The lucrative part of the season starts at East Hull.

Points for is poor for us but then you look at points conceded and in context it's not that bad with the exception of the Saints game in which we conceded 6 tries.

Huddersfield 2 tries
Salford 3 tries
Wigan 2 tries
Hull 3 tries
London 3 tries
Leeds 3 tries.

So if we can get to 20 points a game we have the defence to see it out

Lucrative? Everyone knows, that despite the Challenge Cup having the history, the competition everyone wants to win is the Grand Final. You're classed as Champions, you get to play the NRL winners.

I'm sorry to say, the Challenge Cup seems to be dying on it's backside. Poor crowds, Sky not interested in televising any games desipte having the rights to do so, amateurish coverage by the BBC (mainly camera work and commentary)

I thoroughly enjoyed our 3 cup wins, it's a fantastic weekend away, but I want us to win the Grand Final now, that's it. Another cup win would be a nice bonus, but the Grand Final is the big one.

On reflection we have had a horrendous start in terms of who we have had to play, we will get better once the partnerships start to gel and I have to say the second half against Hudds we did look so much better.

The challenge cup is only lucrative if you're
a) Lower league v SL (for the lower league club)
b) In the final

And even if you are in the final and win, your only reward is the trophy and a cash bonus probably. Nothing else.

Why do people always say things like this. Things can (and quite often do) get worse.

Doom

Edit: This is a general point about everything, not Warrington's season.

"Doomed, were all doomed!"

Private James Frazer

hasnt it always been that way

It's nothing to do with winning.
It's about reaching the CC final and making between £1m-£2m in merchandising.

I still have major reservations about the Myler-Ratchford axis but I think the time has probably come to stop experimenting and try and let things settle down and see where we are in a few weeks.

The next three league games are games we really, really should be winning and we have Wood & Harrison due back anytime, so with the exception of those two I'd go with the 17 that were on view at Huddersfield and try and establish some consistency and confidence, for better or worse.

Looking at the match "highlights" it seems that we have finally started score points and not by depending on kicks. This has got to be a big step forward in our improvement

My prediction all through the off season which I bored everyone with as usual was that our season would pan out like this

1. Before the season started lots of denial from our fans about the players we had lost: we don't need more forwards because we have got England coming in and young lads can step up, we don't need a new halfback because Myler will step up, we won lots of games without Briers before, look at Wigan they lost Finch, Leuluai and Carmont and people wrote them off and they won the double, why can't we?

2. When the season starts some major anguish as we find out we are badly missing the players we have lost, Smith being criticised for the first time.

3. As the season progresses we have mixed results but struggle along to a playoff position so things don't seem quite as bad as they did.

4. Season ends in a damp squib as we go down quite easily in the playoffs to the first decent team (eg Saints/Leeds/Wigan) we have to play, cue more anguish from the fans again and major post mortem/inquests about how half the team needs shipping out and TS has maybe taken us as far as he can.

So far I see nothing to change my prediction that this is how it will turn out.

The only thing I'm surprised hasn't happened yet is major calls for Kevin Penny to be in to turn around our season. I would have thought we would have had this by now because remember, Offiah and Bevan couldn't tackle either, there's no substitute for pace and we don't have anyone that can go the length. A few more defeats and maybe Penny will emerge as the great hope.

How much worse are we than last season when you take the same games into question ? i may be wrong but i think we are the same.
The loss to Wigan at home was counter balanced by the win at home to Hull all other games have gone as per last season, so even though we are not playing anywhere near as well, we are on par with last season and we have played the top 4 sides in 7 games ?

...and playing the top sides is a measure of where your at.
Unfortunately we lost all 3.
Hammered in 1st. (Saints)
Showed our backs lack of confidence in 2nd. (Leeds)
Embarrassed in to submission with forwards and displaying our downward spiralling kicking game that gets worse with each week instead of improving!! 3rd (Pies)