We did most of our business very early, the crucial element to 2023 recruitment was obviously the pack, Mikaele and Nicholson came in early, and the others were sorted and signed very early in 2022. The two gaps are centre - which I doubt Powell thought was a problem at the start of 2022 - Wardle (didn't work out due to Huddersfield demands) and half back. My guess is that Powell expected Ratchford to take up that position, but as time has gone on, he obviously feels that Ratchford isn't the right fit for that anymore. The talks with Drinkwater seem very advanced and preseason hasn't started in earnest yet. I think some more players link up on Monday, with only Willams absent till the new year, some clubs as far as I am aware haven't started pre-season yet.

There has been a huge overhaul of the playing squad, if we are successful in bringing in a centre and a new half back, its likely 9 players will be in the 17 in 2023 that weren't at the club at the start of 2022. The change I think has been deeper and faster than most expected, if we can get Drinkwater over the line, I think the only issue is centre, which is disappointing given we seemed to be in a good position with Wardle, but sometimes things don't go your way, I don't think the club has done too badly tbh.

A good pre-seasoning and you'll be ready to enter the fray (bentos).

Drinkwater has now signed (finally).

I'm happy with that and i think with him onboard we're good. You can do much worse than Ratchford at centre, and i think he'll do a decent job there. Yeah he's not speedy but but he's skillful with good hands and a good kicking game. He's solid defensively and good in attack. I know everyone wants a new centre to come in but with Ratchford at left centre i'm not worried to be honest.

Ratchford at centre is not my biggest concern. He has nice jink, quick off mark & very good hands.

So is Drinkwater going to be confirmed then? Not seen anything. Should I ring the shop?

The announcement will probably be part of the spin for the Season Ticket roll-out.

No squad is perfect (apart from soooper dooooper Saints obviously who no doubt would defeat a combined best of Anzac team while blindfolded). I am a lot happier with this seasons squad than last. Just hope they gel. Ratchford isn’t the perfect solution to centre especially given his increasing tendency to run laterally and cut off space to the side, but is that any worse than last season with the out of form King?

Talking of lateral, or any worse than Mata'utia? If he puts his winger away with a timely pass presumably lining up with Curie and Ashton then that might work

the left wing probably has more chance of being put away by matautia than whoever is outside him.

Players tend to run laterally a lot when the forwards aren’t finding their way through and the team is stuck in their own 20. Take Makinson at the weekend as an example.

I think if the pack fires next year like we all hope it will, then we’ll see some better centre play than we expect. We may even be a little surprised. Remember how good Jordan Turner was on the wing for Cas, for the short time he spent there before retirement?

Interesting to see quite a few articles linking George Williams with a move back to the NRL. Seems like you might have a fight on your hands to keep him too.

It'd be quite Warrington to sort the pack and then end up with no halfbacks after years with the opposite problem

I'm sure it's just his agent setting the scene for a contract upgrade after his superb performances at the World Cup.

I wouldn't be surprised if we are a springboard back to Wigan tbh. Him & Wane seem to have a good working relationship.

I think the fact that we have Williams as a marque is huge in his retention. We have been blessed with world class talent in the halves on paper. Briers was absolute quality in the Smith era, then Sandow, Gidley, Roberts, Austin, Widdop and now Williams. It's so important to keep him around for the long term because we haven't had that since Briers. And since he's a marque we could pay him NRL money without it being a problem for the salary cap. And not only is that important for us, but the English game as well. If we can at least retain our own best players it allows us to keep our value. Lomax at Saints is a great example, he could have easily been paid big money from an NRL club to go over there but even though he's a pain in the backside for us, it's great that we have that kind of quality in our game.

I have no doubts that if we are talking to Drinkwater, we'll get that move done ,even with the current reported issues. But, if we don't, I'll back Leon Hayes to the hilt at #7. But I could understand if we go with Ratchford at #7, for Minikin to take his centre spot.

Surely that would have been the option he would have taken when he came back from the NRL?