Obviously a season of transition. However, after watching the Saints game and looking at the up and coming fixtures the alarm bells are beginning to ring!

Positives:
Young squad, loads of potential.
Still got some good/ experienced players who have proved they are good enough.
Great coach and owner etc etc.
Looking forward to seeing how Russell does and feel that O'Brien should be picked and not in and out as he has been. He looks hungry to do well, clever and a good kicker.which we haven't got!

Causes for concern:
Not enough leaders (lost 3 of the biggest leaders we had in Briers, Morley and Hodgson and we haven't replaced them!)
If we get 3/4 injuries we have a very average squad and could really struggle.
Other teams seem to have recruited well, strengthening with tried and tested super league players, however we haven't!
Bridge needs to stay injury free and have more of an impact on games! Atkins needs to become more consistent. Riley needs to defend better! Myler and Ratchford need to become leaders BUT unfortunately I'm not sure they can!
If we had the consistency of Higham, Westwood, Joel Monaghan, Hill and M Monaghan when fit and at hooker then we'd be fine!

I was with you until the usual Riley has to defend better! Some people seem to watch a different game to me! Time and time again he's left defending on his own against two attackers and how many times has he anticipated this and nailed man and ball! The same people seem to miss the qualities of Waterhouse. Plus stop getting carried away we have played one game against who i see as our main contenders. Don't forget we list to saints at home last year. Lets see how we play against Leeds before throwing the towel in! Jeez!

Not throwing towel in at all. I hope I'm wrong. Simply viewing my opinions and interested to see what other Wire fans think.
Maybe being harsh on Riley. It's just evident that for whatever reason other teams particularly attack this side and seem to have joy. Granted he needs help from Atkins in particular.
I agree Waterhouse is solid and a work horse.
Look forward to Friday with optimism as always. However, we will have to be on our game because Leeds look stronger than ever.

Just out of curiosity on this point - when does a squad become a "young" squad? The average age of the Warrington 17 vs saints was 25.24* - the average age of the saints team was 25.88 - about, on average 8 months older. How big an age gap is needed before "future potential" needs to be considered?

*my stats come from wiki so are hardly 100% reliable

I think some of the players should have had more game time, to make the transition easier.
Glen Riley has gone from a decent lad in the youth team/on loan to WHAM straight in the first team with some of the older heads not there.
I think he should have played more last season.

Our halfbacks Stef/Myler/GOB i'm a little bit more forgiving here as Wire didn't factor in the Briers surprise retirement, i think this year would have seen a slow transition from Briers to something different.
Obviously now we been thrust into a situation we have to deal with.
I think we are going to struggle until we know how best to shuffle our backs into their most effective positions.

Our backs
Matt Russell, that's important because sometimes Atkins has done his job to perfection and Riley just switches off (See CC 2013 v Hull FC).
He's no scapegoat but he/we suffer from him having no real competition

Ryan Atkins:
Great athlete but he needs to remember to pack his brain in his kit bag, makes wrong decisons too often, frustrates the life out of me, overruns plays, isolates his own winger, doesn't look for the sensible pass, tries the miracle ball when he needs to just accept the tackle, goes missing in games.
Strong runner though, on form can be devastating but he really needs to bring 100% focus, listen to the coaching staff and trust the men either side of him.

Joel Monaghan:
At the moment he's one of the few just doing his role to the book, defends well, attacks well rarely puts a foot wrong, one of our most consistent and dependable players, just wish he was quicker.

Chris Bridge:
Great hands, great strength and always prepared to get stuck in, has great centre play (sorry Padders) BUT god can he be a liability when the going gets tough, loses his composure too easy, need to see him sort out the stupid play.

Richie Myler:
Needs to change his game, he needs to basically grow a set and start leading and directing, they're all tough guys out there so don't get me wrong when i say he needs to grow a set, i don't knock his physical bravery but you can't afford to be the shy one in that position. In many interviews he comes across as the boyish shy one and it doesn't suit his position. Shout at the players around you Richie, direct them and if they don't do as you say f'kin tell them.

Stefan Ratchford:
Bar wing i'm confident of Stef playing anywhere in the back line, i'm sure he could probably do a job at 9 if he was asked to, but his game isn't going to go to the next level if he's constantly having to shift his focus and priorities. Personally i'd like him in the centres but TS wants him at 6, if that's the case then he needs to stay there if he's seen as the first choice, he needs to develop a partnership/understanding, is he going to get that playing all over the park covering every back that gets injured?

