Some interesting comments about Powell, culture, and our social media messaging goading Wigan. I skipped to 45 mins from the end. Apparently Wire's shortlist panel was Wane and Powell.... His comments on Wigan culture explain a lot of the differences between us and them. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 0677310125

Some interesting comments about Powell, culture, and our social media messaging goading Wigan. I skipped to 45 mins from the end. Apparently Wire's shortlist panel was Wane and Powell.... His comments on Wigan culture explain a lot of the differences between us and them. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 0677310125

Yes. Heard it last week.
Nice how he always referred to “we” as Warrington. And Wigan as Wigan.

I think the club has a lot of growing up to do in terms of professionalism i.e. getting past the silly social media ploys. That stuff was for when we were small time 20 years ago.

Regarding the Powell-era, I'm really surprised that it became so toxic. The big mantra was leadership and humility, but it doesn't sound very inspiring. Humility is something that Powell should be able to inspire in a group. Sounds like he dictated by punishment. Shame, because the soundbites from the training videos were really good.

The goal of Burgess is the same as Powell, but If I had to describe the difference between the two, it would be that Powell's approach is "I'll [itell[/i you what to do", and Burgess' approach is "Let me [ishow[/i you how we do it".

I'd heard that Powell used to call the local lads 'The Cheshire Set' and would infer that they were soft and this was the reason why we weren't successful. Sounds like that really hit the spot with Coops.

Quote ="easyWire"I think the club has a lot of growing up to do in terms of professionalism i.e. getting past the silly social media ploys. That stuff was for when we were small time 20 years ago. '" Hear hear. Remember the bill boards of we are going to smash the Pies or something? Oh yes 'The Big Pie Smash’. https://youtu.be/oYhWV97i8TA We got beat 28-0. Wigan coach Shaun Wane said: “I thank the Warrington marketing department for doing my job for me. A few of the players thought it was a bit disrespectful.” I wonder if this was a Fitzpatrick initiative ...

Quote ="easyWire"I think the club has a lot of growing up to do in terms of professionalism i.e. getting past the silly social media ploys. That stuff was for when we were small time 20 years ago. '" Hear hear. Remember the bill boards of we are going to smash the Pies or something? Oh yes 'The Big Pie Smash’. https://youtu.be/oYhWV97i8TA We got beat 28-0. Wigan coach Shaun Wane said: “I thank the Warrington marketing department for doing my job for me. A few of the players thought it was a bit disrespectful.” I wonder if this was a Fitzpatrick initiative ...

Quote ="Wires71"Hear hear. Remember the bill boards of we are going to smash the Pies or something? Oh yes 'The Big Pie Smash’. https://youtu.be/oYhWV97i8TA We got beat 28-0. Wigan coach Shaun Wane said: “I thank the Warrington marketing department for doing my job for me. A few of the players thought it was a bit disrespectful.” I wonder if this was a Fitzpatrick initiative ...'" That’s was corny and a hard watch to see it again.

Quote ="Wires71"Hear hear. Remember the bill boards of we are going to smash the Pies or something? Oh yes 'The Big Pie Smash’. https://youtu.be/oYhWV97i8TA We got beat 28-0. Wigan coach Shaun Wane said: “I thank the Warrington marketing department for doing my job for me. A few of the players thought it was a bit disrespectful.” I wonder if this was a Fitzpatrick initiative ...'" That’s was corny and a hard watch to see it again.

Interesting listen, thanks for sharing. Some really interesting stuff around the comparisons of Wigan & Warrington - none of them surprising. Also amused by the irony of ‘Its Wire DNA’ marketing push in 2023 when it’s clear Powell had ripped out the DNA of the club!

This for me is where Chambers’ role is so important, coaches will come and go - even successful ones have a limited shelf life. What’s important is that the fundamentals of the club aren’t ripped up when new coaches come in. Of course structures and processes evolve over time, but it’s Chambers job to make sure the changes ‘fit’ in with the club. I hope we don’t (but expect we will) get calls for ‘Chambers Out!’ as soon as we hit a bad patch of form and people are calling for the coaches head ‘what does he do anyway?’

Chambers' role as DoR is important to ensure this consistency. My only concern of the appointment is that I would have preferred someone who had succeeded at the very top of the game professionally (knew what it takes to win the big prizes and had done it) and had an international profile to help with recruitment. We will see if he can help bridge the culture gap to Wigan.

I really liked the Chambers appointment. I'd heard him speaking about rugby before & knew his undoubted love of the Wire. Any outsider was, in my view, more of a risk. I think we have a very high profile coach which ought to help with recruitment ... though I think money usually talks. Chambers has been in post for a while now. If we just judge by results he's done OK ... just think what position we were in when he was appointed. He was a good call. Everyone is striving to be like Wigan ... and most are miles off.

Yes fair enough. Time will tell if it bears fruit.

So long as we are hard to beat and play with guts and determination to the end of the game the DNA will be restored.

Just listened to it and there are a few points that i found strange overall.
He had a big love in for Steve Price and reckoned we were really strong in the period, especially defencively. That strikes me a bit as we had the alledged tiff when he barged past him down the tunnel. We also had a few poor runs under Price and we just could not get over the line with a GF win. Coops seemed to think we should have built on that era with a new coach and not rip everything up like Powell did. We all know Powell was a disaster. But looking back at the time i think fans were happy for him to come in and rip everything up as we wanted a winning culture. We now know Powell couldn't deliver that or went about it the wrong way. But without hindsight he probably was the best fit at the time.
Interesting to hear his thoughts on the subject of Powell and his poor signings etc. He clearly had a bad opinion of the local players which Coops didn't like. It's a shame he left in the way that he did. I suppose once he moved to Wigan he realised what a winning culture looks like. And you can see that the club was run as a bit of a joke for a while ie those Fitzpatrick gimmicks and social media posts.

