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..

It all seems a bit starnge at the moment, players shipped out left right and centre, the Wardle/King fiasco, did we think we had him for next season? Have Wigan and Huddersfield done us up like a kipper? or was he not part of the plans for next season all along.
Something must be in the pipeline, it seems the club are letting it be known that we are trying to offload Holmes and are offering Longstaff out on loan for the season, so are we freeing up cap space for someone, (Drinkwater?).

Shambles seems a bit of an understatement recruitment wise! Also, the communication from the club has been non existant which makes it even worse as rumours become rife and conclusions get jumped to. Even a token "Don't Panic" or "we have a cunning plan" would help. I wonder if Brian Carney wants to interview KF!

I wonder if Holmes body is ed.

We know what the injury situation used to be like at cas and we know what rl players are like for playing through the pain barrier, it might be that he's put his hand up one time too many and burnt himself put.

I’m not into this scapegoating stuff, but I am starting to think DallasMead was right all along. I used to think it was the random ramblings of an insane man, but he was trying to warn us all… but we didn’t listen. We didn’t listen and now we’ve gone too far. Damn us all to hell! Why didn’t we listen?!

As an outsider (who has previously admitted some vested interest), I think including the word 'organised' somewhat overstates it

Said a few times Holmes only joined Wire for the money.

He had, more than enough of Powell at Cas but the money at Warrington was too good to turn down. He’s now going to be joining Leigh and no doubt be another player with a wage partly subsidised by you.

Wardle signed for Wigan months ago before the move to Wire.

I’d say calling the policy shambolic is an understatement.

I'd quite happily contribute some of my own money to subsidise the wages of king and Holmes if it means keeping them away from my club. I hope for your sake Wardle doesn't suffer any injury because your other centre for next season is shocking,.............as you will find out.

I keep seeing comments about player xxx having enough of Powell, not being able to work with him etc etc. The thing is, this is contradicted by Powell’s record at Cas, Featherstone and Leeds. Not just his record for getting a bunch of average players to gel into a top side, but also his record in turning average individuals into Man of Steel winners / candidates.

I’m taking anyone’s side in this debate, but if Powell is really the problem coach we are being led to believe he is, how did he manage to make players like Luke Gale, Rangi Chase, Paul McShane and of course Daryl Clark into award winners? Have Warrington had a half back as good as McShane since Briers retired? Bear in mind McShane was a hooker too. When was the last time a Warrington team gelled to its full potential, based on the playing roster. 2011/2012?

If Holmes really had enough of Powell, that says more about him than the coach. Maybe he doesn’t like having to meet a high standard consistently, or prove himself as a MOS contender? No wonder he came to Warrington, we literally breed complacency and apathy here.

I’m should point out this is not a “Pro-Powell” rant (I’m waiting to be convinced he’s the solution), but it’s definitely an anti-player-power post. They’re well paid professionals and should do the job the coach asks of them.