I appreciate we can't win every game, but the manner in which we lose is extremely disappointing at times and worryingly consistent. 3 off the top of my head, Hudds at home, first game with fans after Covid, Hull KR in play offs and weakened Catalans tonight. There's more clearly, Hull in playoffs year before, Catalans in CC final etc etc

After 20-25 mins tonight we have a sub 30% completion rate. That's untenable. What is it in us that doesn't want to go 20 up in the first half. Why are we so poor are bullying teams?

Do we ever look like winning when we go behind? We only beat Leeds after going behind because they played with 12 and then 11 players! 4 games in and we have put in 1 decent performance but that against a team coached by radford!

I have been watching the Wire for many years, and in recent times I feel we are lacking 1 key thing when it starts to go pear shaped - a leader on the pitch.

We desperately need someone with fire and passion in their veins who will stand in front of players and make them want to walk through walls for the privilege of wearing a Wire shirt. I think Danny Walker would be well worth a shout.....

Despite their classy monicker, Cas under Powell always had a few players who got under the opposition skin in one way or another - Watts, McShane, Millington, Massey and Gale weren't angels.

So how have we ended up with a mute pacifist as a captain, and a set of forwards impotently standing around whilst a scrum half struts round verbally bashing us?

It’s physics rather than psychology. We’re a forward pack of 15 stone carbon copies sadly. Who saw this coming?

We have no leader or effective captain. Hughes should be playing for Leigh as no doubt he will be next season.

We have no intimidating forwards.

We have no aggression.

There should be more than one leader on the pitch, making sure that a shift is put in, encouraging, dressing down and organising where and whenever it's required. Walker looks to have it in his DNA, but I don't see it in others. Something that DP needs to work on, and again brings to mind why on earth he appointed Hughes as captain.

Perhaps its a case of Daryl Powell saying "step forward who wants to be captain" & everybody else stepped back ,leaving the job to Jacko.

I have a little prediction competition with a few mates and picked Catalans to win. When asked why I said:

"I know, they're missing their 1, 8, 9, and 10 among a few others. But losing this one would be a very Warrington thing to do."

Whenever we're favourites against a motivated team we have a tendency to just think turning up will be enough. We'll then have a decent spell towards the end up but ultimately fall short.

While our lack of size is an issue this year, I think it goes back to the weak mentality the club has had for years. It's an issue Powell has to sort and not having an effective leader is a big part of the problem,

We can't be definitive simply because we don't hear the on and off field discussions, but I would certainly feel the major culprit is the lack of a forceful, vocal captain. If you look at the team after they concede a try you never see someone waving their arms, gesticulating, banging a fist into their palm, walking around the group and getting eye contact. That's the job of the leader / captain, regardless of how many senior / England players are in the team, somebody still needs to bully and cajole everyone to up their game. But we simply don't see that with the Wire team, instead a group of (apparently) disconsolate players gather near the sticks looking like a women's knitting circle rather than a group determined to up their work rate and hit back twice as hard.

Another possible culprit is attitude. Watching the warm up preparations of a Wigan v Wire academy game ( where you can get within 10 yards of the players ) you see a big difference in attitude. Wigan hit the tackling bags really hard, Wire look as though they are going through the motions and getting their body positions correct. All that can only come from attitude. Start with the right mindset and at high energy levels and you can take the initiative, demoralising the opposition. All too often we see Wire concede early tries followed by a 'spirited reply' which just falls short. Fans go home encouraged by the response believing the team can still win silverware, but the real issue of attitude remains unaddressed.

Those would be my two guesses; mental preparation prior to kick off and lack of a leader.

I took my missus to her first game of rugby on Friday and she knows nothing about it. But she made a few comments
One was, "the other team seem a lot more enthusiastic"
Another was "why do we take longer to get off the floor"
Basic rugby, that we can't even do properly because we think we've got enough 'talent' to win us games.

Strange you should say that ,i took my wife to a game at Wigan about 15 years ago & she said Wigan made the Wire look carp ,like a gang of amateurs even. Perhaps ,as Winslade says ,we should be developing a culture of improving confidence in taking on opponents in a dominant way & not being content with being gallant losers.

Wasn't Widdop the captain of St George Illawarra for 4 seasons?

Great post. Absolutely agree with this.