A lot of people convincing themselves “we’ll be great when we “buy two big props”

Is that burying the head in the sand of the major cultural issues at the club?

The investment in the playing roster in the last 10/12 years has been astounding with very little to show for it.

Do players sign for Warrington because they want to and they’d die for the shirt and hungry to improve and succeed? Or are they going because of the big contracts offered ?

The team is not short on talent, international props Cooper and Philbin, two Marquee half backs, international hooker in Clark, international back row Currie, England knights captain Walker, natural try scorer Charnley, Holmes and Mautuai were stand outs at Cas. Ratchford England squad.

Loaded with Talent but not playing to their potential on a consistent basis and all going missing in big games for the last 5 or so years (CC win in 2019 papered over cracks)

Play off defeats against Cas, Hull, Catalans in reason years I couldn’t help but wonder if the players couldn’t wait for the off-season to start rather than work for a few more weeks to try and win a title.

The club seem happy to be a top 4 team as long as the gimmicks keep on going Greg Inglis/Wizzy Rascal/ cringe marketing (big pie smash)

I’m not sure how it changes, you’ve tried signing players from good environments (Williams, Charnley, Hughes, Widdop) but rather than change the culture they seem to slip into type.

Hopefully the change of coach is the answer but it’ll take a few years to find the right character of players not just 5 games.

You have the talent to compete for both trophies each year (if anyone can with this Saints team) but might take a few patient years before we see true progression.

Opposition coaches have worked out that all they need to do are long kicks into the Warrington half and we do not have enough grunt to get us back into their territory to give us an attacking platform with our 5 play the balls.

I think it is clear that Saints and Catalans are already head and shoulders above the rest of the comp. This weekend has been a massive wake up call for us and similarly Wigan. Interesting that both scorelines were almost identical with Cats & Saints putting in a benchmark display of defence. The Saints defene was relentless. Great line speed all night. Even towards the end when we were throwing it about a bit, they were closing us down quickly and forcing mistakes. TBF we matched Saints for the first 20 minutes and i thought it could have been a closer game but sadly we never looked like scoring. I also think that the Saints attack is nothing special. They just grind you down and then take their chances when they produce. I mean, we even had more line breaks than them in the entire game but failed to score.
I think this weekend shows that us and Wigan are still miles behind Saints & Cats. But the season isn't over yet. and we could pull it together at some point and start performing to our potential. Powell has to be given time as he clearly has his work cut out.
I agree with some comments ref dead wood. Three players we are clearly carrying and make little contribution most notably: J Clark, Philbin and Hughes. Ok, they are tackling machines at best but they're not even aggressive in this aspect of their game to make me think we should keep any of them.
Ratchford i feel cops a lot probably because of his age. But i thought he was safe on the night and was clearly trying. We have Thewlis, and i know he played on the wing which isn't his prefered position but i thought he had a mare and looked very shakey.
We certainly miss an in-form D Clark. I know it is difficult for Clark & Walker behind a beaten pack but i'm not even sure Walker has proved himself as a full time replacement for Clark yet. I like him, he's a tough cookie but i'm still not convinced yet. Wasn't there two passes going to the dummy running by mistake? He should have recognised that and delayed the passes.
Bullock and Cooper did ok in the first 20 minutes. Philbin & Mulhern got absolutely battered when they came on. It was almost embarrassing. Mulhern, for his size is like another Warren Stevens. Huge frame but little punch.
Widdop/Williams. Both are underperforming. I feel Widdop gets more stick than Williams for some reason. At least Widdop was hitting his straps last season. I thought he would continue this year but it hasn't happened yet. Williams is trying but he looked so frustrated in the Saints game. You could just tell it wasn't working for him.

The trouble is, BH, that we tried to do the same to Saints ON THE THIRD TACKLE, yet we don't have the firepower to [ibox them in[/i in their own territory.
A poor, bordering on stupid tactic, by Powell

I've not watched thegame back yet, but the gameplan from Warrington seemed to be a mess. It was like a cheat sheet of potential ways to impact a game just thrown together out of desperation. The kicking early as you mention, the constant attempts at a 40:20, the desperate playing for penalties when you had the ball in your own 20 and having one man (Usually Widdop or Williams) shoot out of the line to try to disrupt the Saints attack. None of them worked and the shooting out of the line resulted in several offside penalties, Williams in the bin and Welsby's try at least, if not more. With all that going on your attack just looked disorganised and the attacking structure wasn't there. In the second half it became just throwing it sidewards as quickly as possible without ever really committing anyone or working an overlap. It was like you were playing the last 30 seconds of a game for the last 20 minutes.

What's going on with Darryl Clark? Is he playing with an injury or is it just an accumulation of years of knocks leaving him in that state?

He got a neck injury during the match, but also he has accumulated a fair amount of knocks over the past couple of seasons, and it has been a while since we have seen him at his best, unfortunately.