I understand your frustrations, DSM, but I think you're being a little too harsh. Ive seen precious little RL this season. Some of our televised games, and a few others, pre lockdown. After that, a few games of NRL have been on in the background due to my insomnia. Yes, the Aussie game is far superior to ours, but, [iall that glitters, ain't (green and) gold[/i. Ive seen enough tosh, there.


That was the first Wire game I've seen since lockdown (wasn't paying much attention to the last 15 mins....doing a zoom quiz), and thought tonight was not too bad.
Ratchford oozes class. Superb from Austin. A little "in and out" from Widdop. Currie getting back to where he was, pre injury.

Keep it going, Wire. Nowt's won yet. Let's just keep on the shoulders of Wigan, Saints and Leeds.

Sky commentators get no better, though

I've watched more of the NRL since lockdown than ever before and my feelings about it are largely unchanged. It's similar to how I feel about the football premiership - the matches [ifeel[/i like an event by virtue of the better coverage, presentation etc. but the entertainment value is often lacking, and some of the teams I've seen have been woeful.

In terms of tonight's match, I enjoyed it. I thought Austin, Widdop and Ratch combined well and Matt Davis was excellent. As for Ben's try, well, the Harvey's Bristol Cream has never tasted better.

Jake Mamo looked good. No doubt Gelling will get his place back next week. Samy Kibula had a good debut.

I enjoyed tonight’s game. We scored some great tries with a little flair. We started too slowly but defended well. If we want to be at the top of the competition come play off time, we needed to batter Wakefield. And we did. We didn’t best them by a little bit, it was 36 points.

Was it perfect? No. Was it enough to give us hope we are heading in the right direction? Absolutely.

We looked better than against Rovers, and Huddersfield, in terms of structure in attack and defence. In what felt like a free flowing game, the shut out was well earned and deserved due to playing as a team and everyone contributing. Yes, there will be sterner tests to follow, but that 80 minutes looked like we were on the right path.

If you think some of the NRL sides are woeful, Lord only knows what you make of the majority of the SL sides, most of whom wouldn't get within 20 points of even the NRL's worst. As for entertainment, I'm not sure what the knock-on-athon of SL has that keeps you glued to your seat?

I can definitely agree here.

Phil Clarke actually applauding the most amateur short kick off I've ever seen from Ryan Hampshire.

And as for Kallum Watkins' role as Sky Sports' latest BLM stooge?... Christ, you think they'd audition him before they let him loose in front of the camera?.. Poor lad was like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights.

Clarke really is becoming a running joke. Constantly "bigging up" the plucky underdog in every game. If Mike Tyson was facing the local pub drunk, circa 1987, he'd be extolling the chances of "Big Jeff" rather than the Heavyweight Champion.

As for this BLM campaign, its 6 months down the line, now. I can't remember a "cause" lasting this long. All lives matter. Respect matters. Let's move on.

Thank God I don't give Sky my money (bar my Ibroadband) anymore

Take your time, you're an intelligent bloke (which makes it a little more worrying) and have a real deep think about the genuine (non Daily Mail etc) motives for such a cause.

As others have said, it's not the NRL. Fans have been clamouring on here for some more constructive play from the Wire and last night they got it. The team showed some flare and a number of individuals looked to be much closer to their best than we've seen this season, including pre-lockdown. Wakey woefully short of their best players but the twenty minute spell in 2nd half when Wire were defending the line constantly was a typical 'momentum' spell when some errors and a few consecutive calls went their way resulting in a spell of pressure, and Wire's defense held up. All in all a quaility showing by Warrington.

I don't dispute most, if not all, NRL sides would beat every SL side but that is by virtue of having superior players and playing a low-risk error-free style of football , not due to elaborate attacking moves or sophisticated gameplans.

I saw more consequitive passes, offloads and risk taking in the Wires game alone than in an entire round of NRL games but that means more errors. Most on here would rather see that than the five drives and kick to the corner than is the modus operandi of the NRL and has been vilified when we've employed it.

No complaints about last night. Wakefield deserve credit for turning up and having a crack but ultimately there was only ever going to be one winner. There were a few handling errors but, on the whole, discipline was good. We didn't try to score on every play but, when chances did occur, by enlarge we took them. Austin and Widdop look as though they have finally been introduced, Ratchford put in another classy performance, Currie showed some of his old form, Mamo was solid, Matt Davis was lively and Kibula had a decent enough debut. The only disappointment was that I don’t think that Daz Clark has been at his best since the return (not really a bad performance but the expectations were high that the new rules would suit him).

