Would welcome players sprinting and looking fast, funny how the wigan players ran past us on the outside a few times, but i supose the conditions were different for them.

Really? The team looks slow to me but it is the Warrington way to promote size over speed and skill. Time to give Dwyer and Rhys Evans a shot. And why Riley is in over Ben Evans is beyond me.

I was interested to see the thread title as I came on to post the same thing. Speed was also our Achilles' heel last season - most of the squad are as quick as an internet dial-up connection from 1994. Last year we did have a kicking game and more dominance in the pack to cover it up a bit, but it's certainly being exposed now. Russell has to start and it's a mystery to me why Myler isn't used as a hooker rather than half-back, he does have some speed and good footwork (his try at Wigan last year) and I can see him being effective as a scooter (he made a good break last night)and dangerous near the opposition's 10 metres line. As a half-back playmaker he's having no impact.

we know none of the players are taking it...no ones actually talking to each other.

I was talking to a player about the training programme they follow and he said they do hardly any speed training which he didn't agree with. Based on this the coach has to take the blame for the players not looking sharp.

Well, I'm assuming TS hasn't radically changed the training regime in the last 6 months so if it was the right regime before, it should be now. I wouldn't have thought our wingers need to be taught how to sprint anymore than they need to be taught how to breathe.

But then, if you look hard enough you'll always find an excuse for your own failings.

I agree we aren't the quickest side in the world, but one of the major problems is that we have 3 half backs, who between them couldn't make one decent half back.

Its ironic we have had a thread on here discussing the merits of Andy Gregory and John Woods and now in an era where the game has supposedly improved, we are presently having to endure the sight of Myler, Ratchford and O'Brien absolutely stinking the place out - Their lack of tactical brain, kicking game and overall ability is staggering.

Ratchford is the only one I see a future for at Wire, and that should be in the centres... The other two guys should be replaced by some half backs with some ability and then sent to clubs which would suit their level like London or Leigh.

I totally agree, and it's indicative of how low people's expectations of half backs have fallen generally, and of Myler in particular, that people are still sticking up for him.

Speed....that just might be the answer!
There's a certain longfellow with connections we hear.

This isn't a new thing.

This is exactly what was said after we lost the Challenge Cup quarter final to Wigan in 2011.

We finished top of the table that season, then won the Challenge Cup the next year and won the next two Grand Finals with essentially the same bunch of backs that we have got now. These were some of the highest scoring backs in the league.

Speed IMO is overrated a bit, there are lots of examples of backs that have genuine pace but don't make much impact in SL.

The big difference is that these backs used to have a Monaghan at his best and Briers orchestrating them around the field and they were unstoppable.

Now we don't have that it wouldn't matter if we had a back line full of Kevin Pennys, we wouldn't look any better.

Unfortunately the other problem is that some of our back line are not the players they were and the decline was already creeping in last season.

Are you still mentally scarred by those GF defeats, Sally?....

Everything seems better when you look back at it with nostalgia see the Andy Gregory thread.

We would have won last year's if we'd picked Hodgson so that one counts as a win at least.

I've also read on here that Smith and his coaching staff don't do attacking moves in training either, preferring to let the players do it off-the-cuff, so to speak.... If all this is true, it makes you think what the fook Tony Smith actually does do with the players in training - Weights, quick stint with the tackling bags and then all off to Tony's for lunch?

Whatever Tony Smith does with the players it has brought greater success than any Warrington side since Bevan's era.

I agree (I should have used a little smilie perhaps?) - It just makes me chuckle when you read all the various stuff about what Smith does or doesn't do in training.... If you believe it all then it sounds like he is RL's Mike Bassett...