How is it we are very weak in the centres?
Gelling, King, Brand & Burrell isn’t a bad quarter!

Typo - quartet

We have depth no doubt, how many of them would opposition fans want in their 13?

Burrell was a good Union player, he hasn't looked SL quality YET in his time with us - still much to prove.
Brand gives us depth but is unproven at this level
Gelling for me is a step down from Goodwin and has proven inconsistent in all the teams he plays for.
King is running out of time to prove he is a top class SL centre.

There are definitely questions about our Centre, Loose (If Clark is played there) and 4th prop positions if we want to become Grand Final winners.

Toby King, at 23, is a year younger than Ryan Atkins was when he signed for us. Back then Atkins was far from the finished article so there is still chance for King to develop. This season, with a half back combination of Austin and Widdop, he will never get a better opportunity.

We know what Gelling can do. The key here is consistancy so we need other centres breathing down his neck.

Brand and Burrell are, each in their own way, more of a gamble (the sort that you have to make when you are limited by the salary cap). Brand has shown great promise but has yet to be tested in SL. Burrell has played Union at the highest level but can he adapt to League? (it's been many years since he played the one true code). Unfair to judge on limited appearances last year. Not only did he need to relearn the game, the biggest challenge was to achieve the correct type of fitness. Having seen the team photographs it looks as theough Mr Gardner and his team have virtually rebuilt him. He's in his 30's so it's this year or never.

Kings a fine SL centre, he may not be jamie lyon or keith senior, but he gets over the line at a decent rate, he defends pretty well and when given the ball he can put his centre away.

I honestly don't get why people have such a grudge against him. He's doing ok. Don't lump all the failings of the team last year on him.

Donn't get me wrong, I've always liked King, and I think he is a decent SL centre who came in to the side with much promise (as all Warrington youngsters who make it to first team do). I'm certainly not one of the ones who has been critical of him. But he has to prove to me he is good enough to walk in to another 'top 4' side. At the moment I feel Oliver Gildart and Mark Percival are far better players, that's the standard i want him at. I'm not writing him off - far from it - I want him to prove to me that he is good enough to fight for international selection. That's the level I want him at.

Edit: Just to add, my first post wasn't really meant to be overly critical of any of our centres, I just feel as a pairing they don't offer a massive amount of threat. If we had King as one centre and a Jamie Lyon in his hayday as the other, I'd be more than happy with King in the centre, its about squad balance, at the minute I just dont think our centre pairing offer a great enough threat.

I have no grudge against Toby King but my thoughts are the polar opposite. I can't understand why a team with your aspirations still persists with him! I know he was a big young hope at the Wire but the promising youngster tag hasn't in my opinion been removed or upgraded. A potential champion team can't afford places to be filled with sentiment!

Explains why his winger doesn't get put away.

They are.

They didn't they were all on the I blame Patton bandwagon...

i also think Price will will approach the new season with a different mentality and playing style.... everyone knows that the league form wasn't good enough and the rugby on display was poor.... he knows we cant start this coming season like that if he is to remain in the job.... I would imagine he has been very busy this off season with how we will be tactically.

We did start well last year well and there are positives to take from that....We also saw that the players can perform under pressure in the cup final.

Alot more of the deadwood has been removed and replaced.... The squad is re-energised and the management will be absolutely clear on whats expected now... There are alot more positives than people think.

Toby King is OK, but he's just that....ok. For a team with title aspirations he's the player you would want as the back up, then you have strength in depth. He's not going to be a difference maker as a starter.

The worry for me is that he is the best of our current centres.

I think King could be in the same calibre as Chris Riley, who did well for us, but when he was here, he was the weakest of the regular starters in his position, as the others were Hicks/King/Monaghan. To be real title contenders I'd want us to have King as the 3rd or 4th best centre in the squad.

In the past we've had centres like Bateman, Davies, Kohe-Love, Hunte, Grose, Domic, Gleeson, Matt King, Bridge. We didn't win the title with any of them but they were streets ahead of the current crop.

3rd to 5th place beckons, then we can all agree it "wasn't acceptable given the ambitions of the club" and look forwards to 2021.

Don't make the mistake of confusing people saying Patton is not good enough (which he is not) with blaming him for the team performance.

Price is responsible for the team performance.

A weak pack is responsible for defeats not Patton who is good enough and behind a dominant pack was.

I can recall many world class half backs who have flogged a dead horse over the years and got nowhere near the success Patton had last season.