After the challenge cup final wet bore match and most of the season seeming to lack fluent rugby i feel after a number of years of advancement within the game as a whole the brakes have been firmed slammed on and now were going backwards entertainment wise. I have always been a season ticket holder with the Wolves since the first year of the Wolf pack at Wilderspool and remember days of sharing the terraces with no more than 2-3000 fans. Freezing cold in a falling down stadium. Then the advancement of summer really lifted us and suddenly the professionalism really came through, the pace of the game was amazing huge forwards fast backs dynamic play.
Just a shame we were between inconsistent and then massive underperforming for most of this time. Then Tony Smith came in and restructured the club and brought in fast risk tacking rugby with discipline off it totally changing Lee Briers game within a few months of shipping him to the reserves and then cup wins !
I would say the last 3 years though the brakes have been applied not to our club so much but more to the game - we seem to have gone backwards and have a game resembling the Union version with stop start games and knock ons littering the matches so as I have seen this worrying trend i have thought ill shame my views online before the decline starts to bite and hope some of you can constructively help the club rather than turning your back on it ?
This might seek out the long awaited sponsor but also get us better coverage media wise
I have listed below some of the issues i can think of in order of importance and my opinion on how to fix things.
1 Play off's - the structure has devalued the regular rounds and become a lottery won by the club next door to Red Hall. - // Cut the play offs down to 5 or 6 in my view means more scrapping for places and the top team gets another chance the rest dont.
2 Promotion and relegation / has resulted in the clubs who would would have been in the mix to go down going bust instead. Bring back P&R with those in championship vetted on ground suitability and business plan. -
3 Speed up the play the ball back to how it was in 2009 2010 -ban wrestling technique tackle once player is grounded , teams must release and if player walks forward from attacking side or off mark its a penalty
4 Bring back the shoulder charge - or "the big hits" get the players to sign disclaimer to say they wont sue the league but can sue each other if they cause damage - the rule to be governed by the high tackle rule. So go for the big hit but if you make contact the head and cause injury your off - sin bin or red card
5 Change the Rhino ball its like a plastic water melon having kicked it about in the wet this week i experienced it first hand what a huge hinderance to our game it is ! Its the same as a tyre with a nail in it for a F1 car!
How this hasnt been sorted yet is beyond me . Rhino have had all year lets try out all their union balls and maybe swap it to the best one or just get a Steeden one and print the Rhino name on it - its an embarrassment to them as a company I wouldn't buy another one trust me.
6 Daft kick off times which are inconvenient for Familys - Sky and the RFL must give 6 months notice for all games IMO - or bring out a scheme where if your ticket ends up being moved last minute you can sell it to another fan through a ticket website. Or get a ticket for a play off match for free or something.
7 Warrington dont do any promotion i am aware of - Wigan do a fantastic job with the Big One and the Hudds game attendance was great were well behind their sales and marketing team. - Lets just ask them.
8 Bring back the 2nd team - end partner clubs its been a disaster.
9 The RFL are like a school governors team and unable to run it properly need to be reformed
10 Make more benefits for season tickets like free play offs extra time for final tickets etc
Any other comments welcome but it would be good to feed something back to the club to get them to push the RFL a bit more to make vital changes? I know its not everything but its a start!