At one stage of the game he struggled I agree, but he still scored the conclusive try in the game which sealed the victory.

And that's the point for me, most players struggle, don't 'blame' it on youth AND if you bed in your youngsters in a strong set up, rather than in a reserve outing a la Salford the other year, (although to be fair the youngsters did better than the rested 'stars'), then that would be a better system IMO and give us a clearer indication of where they stand.

Seems to work at Saints, Leeds and Wigan and as a forum we all seem to be clamouring for Ashton Thewlis Wrench and Longstaff....it's the future, but the future should be starting now IMO as it's not these lads letting the side down

I can't disagree on Saints promoting youth, however Welsby got his shot in 2020 because of Percival hardly playing, the same opportunity hasn't happened for Wrench and didn't happen for Currie, we had a bench of Morley, Carvell, Monaghan & Cooper (wow) that night with Grix and Westwood in the back row. Tough gig for him to get in.

Welsby hasn't had a settled position in the Saints line up till 2022, before that he was covering pretty much every position in the back line, so he got plenty of opportunities. If Coote was fit, Coote played full back, Welsby's versatility meant he was a good option as a bench player.

Wrench played 7 games last year, most of them after we had announced the signing of Mata'utia - no way would anyone have considered at that point that Wrench should have been our starting centre in 2022.

Weren't we down to 12 men when that started to happen though?

I think you've answered the issue that we have here "we had a bench of Morley, Carvell, Monaghan & Cooper (wow)" can't wait to see tonight's bench/team sheet. if only we had a squad of that quality now, but we haven't so we need to decide how best to use our time. IMO that includes progressing youngsters talents as part of FULLY assessing the squad which will become Powell's own next year and working out how we rebalance our set up and spend..

The flipside of blooding youngsters at the sharp end rather than on-loan here there and everywhere is they'll make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes will cost you matches. You take it on the chin knowing it's a tough but valuable lesson for them and if they are good enough they'll bounce back and learn.

Wigan, Saints and Leeds have all learnt and profited from that.

No-one ever improved by being wrapped in cotton wool, cosseted, shielded from the harshness of life and indulged.

Spot on MIAW.

Fans are by and large a fickle bunch, but if we could buy into the process and see progress that could be satisfying whilst in transition. Look at all the build up/knock down that seemed to happen to Smith at Wigan, and I've no idea whether he's on form or not, but bet he's on Cloud 9 this morning and he'll probably take that into his next game.

Unfortunately there is no “one size fits all” as to when to introduce a young player into the team. You also have to consider what is in the longer term best interests of the player, confidence is a fragile thing and throwing a youngster into a regularly losing team gives the other players a ready made scapegoat (a phenomenon just as much ia part of real life as on forums) and a vicious spiral of decline can follow.

My initial comments related to why Mata'utia was brought in and Wrench not considered for a starting centre spot in 2022, rather than a wider discussion on playing youth.

On the part I have put in bold, I think we're doing that now, out of the 7 games played so far Wrench (5), Thewlis (4), Longstaff (3), Dean (1) have all played a part. I'm sure they will get some gametime around Easter as well, they aren't going to play every week, but like Welsby, Smith, Newman etc and every kid that comes through at Wigan, Saints & Leeds they need to take their chance when it comes to them from injury and suspension to 1-17 players. 10-15 games for Thewlis, Wrench & Longstaff would be a good year for them.

I think the criticism that can be levelled at Warrington in the past is that we would always try to shuffle senior players around, rather than give a younger player a shot in their natural position. This seems to have happened less this year, I no longer expect Hughes/Currie to be shoe horned in at centre rather than have Wrench in there. If Thewlis replaces Ratchford in 2023/2024, Wrench replaces Mata'utia in 2024 and Longstaff replaces Holmes in 2025 they will all be first team regular 1-13 players by the time they are 22, that seems ok to me? Dean is a bit more of a questionmark as he hasn;t had the opportunity to play as much as the others.

If I'm frustrated at any of the signings in terms of blocking our youth its probably that of Minikin, he will take gametime away from Thewlis & Wrench as he regains fitness I think - but again, he was signed before Wrench really started to impress. (Powell could have one eye on him to take over from Charnley in 2023 I guess).

Fair comment

According to a Serious about RL report we are favourites to land Blake ferguson, another winger. If thats true I expect Charnley to be moving on, I would like us to retain Charnley really. It really isn't our priority anyway.

Tom Johnstone is out of contract at the end of this season...would prefer him to be honest

Me too to be fair.

Can they play prop?

At all or better than what we have now?

This isn't as simple as a prop issue it's a player attitude issue as a collective, we need a big clear out or enough to shake everyone up and to start taking the club, coach and fans seriously.