Whilst we have Darryl Clark we can't really afford too much cap space for a reserve hooker that may not even make the bench some weeks. We were right not to offer him a new (bigger) contract at the time, for both us and him. I'm glad he is doing alright at a good club though, he's a hard worker and seems a good lad.

Other than Harris and Sculthorpe, I can't think of any player who has left us who I have really regretted having left, unless you count Cooper who returned.

Mike Wainwright was one who we shouldn't have let go, he improved when he went to Salford and he was better than the second rowers we had at the time. When he came back he was a good player in his second spell. DVDV didn't seem to get the best out of him so it was probably better that he spent that time away.

Other than that, like most on here I had some personal favourites that I didn't want to leave:

Dave Highton: A young Highton looked really good, he had a lot of energy at hooker and was tough as well. I remember an early game he played when there was a massive brawl at Wigan and he was getting stuck in to guys like David Furner and Terry O'Connor. I thought, this lad is hard and not afraid of anything. Unfortunately he failed a drugs test and got sacked, and injury ended his career a few years later.

Paul Noone: I had really high hopes for him, I thought he would be a GB international. He did quite well for us for a while and then looked like he was on the verge of breaking out into something really good and then a couple of injuries disrupted him. When he came back, Westwood had moved into the back row and Noone was on the outer, and he seemed to fall out of favour with Cullen. But after he left he never did anything that suggested Cullen was wrong.

Kevin Penny: I preferred him to Riley, even though Riley was more polished coming through, as he had extra pace and was more exciting and I thought he would hurt teams more than Riley would. But the team was better when Riley replaced him, and after he left, he never did anything to make us regret it. It was nice to get him back for a while, like Toa's return it gave some closure after the way they left the first time.

Rhys Evans: He looked really promising when he came in to the side, injuries seemed to do for him. I used to think our fans gave him a lot of unfair stick, but over time you had to accept that he had gone backwards and there was no sign of things changing. I think TS had a lot of faith in Evans as he persevered with him for a long time. I was sad when Evans left but he became a lower league player after he left - which he probably was for his last year or so with us.

Gareth O'Brien: I would have preferred us to keep him around in the squad and think he was slightly better than Patton in the halves. But his best form came after he left at fullback and he wouldn't have displaced Ratchford. For his career it was better than he left because he got to be a starter elsewhere, but he's not the type of player to interest the top teams.

He did enough in 2020 to win a Challenge Cup Medal.

Ricky bibey has 2 of them

Andy Farrell’s dad. You’d think he’d be able to spot a good player wouldn’t you?

Livett was offered a 3 yr contract with Hull KR in April of this year, but Salford being nearer home and as you say the economics for a young lad paying out rent / bills / and other expenditure out of his low wage was a no brainer when Ian Watson came in for him in May. This contract was a done deal back then and with regards to not much game time for HKR, TS explained in his interviews he needed to roate the players that were staying not leaving..hence Livett not much on the scene, same as Brierley and a few others. Alot of the youngsters over the years, such as johnson, wilde, moran, smith... all these were exceptional players in the U19s and Briers raved about them as a team... they jump to SL and are used as and when required and given no explanations when they are dropped. No player welfare what so ever is involved. Lets hope all these lads kick on and get the chance they all deserves elsewhere as we all know our club isnt the best or blooding the young..

You've got me thinking who I'd class as our best signings over the last 3 years.

Cooper
Austin
Hiku (skillwise, not blaming anyone for the home sick card)
Goodwin
Charnley
Ashton?

Widdop and GI are huge names to we have signed too, performances aside. Wonder if this is the scouting team or commercial teams who sanction/initiate these signings.

I'll say that Cooper & Charnley were known to be decent. Ashton score 10 billion tries in 20 games for Swinton so credit to getting that acquisition done rather than scouting (maybe a little harsh)

Where are Johnson, Wilde, Smith & Moran now?

Were they exceptional players? Or were they good for their age group? It's one thing a player looking good in a group consisting of players between the age of 17-20, it's a whole different aspect them proving themselves against players aged 17 - 37.

I think Blake Austin has to be a good signing. He needs a playmaker with him. Is being asked to create with the ball & virtually do all the kicking. He is a runner. His form (when he first came with all the tries & top of man of steel until injury) ... was as good as can be expected from any signing. Not many/no half-backs are outstanding every game and I think we expect so much from him.

wilde (and going back a page) and paul noone are good comparisons for livett, noone was a very popular figure, but if you were to go back, he wasn't very good at anything in particular, he wasn't blessed with pace, he wasn't a devastating tackler, didn't have great hands ,i spoke to cull pre season 2007, he said jumped at the chance to sign vinnie anderson, so we'd have some passing in the back row.

An excellent post. Add to this that improvement doesn’t follow a set trajectory, so some players peak will be as an 18 year old while others will keep improving.
The players we let go are far more noticeable than say Wigan/Saints as they have a bigger pool. Can’t see many Saints fans complaining about Costello or Ashworth leaving for example.

You are correct Peter Farrell is one of the Warrington scouts.

However Johnson was signed on the recommendation of the England Academy coach at the time. (Lee Briers).

Briers selected Johnson as the player of the series after the England v France games and persuaded Wire to pay a transfer for him, in Johnson`s move from Castleford.

No doubt they will deduct it from Briers next wage!

This is one of the big problems with hype - it's always based on players being good against teenagers or amateur teams. You hear how such and such a junior team was packed with stars and then comments from well meaning family or friends who say I remember playing with him in the junior clubs and you could see he was a class act etc.

It all counts for nothing till they play with pros. The more games they play, the more the truth is revealed. Some players will have a good start when nobody knows them but then when other SL coaches and players have video tape on them and start sussing out their weaknesses the challenge gets harder. So you get a lot of players who come out with hype around them, or have a handful of good games early on, and then things start getting harder and they can't adapt. I have respect for guys like Riley and Cooper, who had some difficult times early on and had people doubting whether they would make it, but came through their first challenging spell (in Riley's case because of form and for Cooper a difficult comeback from injury) and established themselves. Also sometimes they players who are able to handle the pros are not the ones who were most hyped - Toby King didn't have a big fanfare around him when he arrived but he has done a lot better than those who did.

With some of our players that haven't made it, people have said well its because of poor coaching at Warrington, players can't develop, but if that was true they'd go on to other clubs and fulfil their potential, but that never happens. They just go off to lower SL clubs or the Championship. Meanwhile guys like Briers, Westwood, Bridge, Grix, who all signed for us before being formed as SL players, all developed in to top players, under the same coaching that supposedly ruined others.

When a player has 30 to 50 SL games under their belt, you pretty much know what a player is. It's rare that a player who is average at the 50 games mark turns into a great player by their 100th game. Holding out hope that guys like Livett or Patton are going to be great players is kidding yourself. They will have SL careers but not at the top clubs.

Yeah exactly - Wigan and Saints will churn out a load of players who aren't good enough for SL, a lot more who aren't good enough for a top club so they filter down to the lower clubs, and 1 or 2 a year who are worthy of a top club. Warrington do the same apart from the last bit.