Quote lefty goldblatt="lefty goldblatt"Shrugs shoulders in a massive feeling of underwhelmment.
I've not been as disappointed since Alex Murphy promised us a "top class coach", and we ended up with DVDV'"
Total opposite for me if this is true: I'm really pleased and think its the right appointment. Up there with bringing in TS in 2009 as a move that will get the club on the right path.
I would have been happy with any of McDermott, Wane and Powell and in the time since Price announced he was leaving at the end of the season, I've gone back and forth about which one of those I would want if given the choice.
I'd have been more reassured by McDermott and Wane's track records in winning trophies at big clubs but Powell has three big things in his favour:
1) He's been successful in different environments: Leeds, Featherstone and Cas were all different situations and he improved each one significantly from the situation he inherited. You never know how Wane/McDermott would do in a different environment (unless you can read much into McDermott at London and Toronto).
2) He's improved players that he's inherited or brought in as non-obvious signings. He changed the culture at Leeds from expensive big stars to the young hungry squad that TS later won with. When he took over Cas in 2013, if you saw what his 2017 squad would be on paper you would have said that looks like about 8th in SL, not one that would dominate the league season. He hasn't been a coach that has indulged himself in galactico signings, he has an eye for a signing and seems to improve guys when they play under him.
3) He plays attacking, expansive rugby. This will be a welcome change for us. One of the most creditable things about Cullen during his time here was he had a philosophy about us wanting to be an attacking team, from his early days ('get the nails out of Jon Clarke's feet') to wanting the pitch specifications at the HJ to be wide so he could bring in attacking strike players. We've lost that since about the mid point of the TS era, but I think Powell will revisit that. If the knock on him is "he hasn't won things and has come up short in big games", well that has been where we have been in recent years too...but I'd rather we came just short playing expansive positive rugby like Cas did, than what we have had recently.
I know people knock him for his dour Yorkshire demeanour and tendency to have a moan in press conferences, but he seems to be well regarded by players that play for him. I get the impression he's a serious coach who has no time for wasters and showboats and won't be trying to bullpoop the fans or players by trying to 'say all the right things'. Also people have complained about the 'jobs for the boys' culture at Warrington and he doesn't strike me as the type of guy who will be doing favours for people who aren't up to the job.
There are no guarantees with any appointment but all things considered I think this is a really positive move for the club and it has lifted a lot of the cynicism I've felt towards the club for a while now.