According to Abe hell be our replacement hooker for next season meaning he'll be on the pitch a lot of the time. I also think he's the sort of player Burgess will like unfortunately (probably even if it is just for his experience and goal kicking).

That would be fantastic agent work

Not if Salford sign him on a lower wage than they pay their current star half-back.

Sorry, yep, meant Leigh.
Old age that.

In terms of reflection on 2023 my expectations have now dropped to pretty much pre Tony Smith levels when an appearance in the play offs was a successful season. So maybe that 10 year period where we appeared in many challenge cup finals and grand finals was just a blip and normal service has resumed.

I can't help think that this season would have been very different if it wasn't for the antics of Josh McGuire. Maybe we would not have lifted a trophy but I think that we fell off a cliff when all that business was going on. After a while It became clear that the coach was unable to heal that wound.

I was impressed by Saturdays performance. Still lots to improve on but we competed.

If he won't be on the pitch all the time I dont think he will be our number 1 goal kicker next season.

Or at least he shouldn't be.

I had to check the date of the topic when I read it.

I'm hoping Hayes is our kicker next season as it means Drinkwater won't be playing.

Agreed and since Dishwater is a Quota player he needs to be moved on if he can`t make the 17 man squad.

He really is an atrocious half back. I've absolutely NO idea what he offers. His supposed strength is his kicking which is garbage, he's an alleged leader who went hiding when it was his time to shine, was shown up by a 5ft 3ins 18 year old and his defence is extremely iffy.

If all we wanted was a steady-eddy foil for Williams then a traffic cone would be as useful and off-quota.

All this half-back talk leads me to another 2023 reflection - Riley Dean played ONE game for us. Does he still have a future at Wire, realistically? I hope so, but especially with the emergence of Hayes, it's becoming difficult to see where he fits in.

I’m afraid it speaks volumes that I don’t even know which team he has been playing for recently.

Might be worth saying (as we are summing up the year) ... what a bloody good goalkicker Ratchford has made himself. I heard that he's got 27 on the trot (on Sky). That really is pretty unbelievable. He has been so good that we tend to take his kicking for granted. Won a few games for us.

And this is where Warrington need to get a massive grip. Dean may not have a future at Wire nor may Hayes but they both should’ve been thrown in more this season to find that out. They both would’ve offered more than Drinkwater/Matautia even if they’d have had stinkers. I was really hoping Hayes would play on Saturday but even ex-head of youth Chambers decided to bottle it.

I have a sneaking suspicion Burgess may well give youth more of a chance, I really hope so.

The stats from the match on twitter have highlighted the difference between the second rows on Saturday. I’ve always thought our second row is/was as big a problem as our centres this season. I know we have Fitzgibbon but I’d also like a large bullocking second row to go alongside him. Crowther as a squad player, Nicholson to loose and Currie demoted to squad player too.

The only good game I saw matautia have in wire colours was when he had Dean as his half back partner!