I'm getting really excited and hold much hope going in to the new season. I'm hoping the new coaching structure will bring a big turn in our fortunes fairly soonish, in the same way Smith dramatically changed our performance and results when he arrived. First and foremost, we should be patient and give Price the time and space he needs. That said, with the new energy, players and returnees, I don't don't see why we can't win our first 6 and more. Firstly though, I'll be happy if there are signs of effort- that will make an instant improvement on last year. Anything else will be a bonus during the early rounds.

Although untested as a unit, our pack should cause at least a few problems with these players on the pitch at any one time:- Hill, Clark, Cooper, BMM, Sitaleki, Currie.

I think we have so much to look forward to this year with some exciting recruitment and new coaching staff. COYW

Haven’t watched much off him tbh, just gone off what I’ve seen a few people say so I might well be wrong but either way definitely an improvement on Brown, Patton and Gidley as well.

Leeds could go either way (inspite of any preseason games, both teams will be "rusty"icon_wink.gif, I expect a loss away at Hull, and wins in the other 4 of the 6.

As others have said 3/6 in March is not 'relegation zone' for a brand new coach with a very new team. There will remain lots of time to continue to gel and improve our results. Equally, to sack Price for not getting in the top four at first time of asking is crazy - the sort of idiocy that goes on in Premier League soccer. I'm also puzzled that you'd sack Price and appoint his (presumably also guilty of poor coaching) assistant even for a few months: what happened the last couple of times we tried that? I am as ambitious for the club as is anyone here but heaping on the pressure for instant magic after the money our directors have splashed out in the close season is totally unreasonable.

And so it begins. The roller coaster which is being a Wire fan.

The other thing to consider alongside the time required for the new team to gel and to perfect Price’s style of play, is that there are huge changes behind the scenes from the bottom up.

I don’t know how Price will go as a coach but as a ‘Head of Rugby Ops’ he’s already impressed me with the structures he’s building below first team level. It might just be that missing link we’ve needed to be properly successful as a big club (I don’t think you can count Warrington or Hull’s recent trophy successes on the same level as Leeds, Saints and Wigan, nor the the success of the youth system).

So lots to be positive about even if we lose 3/6 early on, and finish outside the top 4. Onwards and upwards.

EDIT: A lot of people point to Price’s record in his first head coach job at St George. As well as being fairly young and inexperienced for a head coach at that level, it’s worth comparing his record to that of the now legendary Tony Smith in his first job:

“He first season in charge saw Huddersfield relegated to National League One, which consequently followed their dreadful start to the season losing 13 games in a row. A record number of consecutive defeats for a coach who held on to his job in British Rugby League”

We all know what Smith went on to do with Leeds a season or two later...

My expectations at this point are quite low.

Last season we were a team in a relegation battle.

We have made changes but they are changes with question marks over them. The new coach had one previous head coaching job and it went badly. We have signed journeymen type players plus one guy who has done well in SL in BMM. We lost to Widnes in pre season when we had a fair few of the first team squad out against the worst team in SL. We've scrapped the reserve team.

I'm not writing us off, but I can see exactly the kind of criticisms which will be filling this board in a few months time by the hindsight brigade who will say it was obvious we hadn't done enough in the off season.

I think we will be between 6th and 9th this season - my main hope is that we avoid the bottom 4 but I don't see us being close to contending with the top teams. I would guess we will win 2 from the first 6.

The difference there was Smith took over the worst team in SL, had a bad start but turned them round and by the end of his third season he had made them more competitive than they had been in years. Price took over the NRL champions and was sacked during his third season after overseeing a period of decline.

Fair points. For the avoidance of doubt a lot of people were hoping for another signing(s) to the forwards. A team relying on the likes of George King, Philbin, Hughes and Crosby won't win SL in my opinion.

I think we will do better than last year and make the 8 but that's about it. By mid-end season the talk will all being about building for 2019. We fell a long way in the fag end of Tony's reign.

I wonder if by mid-end season a lot of the talk on here will be about Andrew Henderson.

We have the opposite situation to Agar, who was a scapegoat on this board for us doing badly. Henderson is rated highly, and seemed to tick every box at London in what you would want from a coach.

As SL teams start sacking their coaches, Henderson will be linked with the vacancies. If we are flying high then it will just be accepted as a reality that he was going to get picked up by someone else, but if we are struggling there will be calls for Henderson to replace Price before we lose him. I wonder how we would feel if we were in the bottom four at the halfway point, and one of our rivals like Huddersfield or Widnes sacked their coach and appointed Henderson...

If we were bottom 4 mid season, I think Hendo would already have just taken over the roll of caretaker head coach.

I'm not really going to bite Sally on the Widnes/Huddersfield comment, but, do wonder if there will be sackings as a matter of course in this year's comp and if there are any, who's vulnerable based on expectation, recent track record, time in post etc? I think it will be a stable year all round.

