we are won 4 lost 8, this forum will be full of posts bringing up Price's record as head coach at St George, saying "he might be good at putting the cones as assistant but he ain't no head coach", "he's the Aussie Agar". That young player knows if it comes down to a battle of wills between him and the coach, he has a good chance of winning. If we have been losing games its likely the coach has also called in to question other players' performances so there will be a few who are in the same boat. They can moan to each other, text each other "this Aussie doesn't know what he's doing", smugly sulk and go through the motions at training knowing that after a while as long as results stay poor, the coach will get the sack before they do.