The podcast never asked the question why we bombed 3 home playoffs in a row if all was peachy under Price. We must remember this is one side of the story. The truth will usually be somewhere in the middle.

"Once he moved to Wigan he realised what a winning culture looks like" - this is exactly my point on the DoR position.

Good point, there are always two sides to a story in these situations, I like to hear both before making a judgement. Now I have not listened to this podcast but from the comments made it strikes me odd that under Price it’s said he says it was peachy but it’s also said about bombing out early each time.

So I’m looking at that and thinking oh we were happy having a good time getting paid etc and did not bother about where we finished and that was the culture here. Then he says he saw what a winning culture was at Wigan, I’m guessing they take you out of that comfort zone and made you work harder ? Clearly Powell got it wrong and now under Chambers and Burgess we get it right.

It's the old debate ... how do you get to be like Wigan? Is it possible to change one man in the club in order to make us similar to Wigan ... I doubt it. Warrington is not the same as Wigan & we produce so few players in comparison & our supporters may be more fickle. Hard to believe it but Wigan have had low spots over the years. The fact that they are doing so well now with salary cap restrictions is special.
If we just judge our success with being as good as Wigan we might live our lives totally frustrated.

Just can’t help yourself.

Don't quite understand the comment. Which part are you taking offence at? Explain please.
Why are you sending me personal messages and then deleting them?

Really speaking , both Saints & Wigan have some type of culture whereby when players and/or coaches are replaced the broad success continues from one season to the next. Saints last season had a poor season, by their standards , but still managed to reach the play offs.
Is that a great culture at both those clubs or maybe highlights the lack of continuity within the rest of superleague ?

I think we have moved on by the number of youngsters we have played (with success) this last year. This probably has something to do with Chambers ... but it might just be a bit of luck.

First point - one man could have changed Warrington. Shaun Wane. But we chose Powell.

Second point - I suspect our fans are [umuch more tolerant [/uthan those of Wigan or Saints. We tolerate the ridicule of "always our year" and most fans don't expect GF wins. Those clubs' standards are far higher as are their fans expectations. You call it fickle - I wouldn't use that word. The low points of both clubs are not too far off our high points of the last 5 years too.

When did you last see Wigan or Saints end a season narrowly avoiding relegation and keeping their coach? Or a Saints or Wigan side losing 3 home playoffs in a row? When do you ever hear a Wigan or Saints player use the phrase "there or thereabouts".

It's a different culture and mindset.

In terms of "judging success" Wigan are the current benchmark.

Totally with you that Wigan are the benchmark. We will never know what Shaun Wane would have done ... not even sure he wanted the job.

Course he didn't! He gets to contest two games a year as England coach then swan around like the king of Wigan sitting next to Peet at the pie dome!

Shaun Wane was never the solution on his own. That's why he called the Warrington job 'a poisoned chalice'... He isn't the reason behind the Wigan culture, he's a symptom of it and also an important cog in it. There are a plethora of reasons that make up the winning culture at Wigan (including the stream of local talent) and if we want to emulate that here it has to start from the top down. Hopefully we are starting to see that high salaries, big paydays for past-it players and catty social media is not a recipe for success on the field.

The appointment of Burgess will no doubt help on the field, and the current crop of local young talent will hopefully be the shoots of a new ethos within the club. It's important that we maintain that mindset going forward of having players that will put their body on the line for the club when the chips are down, rather than a coffee-shop culture where everything is peachy and the players just plod on regardless, thinking about their next latte on Monday morning at training.

The danger is when Burgess leaves and a new coach comes in, and we trust them with yet another big culture change.

I think that's where the appointment of chambers comes into its own, it will be his responsibility to ensure the work we are doing now at all levels are the same throughout so the previous three years of work is still relevant at first team level, the appointment of a new head coach will be based on how we work and operate as a club not on their individual achievements previously. As mentioned above Wigan are the benchmark without doubt but they appointed a relative unknown head coach in Peet and he's worked wonders within keeping that club winning mentality because all the coaching staff at all levels work to the same standards and that most probably comes from Radlinski ensuring the right people are in the right place

Decent post and good points although I'm not sure that any blame can be laid at coffee.

I'm hoping that when Burgess eventually does leave, we won't be heading for a "big culture change". You see it in now Association Football and at the successful RL clubs, the system is set as you say yourself "from the top down" and the coach comes in playing with the cards that are being dealt to him largely by the club's hierarchy.

Rollercoaster management is bad for business, it's usually expensive and doesn't guarantee success, well certainly not the long term legacy sustainable type, which is what we need to aim for as it's vital in a financially constrained sport such as ours.

The standards are set at the top and run through everything they do. People like the following:

1. Radlinski (GB, England international)
2. Wane (multiple GF winner as coach)
3. O'Loughlin (GB, England international, multiple GF winner)

ensure that continuity. If Peet leaves - they remain.

When Burgess leaves we will have

1. Fitzpatrick
2. Chambers
3. Gleeson (GB, England international, multiple GF winner)
4. Marshall