Powell's a bit rubbish isn't he?

Signs a mate on a 3 year deal, falls out with him and releases him after 1 season ... you couldn't make it up

On the face of it, I think this is a great move and don't know what all the fuss is about if we use the freed up cap space wisely. For whatever reason it hasn't worked and most on here have been calling for his neatly trimmed ginger head to be axed for some time.

As a collective, we seem to want it both ways, he might do better at Leigh alongside Hughes, Mulhearn, Davis for a we'll show 'em season, but imagine the furore if Powell had persisted with picking him without any improvement in form? What we certainly can't be accused of is improving/wet nursing this guy for a rival a la Wardle for Wigan.

Fair enough, he hasn't performed anywhere near what his normal standard, and he might not have enjoyed the move after all and wants out. So it works out both ways, a fresh start for Holmes and it frees up a decent wage on our salary cap to use elsewhere. Win Win.

Fair enough, it’s not worked so move him on. We need the cap elsewhere. I’d much rather this than a stubborn attitude to make a square peg fit.

The fuss is now this is the 2nd player that Powell has signed on a long term contract only to want rid after 1 year. Bullock could be the 3rd. This speaks quite loudly on our selection and recruitment policy no?

Having said that I am happy he is going.

He certainly seemed pretty unremarkable on the few occasions I saw him. However I am wondering what happens to the remaining 2 years of his contract ? I hope we don't end up paying some of it like we are with Toby King's loan deal to Wigan. It all smacks of organised chaos to me.

Not only that but it completely betrays the culture Powell is supposedly trying to instil. Don't worry about trying your best at Warrington with a ruthless, professional, hard-working attitude because you can just go through the motions and have your contract paid up one way or another.

I suppose it does show Powell is willing to be ruthless where his mates are concerned which is good to see - but the whole picture seems shambolic.

I'm not saying that this absolves the club of any criticism as far as recruitment is concerned. I was hoping that Holmes was going to be a success, it seems a very long time (mainly because it is) since we had a SR of the quality of an Anderson, Westwood, Waterhouse, Solomona.

Maybe that's part of the problem and yes you would have thought that Powell had the mark of his man, but you can't have folk skulking about in the background and until we learn of the details of his departure then I'll reserve a bit of judgement on our retention as opposed to recruitment policy. I think we mostly agree that succession planning doesn't seem to be a department at the HJ but if we are continually subsidising half the league then I think it's to be expected that questions must be asked.

It's interesting, but not smart or sustainable .

A signing I was positive about at the time (don’t recall many being critical). Didn’t work out, moved him on.
Nothing is certain except death, taxes and the complete and utter meltdown on here when Warrington B beat us next season.

Would be interested to know what has happened here. Oliver Holmes is a good player, over his time at Cas he performed well fairly consistently, though had issues with injuries I seem to remember. Quality wise I think he was good enough to hold a spot down in our back row. I think he will do well at Leigh if that is where he ends up, and it looks like they are pulling a decent squad together (before the IMG drawbridge comes up).

Powell knew exactly what type of player he was getting with Holmes, knew his strengths, weaknesses, what he would bring to the culture / dressing room etc. Similarly with Powell Holmes knew exactly what he was coming into coach wise and you would presume they had plenty of chats whilst still at Cas over how and where Powell wanted him to play and what changes he expected to make at Warrington, I expect he would have wanted Holmes & Mata'utia to be driving that.

There are risks that all signings don't always work out, but with the signings of Mata'utia & Holmes especially both sides should have been well aware what they were getting. What went wrong with Holmes? Relationship breakdown with the coach mid-season when he was telling them all off? We didn't give him time off to work on his tattoos? Thought he could cope with playing on the right but couldn't? He was there as the fall guy so Powell could show he was ruthless?

Looks like we'll have James Harrison / Nicholson doing the same job for much less in 2022 and it looks like we need to spend the cap elsewhere so I think it probably is the right move. The fact we can afford to do this means it looks more chaotic than it is, most other teams would have just sat with players till their contract ran out before they made the changes, I do think as others have said though the fact we can afford to make these mistakes, seems to mean we make them more often.

Last try scorer in the Prediction Comp....a pretty long queue of ex P&B

Quote: Captain Hook "A signing I was positive about at the time (don’t recall many being critical). '" RE: signing reaction. It was mixed. A few "mehs", some getting very excited, and a general consensus of acceptance. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=634192

Quote: Captain Hook "A signing I was positive about at the time (don’t recall many being critical). '" RE: signing reaction. It was mixed. A few "mehs", some getting very excited, and a general consensus of acceptance. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=634192

All seems a bit strange if Holmes was supposed to be one of Powell's main pieces of the jigsaw. If Holmes is going to Leigh as has been suggested on another thread it will hardly be because of home sickness..