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!

I said last season after Salford away, that Dean is behind Hayes, otherwise it would a reversal with Hayes being loaned out and Dean being in our reserves as immediate cover.

This. It's been a total failure by DP and GC for not giving more of an opportunity to Dean and Hayes in 2022.

7 and 41 metres. But look at the tackles.

Not a direct attack at you, but this proves the point about Currie being a scapegoat. Currie demoted to a squad player, yet Nicholson should be moved to loose. One what evidence? Yes, Currie didn’t make enough meters, but he made 5 times that of Nicholson, who is being moved into middle ground where your job is to make meters. He made 7. All game. 7 meters. But Currie is the one that needs dropping?

Currie also made more than a starting quota occupying prop forward. And a bench prop. That’s not in any way endorsement of Currie, but it just highlights that the props aren’t competing. Only Philbin made decent meters. Crowther and Matautia. At 72 and 60. Were just not competitive enough in the forwards.

Fair point. Maybe Nicholson and Currie should fight it out for the loose forward spot next season. I picked Nicholson due to him being the future, but he should earn his place like everyone else.

Modern day second rows tend to be second line props (not something I like) so when we're missing our two first choice props it is more glaringly obvious than it would be if Saints had the same issue - Matautia and Sironen would still eat up metres for them.