I will never tire of seeing Powells utter despair, will he be allowed a full rebuild of Wire? Adding two impact low minutes props wont be the answer.

I wonder if those on here, who told us Williams was a marquee level player, still think the same?

I've always thought he was half decent, but nothing special. He certainly wasn't worth marquee status during his time with us & it's laughable to think about the money he's on now.

The big question now is - how long before he f's over Wire? The rat has done it to every club he's played for so, like Zak, it's only a matter of time.

Warrington have a good squad of players not playing as a team and have rumours of unrest in the camp.

Enjoy it while it lasts as they will get better, just as Leeds have done.

Don’t forget, next year will be their year!

I'm not sure that's a given.

They've had a good team on paper for quite a few years now, but several of their best players have got old in Wire colours without tasting real glory. They keep spending big but there's never any real sign of improvement. This year they've gone the other way.

As for Leeds, they may have got better, but they've got a long, long way to go before they can even stand in the shadow of the Sinfield generation.

They’ve got some talent in their youth coming through and if handled correctly will add a lot more than some of the dross they’ve paid money for. Problem for them is I don’t think anyone believes they can handle that talent correctly.

.

I wonder what George is thinking right now.
After Wire and his performance last night then watching Wigan this afternoon.
One thing he will know is that Waney is looking for a 7 for the World Cup.
George will know how his form is going and he will see how Harry Smith's form is.
MOM v Wire, MOM in the Semi and not very far off MOM in the Cup final.
IMO Harry is the form 7 in SL right now, certainly the best British scrum half.
All that will have gone through George's mind this past few weeks..

I wonder what George is thinking right now.
After Wire and his performance last night then watching Wigan this afternoon.
One thing he will know is that Waney is looking for a 7 for the World Cup.
George will know how his form is going and he will see how Harry Smith's form is.
MOM v Wire, MOM in the Semi and not very far off MOM in the Cup final.
IMO Harry is the form 7 in SL right now, certainly the best British scrum half.
All that will have gone through George's mind this past few weeks..

I would tend to agree that Smith is the form 7 in the SL. But, up against the Aussies? Gale looks past it, though, Williams is struggling in a poor side, Who else is there? Back to Lomax and Widdop?

How about Jackson Hastings

How about him?

Not for me. Call me old fashioned but unless you have serious English credentials then you shouldn't be considered for selection. If we aren't good enough to beat Australia then im sorry but we just aint good enough. Hastings is as Australian as Michael Parkinson is a Yorkshireman, I am a bit bored of these things they find to qualify for eligibility. His nans Australian dog once chased an English cat blah blah blah. No ta. Morgan Knowles should be excluded too as should any player who plays for another country at senior level. You can't be Welsh one week and then English the week after. Harry Smith is the form half in this country right now and there is nobody close to him. Right now in June he is one name on the sheet. Who he should partner is still up for grabs. Pryce was putting his name in before suspension and Dodd was playing well too. I am a firm believer in picking the players in form regardless of experience. England football teams did this for years and got nowhere. Southgate has given the young in form players a chance and they have flourished (not that im interested mind)

Australia beat us for years flaunting these rules

I’d probably look at Tomkins in the halves and Welsby at 1.

Solves the problem of accommodating them both, it’s not ideal though.

People don't complain (much) when half the England cricket and rugby union teams are Saffies or other foreigners.

I don't see why we need set ourselves higher standards than them.

I have no issue with heritage players but only on the basis that they’re absolutely committed and we get none of this ‘I’ll consider it’ boll*cks. Victor Radley didn’t rule it out but he also didn’t rule it in, so that’s an absolute no for me.

IIRC Hastings himself in a recent interview was much the same, on the basis that he might get a NSW call up. Again if it’s a second choice then it’s a no and we move on. I’m not convinced he’ll be a chance under Wane anyway. There seems to be no feeling whatsoever for Wigan from Hastings. He gave his all when he played but something clearly wasn’t right. It’s still tumbleweed on his social media waiting for him to congratulate his ‘mates’ on winning the cup. I get this may be something he can do in private but he isn’t that guy, he is a social media obsessive by the looks of things. Salford could win a comp on the back of a Kellogg’s box and he’d be all over it. I can’t help wonder if he has issues with Peet? Maybe Peets comments that we haven’t signed the right type of characters in recent years cut deep.

If they’re available I’d go Welsby, Tomkins and Lomax at 1,6 and 7 in a couple of weeks. I’d imagine Saints will pick up a few injuries in their next game though.

He can always put his spare £££ in his trophy cabinet at home, because he wont be adding to his medal haul for the forseeable.

How about Sam Walker then? Born in England, but deffo not going to choose England over Australia.

Hastings has English ancestry so he qualifies. If he wants it and we want him, then pick him.

The residency rules don't sit well with me though I'll be honest, but they're the rules so we should use them to our advantage like everyone else does. The chopping and changing when it is or isn't World Cup year is a joke. (Jarrod Hayne, Tyson Frizzell, Morgan Knowles to name a few)

I'd agree. Hastings has as much chance of playing for the Blues as he does playing for England: no chance!

Even Penrith's reserve 7 (say) is better than Hastings.

Mate, called it when he was here and never had cause to change my mind. He has no affinity with Wigan whatsoever.

I was speaking to Peet about recruitment after the fans forum, he didn’t outright name name but he’s a “no d*ck heads policy”.

It was pretty obvious who his was referring to.

Yeah zero mention of anything to do with our cup win from him but he was all over Hardaker performance from last night implying he’s an amazing fullback (a slight pop at Wigan for not playing him there?”

I could not be happy Hastings and Hardaker are out of our club. It’s funny that success has soon followed.

Aye, better off shut of the pair of them as proven already. I chuckle seeing Hardaker looking like he’s back down to the weight he was at Cas, which he’s done in a couple of months. At Wigan he was carrying round puppy fat for 3+ years.

Peet is building back a culture of us being a first choice option, not a pay cheque.

Indeed. I would also point out here that Harry Smith's upturn in form is due in part to no longer playing alongside Hastings.

He’s still supping like a fish is old Zak despite his recent run in with the law.

It will start to show through again soon enough.

In regards his recent run of “form” I’m 43 and my body is in bits but I reckon I could have run up some decent stats against Wire the other night.

Worst performance in SL that I have seen for some time by them.

Yeah, it looks like Hastings and Hardaker leaving have helped the club which is a little odd as they were 2 of our best on field performers when they where here. It shows you need the right characters off the pitch too which Peet has recognised.
It would be interesting to see what issues they both have with the club, we paid Hastings big money and got behind him even with his constant flirting with the NRL and Salford. We stuck with and helped Hardaker no end during his time with the club and although it ended sour he can’t have an issues with the way he was treated surely?