Hilton and Noone? Crikey. The former was the very embodiment of average and the latter managed to single-handedly make Andrew Johns look limited....which was some effort.

I absolutely understand comparing our current pack against the opposition. I can’t see any point in comparisons between our current pack and one from a few years ago. What are the criteria? Who is the judge? Which rules do you play under?
Whatever conclusion you reach you can rest assured you will never be proved wrong.

I think we will just have to accept the pack issues will not be solved in 1 off season recruitment cycle. Powell has his hands tied behind his back until the Price players have come off contract and vacated. The Saints squad (surely our benchmark aspiration) wasnt assembled in 1 season, it was the culmination of astute signings and youth development over a sustained period. For next year for us to be anywhere near the top we have to over achieve and other teams under perform quite dramatically. However we may have the comfort of feeling like we are on a positive journey compared to the last 5 years of decline.

I predict some tough decisions going forward for Powell as our pack has some glaring vacancies and some crowd favourite undroppables are not delivering enough value. I include Currie and Philbin in that group on 2021 form.

For the avoidance of doubt I would have Fozzard or Paul Wood over Hughes promoted to prop in any era, under any rules, and subject to any judgement.

It is possible to hold the simultaneous positions of wishing him well and welcoming him to the club whilst being a little non plussed by the highlights reel. Highlight reels need to wow and enthuse, they would have been better not releasing it.

There's a report in the warrington guardian suggesting no further new signings are expected for 2022.

I feel sorry for Powell, he has to show improvement on prices performances with a weaker squad. I do think he will achieve that in terms of getting more out of the players but it's such a shame he didn't have the squads that have been absolutely wasted under Steve Price for the past 3 seasons.

Out: Hill, Austin, Mamao, Lineham, Inglis, Akauola.
In: Williams (full season), Holmes, Mata'utia, Bullock, Magoulias, Harrison, Minikin.

Hill was always going to be a tough act to follow but, if everyone was fit, that doesn't look like a weaker squad to me - just a different balance.

For a good 2+ years he was left by our weak/absent leadership to absolutely squander a squad that was the 2nd best in the league, certainly the most expensively assembled, and should have done so much better.

Not only will Powell have to fix the obvious pressing problems now, we also have ageing players that will need to be replaced during his appointment such as Ratchford and Cooper. Furthermore we will be after a top halfback for 2023 too.

The good news is that Powell accepted the job knowing this.

With change comes opportunity.

I'm hoping Butler comes to the fore next season. He was excellent at London and I thought he'd be a new Hill but just didn't seem to get going. Hopefully Powell can get the best out of him again. That will be like a new signing if so. I think Harrison is the Hill replacement signing - which is a shame he's got a bad injury before even joining us.

Going back to the OT - I like this signing - we've tended to do better when signing younger Aussies looking for a chance - Mackey, Domic etc all came over with little fanfare and did the business for us. Also the likes of Bob Jackson were unheralded at the time.

The return of the Reserves should help in terms of prepping players to come through rather than just farming them out.

Agreed, we are likely to need it for players returning from long term injuries as well!

In all honesty regarding recruitment the signing of Williams gives me good cause for optimism, he's a fantastic player. In Williams and widdop we have the best half back pairing in superleague on paper IMO. Just need the pack to be a better overall unit to give them the platform to do their thing. I'm sure powell will allow them more freedom in plays and make sure there are other players actually looking to support breaks.

Would anyone else be up for giving Thewlis the no 1 shirt in 2022 and using Ratchford as more of a utility player? Nice vote of confidence in an outstanding young player and a bit of a ‘changing of the guard’ statement of intent

I think Ratchford`s contract with Wire expires at the end of 2022.

Thewlis is ready now and I agree give him his chance and use Ratchford as required within the 17 man squad.