A bigger test next week but both teams have the same 5 day turnaround and Hull FC look as though they have picked up a couple of injuries.

What's worrying about having reservations about a mainstream TV company openly showing prejudice and bias in the appointment of its employees?

Not picking a fight, and agree he was a bit quiet yesterday, but I remember a couple of years ago we were bemoaning the fact that all we seemed to have was Daz's scooting from the PTB in our armoury...I'm actually happy to see more dummy-half distribution to a half-back pairing and back line that is starting to fire on a few more cylinders: if that means less individual brilliance from Daz on show then I'll take it

Don't disagree with that but do think Daz has been quiet but showed a lot more last night and quick PTB's should suite him and us as a whole even if it is not a scoot but a pass.

Ntable shoutouts for me go to Matt Davies and Jake Mamo who both impressed and took their opportunities for a runout.
Great to see Currie looking a lot like his old self as well

I really enjoyed the game, something I have not been able to say on a number of occasions in the recent past.

It also means he saves a bit more energy as he doesn't have to do everything on his own. Keeps him fresher for the season and will help us out as the season progresses

. He had some great runs during the game and i've no complaints with him at all.
I get it was against a weakened side who suffered 3 injuries during the game, but it was enjoyable to watch.
Austin had a smile on his face for the first time in awhile, Widdop is definately finding his feet now, Currie is getting back to his best, Mamo should keep the centre position ahead of Gelling in my oppinion, Kibula solid debut for me no complaints,.
All in all we played very well, if we can keep that up against the likes of Saints, Wigan, Leeds etc i'll be very happy

Probably.. I think what my issue is with the game is that, without a crowd, there is an absolute lack of intensity in the matches and RL without that intensity is a very hard watch, particularly if the quality isn't particularly high.

What I'm getting from ALL the games at the moment is a feeling of glorified training sessions - teams going through training drills, lots of mistakes (which are met with nonchalant pats on the backs, rather than the sound of derision from the crowd) and well, as mentioned, a lack of oomph.

Overall, I think it's turning out as I worried it might without a crowd. It just lacks that something and without it the competition doesn't seem right.. I think, while it will be nice to come out on top, there will be a huge sense of anti climax for whoever wins this year's title and, almost bizarrely, I'd prefer we didn't break our title hoodoo in this season's scenario.

Perhaps ,from the ashes of covid will emerge a more skilful & distantly evasive game without a need for unnecessarily close physical contact.
I must say though ,i thought the cardboard crowd was pretty noisy last night.

Nice of Sky to join in the fun too, with a similarly cardboard-like presenting and analysis team.

CARDBOARDIST!!!!!!

I have a box upstairs which doesn't errrrr and ummmm as much as Jon Wells, and has more insight into the the game, than the erstwhile Yorkshire plant pot.

Well I enjoyed the match yesterday and that is in stark contrast to a lot of Wire matches I have seen over the past year or two. I thought there were quite a few positives. The number of errors is reducing, albeit it slowly. I didn't see players running laterally when we got to within 10m of their line (and giving a nothing drop off pass). Austin gave a performance reminiscent of his first year with us and together with Widdop, provided a lot of cutting edge. Hill has stopped giving away daft penalties and moaning to the ref. As previously mentioned, Currie continues to get better although I wouldn't say he is back to his earlier vintage yet. We didn't pick up any injuries, and we nilled the opposition. All in all that was an encouraging result and should keep morale high in the camp. Not a bad day at the office surely ?

Agreed WO.
I'm not getting carried away as it was clear to me from early on that we'd win against a depleted Wakey team.
We need to back it up against the better teams.

Really feel sorry for Wakey - down on numbers and injuries to key players like Tupou.

This season is weird - for obvious reasons. Whilst I do enjoy the matches I can't wait to see GI next year.

Even the Daily Mail has distanced itself from the "All Lives Matter" movement now.

It didn't fit with their stance on migrants in dinghies and ending coronavirus restrictions.

One player who is going under the radar a bit is Toby King. I thought he was excellent once again on Sunday and seems to be getting better every week.

I’m delighted for him as I have seen first hand how hard he works and that is shining through now in his performances.

Yes, I have watched him from the U19's and chatted to him a couple of times and I really like his attitude. I think he has definitely got better over the past couple of years. I can remember him holding on to the ball last year and trying to score when a pass to his wingman would have been a certain try. Those days are long gone and he knows when to pass now. Then there was his fragility in defence. He was stuck in the back row for a while and that has really taught him how to mark and tackle. Obviously he is not a superstar like Inglis, but for me he would be an easy choice for the 1st 13 and if he continues to progress perhaps an England player as well.