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.

Just because he is out of contract doesnt mean he is leaving

I don't think the post was anything but wishful thinking, as we need to look forward to brighter days at our club. I would imagine that Trinity will be doing everything they can to keep him.

They only put us favourites as we were the only club with space on the quota, it could happen, but doesn’t seem much in it at the moment.

I don`t think that we can keep Longstaff waiting until 2025, he should replace Jack Hughes, at the end of this season, and the way Toby King is playing, maybe Wrench will steal his centre place instead of waiting for Matautia to leave?.

Incredibly Toby King has a contract until November 2025 ....

It's only incredible in your Fantasy League world. He was one of the hottest properties in rugby league at the time of his contract renewal. If we'd let him go you'd have bemoaned the club's lack of ambition and letting our youngsters go to our rivals/NRL. Did Simon Moran or Stuart Middleton cross you at some point?

King isn’t in the best of form but he’s not alone there, some fans seem to think he’s got a decent contract and just downed tools which I don’t agree with at all. Rugby League is a short and tough career and I wouldn’t judge any player to maximise their earning potential. Problem for me is as a club we’re happy to throw money around but that money hasn’t been used to create squad balance, and as other posters have alluded too, can’t be good for moral if you’re on a lower wage than higher paid ‘stars’ who aren’t performing…

King is still a quality player, not on great form but you're right he's definitely not alone there.