Gareth O'Brien:
Make or break for him this season.
Pros and Cons for someone i haven't seen too much off (actually more for other SL clubs than Wire)
Pros'; He's brave, he takes the line on, his kicking is exceptional (In hand and place kicking)
Cons'; He's slow, he's lightweight, he's injury prone and he's inexperienced in such a pivotol role (not all his fault) in the top flight.
Give him a shot, we all need to see if he can step up and that isn't going to happen if he's constantly being overlooked, if he doesn't get the chance this year then for his his own sake i think he needs to look elsewhere. Please TS, just give him a run of games.

Rhys Evans & Kevin Penny:
Guys there are two people possible three who are not performing to the best of their ability, you need to sort your games out and really push for these starting spots.
Atkins and Riley should really be worrying about you 2 yet you still can't shift them (bit harsh on Penny maybe) but Rhys isn't showing the promise he did in the 19's when he was tearing through defences and he really needs to start eating more calcium.

Quality post Yed.

I think Benny Westwood could be better used as a prop this year, we lacked go forward and lost on collision almost every time.
My team would be..
Russell
Atkins
Ratchford
Bridge
Monaghan
O Brien
Myler
Hill
Higham
Westwood
Waterhouse
Grix
Currie

Monaghan,wood,Harrison,asotasi

Great points Yed.
Superbeetle- maybe I should have said 'squad that has a lot more younger players than it had.'
The point is we have a lot of untried and tested super league players compared to what we had.
In a way we can't lose.....I think we should judge the current team/ squad after a continued run of games (maybe 10 games) and then look at recruiting a couple of top players if players aren't doing the business.
We must be saving a considerable amount in wages on those players that have left at the end of last season?!?

Good post, Yed.

I think we should wait (at least) until the week before Round 6 before we start commenting on whether we are going to struggle this season.

Without seriously considering the fixtures of other teams, and results are no 'given' these days, I see us coming away with a loss on Friday at Headingley; we'll edge the fixture against Hull; we'll see off London and then we'll be up on confidence and beat Salford the week after. (my prediction competition posts will confirm these thoughts)

Results as I have stated, should hopefully see us back into the top half of the table with 6 points from 5 fixtures and set a firmer base from which to build. The "younger" members of our squad will have had run outs against London and Salford, Wood & Harrison will be back and Russell & Ratchford will have had time to settle into their roles as TS sees them.

Of course, in an ideal world, we will win ALL of these fixtures with each and every man having played the games of their lives each time! We all know this isn't going to happen and should have confidence that when the coaching staff say they will look at the areas that went wrong and work on them, we should believe them.

Let's not press the panic button yet

I was pessimistic when we made so few signings for this year. Although TS won't admit it, he probably sees this year as of one transition, giving more games to Glenn Riley, Laithwaite, O'Brien and Dwyer. Even when Wood, Grix and Harrison return we still look lightweight up front imo and that's where we should have strengthened.
The worrying thing from the Saints game was that we looked so lacklustre. So many parts of the game where we have been strong seemed to be lacking, kick chase, line speed, offload. Maybe we have started the season under-cooked, it wouldn't be the first time but not something that we should expect.

everyone needs to stop thinking so negatively. We lost our first game...so what?

They've had a hard preseason training, got back the week before and played; none of the team has played more than one preseason game, a few injuries and adapting to a new team with many players leaving. It will take some time.

don't forget we lost to Huddersfield in round 1 in 2011 and showed very little in the form of attack (and huddersfield were not that good), we ended up topping the table and scoring over 1000 points along the way.

I am not panicking at this stage!

I agree we lost our first game with 5 players missing who would be in the first 17. 3 of them are forwards so to say we lack grunt up front, how do you know??
One of our key pivot positions (fullback) with Russell is yet to be sorted, and this positional move will change everything. Last thrursday they could be 3/4 players playing out of position due to this and missing 5 players makes the Saints game more understandable

Accepted with respect to the forwards, missing Wood/Grix/Harrison really did weaken us. But when talking about the backs I disagree. Ratchford has played fullback before and O'Brien / Myler have superleague experience albeit not together.

We should have had set moves organised, kicks planned, and we should have put more pressure on Walsh while he was kicking. Any combination of players, regardless of who was missing, should have had those basics at least.

No I agree with what your saying and it was a poor performance, what i am saying is that this may not be as they have trained all winter and things going forward may be different once people are in the correct structure. I was talking to a coach at the club recently and the worrying thing is that he said that 70% of training over the close season has been about defense. Not good when you leak 30+ points in your first game.

Fair enough, defending in positions you aren't familiar with is tough to come to terms with and especially if that position is thrust on you short notice.

My gripe is this though, if 70% of the training camp was on defence then, as you rightly say, how did we leak 30+ points. We shouldn't leak that number of points in any game throughout the season, let alone the first with an allegedly 'fresh' team (aside from injuries that is).