I'll take 14 now if on offer.

I can totally sympathize with the points you make Lefty.

I've found it increasingly difficult (until this season) to find the motivation to get to games, purely driven by the style of play now on offer.

I think we were lucky on a couple of fronts through 2011 and 2012: our style of play was brilliant to watch, and in the main it was successful. I could stomach the lack of GF wins (even though I thought we 'deserved it'), purely as we were fun to watch.

However, the rot had already set in for much of Super League by then, with the dual effect of dropping standards (driven by fewer and lower quality imports), and a change in the style of play. We were saved from this by a coach who encouraged open play and players who embraced it and had the skills to exploit it.

Since then, we've lost those players, not been able to replace them with
adequate alternatives (I don't lay the blame for this on the club, as I'm not sure who else we could have brought in: quality options just don't seem available), and had to adapt our style both to contend with other teams and their changed approach, and utilize the players we have; I don't think this is Smith's natural style (it's not how we played under him at first, or Leeds before that), but I don't think he's had any other choice given available resource.

Now we have no forwards who can offload like Solomona, Carvell, etc, our halves have little creative flair, and our backs (apart from
Atkins) seem devoid of any real attacking prowess. We still have some good players, relative to their peers in SL, but the nature of the game has changed and the standard has dropped. I reckon Saints in 2014 were by a distance the worse team I've ever seen be crowned champs; things have improved a bit since then, but not much.

We've remained competitive through this period which has retained some interest, and for me personally this year has offered the chance to get my eldest daughter interested in the sport. But I largely have little interest in many neutral games now as the entertainment Lefty refers to just isn't there.

With any luck Cas can do something this year to change the view on how to win; ideally Wigan will bomb too, to prove the alternative doesn't work, but I fear the bad will out, and the current vogue will continue for a while yet.

This for me is a stronger reason to switch away from Smith than the fact we haven't won a GF under him, or lost our first 6 this year. I no longer remain convinced he is the best man to lead the players likely to be at his disposal to victory in a league played under these type of conditions.

I expect (hope?!) this is just a phase and the game will evolve back into something worthy of being called entertainment again, as dummy half scoots and 'attacking kicks to the corner' really don't float my boat.

I've been feeling the same for the last two years now. Just can't be d at all. Went to Catalan away and been to Leeds at home but that's all this year. I'm still "interested" as will watch on TV but the whole game just isn't interesting me as much as it used to. I used to wake up on game day looking forward to the game but lately I just couldn't really care less. Thought it was just me getting old but obviously I'm not the only one feeling like this.

Not just Warrington, super league in general is poor at the minute. The recent salary cap changes won't make a dent in the problem either.

Sad.

This ^^^

I like Smith and I've enjoyed what he's done for us. However in sport every so often a full 'reset' is what's needed and a whole new and fresh approach. Even with last years exploits, the team didn't look like a champion team, and 2015 / 2017 have showed that Smith is unlikely to repeat the glory years with the team he's built himself.

I feel bad saying that, but I feel it's the truth. Who is out there to replace him? I really don't know. The good young British coaches are now tied down to good deals at their respective clubs. Maybe time to take a punt on an untested Aussie assistant? Would wait until the end if the season of course, to ensure we at least stay up this season. The downside of that is that there's nothing left to look forward to this season - I expect an early exit from the cup and a finish in 8th/9th as the only game we've won convincingly was against Leeds and even then it was touch and go for a period.

Probably where you are now... again.

Actually that's not very fair.. there is a large section of this board that would like a new coach.... and they have been consistent in saying the same things after victories and after defeats.

So they haven't really gone anywhere. Not really the same story for the people on the other side of the fence, so to speak.

Here's what's not very fair, the posters that try to eek out ANY form of positivity, or clutch onto ANY glimmer of hope are labelled ostriches, superfans and happy clappers, whereas most of these posters have tried to take a balanced view.

Read the posts and I think you'll find that most aren't totally happy with the situation, it isn't a case of blind faith idiocy, they realise that something has to change and that is where there is discord, the what needs to be done about it and when. Is it a good thing that the mantra of the negative posters are so consistent week on week, you seem to think it is? Whereas I don't, it's often simplistic and dull IMO. If there is a win, well it was only against so and so, it should have been by more, it should have been more entertaining.....

I'm not crying in my beer btw everyone is entitled to an opinion on the causes and remedies of our current situation, it's a shame that it is in such a state that we find ourselves with a fence to be divided by. It shouldn't be a case of anyone going into hiding should the team get a result that doesn't suit their agenda win or lose how daft would that be?

Too true, I want a new organ grinder and monkey. I'm sick of hearing the current same old tune.
TS is being carried off the back of what we achieved with a Paul Cullen squad.
I don't care if we won the double in 2017. He's been a flop.

If we end up in the middle 8's it'll be the first time in this clubs entire history that we've ever played outside the top flight. 140 years. And we'll be doing it with, on paper, one of the most talented squads in the league.

The way we're going we'll lose to saints, get banged at magic then we've got another double bank holiday fixure weekend the week after. We can't drop any more than two more games all season. If we do, we'll be stuck in the middle 8's.

Find some positivity in that.

Moving On, it's either been said by you or another poster that we'll lose our top flight tag if we don't make the top 8 well I'm not convinced. It might be a different part of the same season but it's not the same as relegation, play in the middle 8's and we could of course drop down a division at the END of that process.

Anyway, having read your post here are the positives "most talented squads in the league" must give us a chance of turning it around and perhaps more telling you start off with "If" and pretty much end with "If" with a run of predicted defeats in the middle.

So yes it's hard to "find some positivity in that" but that's the way you've written it, it's not happened....yet

Surely losing your "top flight status" only happens when you start the next season in the Championship?

I think if you end up playing teams from the Championship as part of your regular league season, having lost the right to play the best of your peers, you would be clinging to that outwardly but would know inside.

Top 8 is a separate completion to the middle 8. Though we may not officially dropped out of superleage, we will have dropped out of the top flight competition.

If we lose on Friday which we are very capable of doing, and Leeds lose at Catalan which isn't impossible at all. It's a 4 point gap to 8th and the middle 8's looking likely.

I suppose theoretically the mid 8 is akin to a comp for those teams that would had been gameless throughout the premiership playoffs and lucky enough to have not finished bottom like the yoyo teams Salford Leigh and Oldham were.