Tidying out the loft and came across my old videos - and found the video player.

Cc semi final 2010
Warrington v Cats at Widnes stadium.

Great nights viewing.

Mathers, Riley, Atkins, King, Hicks, Briers, Monaghan, Morley, Clarke, Carvell, L.Anderson, Westwood, Harrison, subs Wood, V.Anderson, Solomona, Myler

Just how good was that side?
Pure class.
Forwards were animals, Briers was skill personified. Sublime kicking.

In the words of John Kear who was commentating for the Beeb after the 4th Wire try 'Absolutely sensational creative play from the Warrington Wolves'.
4 passes and 2 kicks across the line left to right then right to left - wow, just wow!

Solomona pass behind his back to set up Briers for the 5th - OMG. 'Worth the admission fee alone'.

Hat trick by Louis Anderson.
Benny Westwood kicking conversions from all over the pitch.....
Monaghan mom.

Result 54-12

And 12,000 wire fans made the short trip as well and weren’t we treated? This was the start of the peak Tony years, the next 3 years we witnessed some of the best rugby league this club has produced and I’m still gutted we didn’t win the grand final. You could pick any year from 2011-2013 we were the best side in the league but just couldn’t do it when it mattered and that stung at the time.

It's amazing how dull the game has become since the period 2000-2010ish. We've gone from some great attacking rugby to 80 minute slogathons. Such a shame.

I remember that game well. There was just no chance we were not going to win. For me the best CC was the previous year beating Wigan. It was magical.

That's why I walked out 20 minutes from the end of a particular borathon after supporting the Wire at all stadia in the league for nigh on half a century. Not been back since.

You should come & take your punishment like the rest of us Dave.
There was more excitement before the days of six tackles ,when the players worked 5 & half days a week & trained after work. The game now is getting like what we used to slag Union off for ,too much kicking. The powers that be obviously are fed with too much kicking because they brought six again in to generate some excitement.

I fell for this during lockdown and watched a few games from 2009/10/11/12 and while the justification is usually that the game has evolved, playing percentages, blah blah blah I’m not fully buying that.

The skill level was so much higher then. Even something as simple as passing from dummy half. Jon Clarke in particular could fire a pass off the floor and go 20 yards and get straight into Briers’ hands in a split second. There’s just too much messing with props pretending to trundle it up, only to pass it behind them badly to a halfback, who does the same block play, to another block play, to another block play. Snooze!

Just watch how many first receivers have to take the ball above their shoulders or round their knees in our next game. I often wondered why this basic skill seems to have waned.

Yes, that Wigan match was brilliant - and I forgot to record it and have never seen it since

I'd love to find that!

Quote: fez1 "Yes, that Wigan match was brilliant - and I forgot to record it and have never seen it since Here you go https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1426266604227532

Quote: fez1 "Yes, that Wigan match was brilliant - and I forgot to record it and have never seen it since Here you go https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1426266604227532

Like has already been said many times. It's hard to look back and put your finger on how that side (2011-13 especially) didn't win a grand final. Watching those replays and highlights on youtube, we were so clinical. Something we are definitely not today, and haven't been for a number of years. The team was quite formidable and could turn it on in big games. We were beating the likes of Wigan, Leeds & Saints regularly. We seemed to fall at the final hurdle with regards to the GF. I always feel that Wigan & Leeds had that winning experience to grind it out that we didn't. And then after Briers retired we didn't build on it and instead went backwards. The price years were generally average afterwards with one good CC win. We were poor in the GF and were probably lucky to get there in the first place. Now with Powell we seem to be a million miles away from the TS & Price eras like we've gone backwards at a rate of knots.

2011 and 2012 when we were at our absolute peak, we ran into an all time great Leeds team who were relentless winners when it came to playoff and Grand Final rugby. In those years we could blow most teams away with our attacking power but Leeds were good enough not to be blown away and to get us into an arm wrestle where they had enough leaders and players with experience of winning games of that intensity, to get the edge over us. Because we were a good side its easy to forget how that Leeds team dominated Super League - the 2012 win over us was their 5th Grand Final win in 6 years.

2013 Grand Final we got two bad injuries that disrupted us. Wigan weren't the great team that Leeds were but they were good enough to take advantage when we lost our shape.

Honestly speaking, with the exception of 3 or 4 games the Price years were awful. I'd rather have DP given the choice between the two.

One of the reasons I really dislike Wigan was because of this game. I hated their game play which I believe led to the 2 injuries you mentioned. Michael Maguire techniques are still prevalent - and now seemingly adopted by John Asiata.