Whatever happens in our first 6 games and beyond I expect our management team to be given time to sort the job out here unless Henderson opts for Wigan when Wane gets his marching orders

If we go 3/6 it's almost likely well be 3/7.
3/7 is a third of the regular season over.

Pies won't settle for that!!
Radlinski would be caretaker coach quicker than you can look up his name to see if I spelt it correctly.

3/7 = 9/21 leaving a remainder of 2/3rd. I'll give you that as a win....
So 10/23....20 points at round 23....THAT IS THE EXACT POINTS POSITION AS LAST SEASON!!!
That equates to BOTTOM 4.

Are some of your getting this yet?

It just isn't good enough!!!

Are you going to be happy with the repeated comments of 'the season isn't over after x's games'?

Lots of ifs and buts here and despite your dramatic use of CAPITAL Letters and exclamation marks one thing that YOU'VE got to get is that NONE of THIS has actually HAPPENED!!!!

oh I've got that alright UR sorry ur.

It's a reply of shock from how posters after last season are completely happy to settle for what we were dished up a season earlier after all the investment that has gone into this season.

I expect results to mirror the owners ambition and expectations.
It Shirley cannot be that like seeing a dump of brown smelly stuff and a stick on the pavement and hanging around long enough to see if it turns to candyfloss?

it could of course be you not getting it. I think most people expect significant improvement over last season but what they are aren't demanding is some kneejerk response after 6 games. You can't extrapolate a win/loss rate across a whole season from 6 games. Based on last year we wouldn't have won a game all year if that was the case. Instead I, and I suspect many others, will be looking for an improved playing style, structure and attitude based on new personnel and coach. If those are visible after 6 games whether we've won 3 or 6 then I suspect we'll be on a solid improvement gradient which is fine with me after last seasons debacle.

Don't get me wrong, with players like Ratchford, Goodwin, Roberts, Clark, Currie and BMM we could do pretty well this year but it probably needs a little time to get going. Happy to be proved completely wrong by us winning 6 out of 6!

Could it be just possible that the team had given up on playing for Mr Smith who was apparently disillusioned with coaching RL. Hopefully our first choice players will come out firing on all cylinders & take SL by storm.

It looks to me that TS had given up on the team!...sorry¡

You are TS and I claim my £5.

This is where I am at. Every coach needs time to deliver, great if it comes early. Don't read into this me being soft on performance. There is absolutely no reason on earth why Warrington cannot be a side that continues to be in the mix for trophies going forward. There is no reason Warrington cannot have mental resolve to win SL, nor is there any reason we should put up with mediocre again. We just need time to clean up and regather after the train wreck. It was appalling last season, I bet there was all sorts going on behind the scenes. And to think some people wanted Tony to remain in place.

Anyway what will be will be. There is zero we can do to influence the results so no point getting animated about it.

It's never stable, there will be sackings.

Wane is very vulnerable if they have another iffy season.

Denis Betts - Widnes have a poor squad so will be at the bottom, and he's been there so long the board will see sacking him as an easy option if under pressure to do something.

Rick Stone - feels like Hudds are stuck in mediocrity.

Ian Watson: Salford overachieved last season which usually spells trouble ahead for the coach.

It shouldn't be, all he achieved at London was having a fitter FT team than the PT teams. When the Broncos came up against HKR and Toronto(CC Cup) (FT teams) they were second best. By his own admission when he left he said he had taken them as far as he could which was 2nd out of 2 FT teams.

Two games is a small sample size for judging, you can find a couple of losses for every team over a season. Melbourne Storm had bad losses to Gold Coast and Parra last year.

Although as your name is wire-quin do you watch London games? What did you think of them under Henderson?

I am pretty sure next year when SL clubs start sacking their coaches and the names in the frame are discussed, Henderson will be a front runner for SL head coach.

Hopefully we will be doing well and Henderson will regard this as more stepping stone time rather than jumping ship to an uncertain future at a new club, and then in 2 seasons time, after Price has won back to back Grand Finals with us and he gets an NRL job offer, he can leave us with happy memories and with the succession in place.

Interesting point on Price - the pressure is really on him. If he fails to deliver anything of note in his Head Coach role at Warrington, that will be twice he has not delivered in a top job and he will never get an NRL Head Coach offer. Succeed at Wire and he will have resurrected his career and his stock will have risen.

I like this situation - we will never doubt his commitment to deliver at all costs and I doubt we will finding him shrugging shoulders in press conferences like the results are irrelevant, bad performances are like Acts of God and league position is just another KPI.

I think Wire could/should go well this season. A collection of experience and exciting players, a new coach which always boosts a team, you should be there or thereabouts towards the play-offs.

The only problems that could arise imo are if the players dont respond to Price, if you get a spate of injuries and if any of the new players get homesick (Roberts).

On paper your first 15 are outstanding and exciting after that I feel its starts to get a little weaker.

Good luck for the season
Matt