Indeed, I think we all knew the answer, it was just the same logic for each of our teams.



That makes more sense, I should have picked up on that, sorry. I disagree, I feel Ratchford will turn out to be a good player, maybe not international standard, but nor will Myler unless he starts adding to his game - which he has basically failed to do throughout his time at SL, and not having to bother as Briers does his job for him at Wire.

The idea of Ratchford at fullback is an interesting one for me, he'd be a completely different style of attacking fb than Sam, which could work in a team like Warrington if they can sustain the powerful threequarters for strike. He'd probably set up a lot of tries from there.

Ratchford is a little bit of a conundrum. Shows promise wherever he plays but never really kicks on. He's got a fantastic kicking game, a fine set of hands and good speed, but he still looks far too lightweight!!! If he leaves Salford and starts to play behind a better pack, he might finally get the chance to produce some consistency. He could be a very good centre, just what England are crying out for, but he isn't getting enough service at Salford. When given a little time and space, he's probably the most elusive centres you'll find to replace Carmont.

Or maybe he looks good against lesser teams and can't step up when the big boys pitch up.

how the hell can warrington keep affording all the high earning players

Your not suggesting anything out of hand are you???

Its a live cap so they must be playing by the rules

nope just stating my amazement,
think there must be some really well paid cleaners at the hj

King And Anderson going . King going back to aus . and anderson going catalan on 4 year contract.

Who cares, he's average at best.

Wire can bring in the quality players they are because they have the money.
They have probably the most expensive squad in the league and still make a profit!
The fact that it may upset the lovers of the salary cap then that's tough!
Warrington are doing it right on and off the field, they have that good a squad it is almost making up for having a poor coach and hardly any game plan.
Their expansive and off the cuff type of rugby is superb.
If they got themselves a very good coach then we'd all be in real trouble. Their fall down is poor planning and inconsistancy which still is in their game.
Wire are thought or supposed to be cheating the cap but no one knows how they manage to do it. If they are, then they are doing a very good job and it shows the RFL are not a suitable body to run the SC.
Lets just hope they don't get themselves a top notch coach. Until then we all still have a chance.

Tony Smith is a very good superleague coach with a great record. IMO Wire have a top squad but it's been made all the better because of the improvements Smith has got out of certain players. He has helped guys like Bridge, Briers, Wood, Blythe etc make real strides forward and when added to the talent they've brought in that's a cracking mix.

Smith had an up and down time with GB/England but then name a coach who hasnt! Alot of people had a go at Noble during his time bit if he were to take over from McNamara tomorrow I'd be made up.

Smith hasn't a great record in SL.
He was in charge when Hudds were relegated.
They were promoted with Smith, Hudds being the only full time squad in the division as Ken Davy bankrolled them.
He hadn't done anything at Leeds until his appointment as England coach was announced. Leeds fans tell me that if he'd not got the England job no way would his contract have been renewed.
Following the announcment of the Eng job Leeds then won the GF, they then repeated that twice under McLennan.
Wire probably have the most expensive squad and what has he done in SL? They haven't won the hub cap, they haven't won the GF & SL Trophy, so what has he achieved? A squad needs consistancy to win those trophies and Wire up to now haven't had it.
They have won the C Cup twice as those are all one off games, something that Wire are good at. Look at when they beat us, the better team on the night and deserved their win. Then they lose the next two! That's no good!
Look at his time with GB, the worst World Cup performance in the history of the game. England were embarrassing under him.
Sorry but I don't rate Smith one bit!

So he didn't do anything at Leeds before 2007 then? I suggest you go back and look again.

Is it any wonder RL gets treated so badly in the media when people who represent it in the media know so little. Embarrassing.

jesus H. Corbett.

Prerequisite, isn't it (Hadfield apart)?

I agree with you on both these points.

With the Warrington squad you get people saying Smith should have done this and that because he's inherited the best squad but a lot of those Warrington players had been there for ages and nobody was saying they were the best squad when they were fighting for the outside playoff spots under Cullen.

Who would you say were Warrington's best players...?

Briers, Wood - been there over a decade, since the Van de Velde era
Westwood - signed by Plange in the relegation battle 2002
Bridge, Grix, Harrison - were there for most of the Cullen era
Morley, Monaghan, King, Louis Anderson - all part of the later Cullen era, Morley had been with us 2 years and the others 1 year before Tony Smith took over with us bottom of the league.

Also Clarke and Riley who aren't as much part of the team now but were for Smith's first two years, were other long standing players, Clarke since 2001 and Riley (despite only being 23 now) being in the team since 2005.

Since Smith has been here other clubs fans have been saying on messageboards that we have the best squad and it must be over the salary cap and we should easily win the league with our squad....really? Is it really ahead of Leeds, Saints or Wigan? Guys like Westwood, Bridge, Harrison, Louis Anderson who are counted as 'top players' now would certainly not have been seen as top players under the Cullen era....maybe Westwood was starting to get respect but not the others. I remember when we appointed Smith in early 2009 a popular view on these boards (from Warrington fans not just other clubs fans) was 'its not a new coach the Dire needs...its a new team....'

I suppose you can make similar points about McGuire at Wigan, most of the current Wigan squad including its main players were there during the later years of the Brian Noble era when Wigan were a fighting for 4th/5th team, and now they are champions, but McGuire hasn't gone out and signed a load of big name galacticos, Wigan's best players are guys who have been in the team for a few years now.