368

According to the OPTA stats on the superleague.co.uk, this is how many handling errors Warrington have made in 25 league matches so far this season.
That averages out at almost 15 per game.
Our three most error-strewn performances from the entire season have occurred in our last three games:
Widnes (23), Wakey (20), Cas (21).
That is 64 in our last three games, so we’re apparently getting even worse (and I haven’t even seen them for the cup semi, but they would certainly be around the same level).
It is not good enough and we need the players and Smith need to address it.

Some fans will say.....
“But Warrington play a high-risk, off-load style of rugby and it’s great to watch”.

No it isn’t.
I think that dropping the ball 15 times per game isn’t great to watch. Our off-load and hot-potato ball through hands strategy – often on the first or second tackle and/or deep in our own territory – is unnecessary, profligate and disrespectful to both possession and the basics of rugby league. It is also making me think about whether I want to renew my season ticket to watch another year of scrappy, frenetic and, frankly, dull rugby.

Some fans will say.....
“You moaning sod. We’re second in the league and we’re consistently scoring loads of points and great tries. We were crap for 30 years and now that we’re up at the top of the league and consistently winning trophies, you still moan about the way we play. You’re not a real fan and no one cares if you don’t go any more”.

Guilty as charged. Back when we were crap, we didn’t have the players or an off-field set-up capable of producing good rugby and competing with the bigger clubs. That is no longer the case. We have the best squad in the competition and a great coaching set-up, both of which are capable of devising and executing a better tactical and quality of rugby product than we are currently being served up.

I am not unhappy with our league position, results or that we still have a chance of the big prize this season. I am unhappy with the often wasteful and brainless style of play we’ve adopted and I think we’d be a better team if tried a more traditional tactical approach. Our form and performances are deteriorating as the business end of the year approaches and I’d like to see us reassess our approach to the game before it’s too late to turn it around.

And I managed all that without even mentioning ******* attempted charge-downs.

A lot of that makes sense till the part about not renewing/ watching them again, we all on here will have been frustrated at some point or other, but as you say a lot of us will remember the crap years.


BTW i detest the charge down aswell it rarely pays off what happened to that rule they were testing or thinking of that if the team kicking got the ball back but tackle count was not reset.

The most apt word you used to describe the way we play sometimes is 'brainless'. That's what it appears to me. It is all well and good having a style of play, but there is a time and a place and that isn't ten yards from your opponents line in a derby in the ing rain on the first tackle. We know we can adapt to conditions as proved when we spanked huddersfield in appalling weather this season. Sometimes it seems the players just don't think about what they're doing.

I'm afraid most of the errors recently have had nothing to do with offloading.

Lots of them on "collision" and then a lot whilst regaining there feet.

Just keep hold of the bloody ball!

Perhaps we should go back to the good old days of five drives and an aimless kick downfield hoping to filch a mistake from the opposition.

Correct. A fact not lost on Smith, as he stated working on retention in the collision would need dusting up, only a matter of weeks ago.