+1

We've done this Sally. Riley by his own admission said the majority of his tries were walk ins.

He must have had a world class centre inside him to be on the end of all those walk ins.

All face balls from Hodgson cutting out the centre



Anyway I'm not sure what point your are mooting here - we have had a wealth of good centres or one or two in the last 15 years?

I think the lack of centres is quite a recent problem - last 5 seasons.

In the earlier, successful TS era, we had King, Atkins and Bridge. Grix and Ratchford spent time in the centres too. By SL standards those are all very good options, worthy of a top side. In the 2000s we had Gleeson, Grose, Kohe-Love and Hunte. Other than Gleeson those were perhaps less consistent performers over time than the ones TS had, but any of those four at their best could rival the ones TS had. I think we would take any of them now. And of course in the 1990s, we had Bateman and Davies, and for one season Nigel Vagana too.

The problem has really been since Bridge and Grix left, and Atkins went in to a slow decline. We had high hopes for Rhys Evans but he wasn't the answer. We've found "OK" options in Toby King and Goodwin, but it hasn't been a position of strength. If we still had any two from those I mentioned in the paragraph above I think we'd be very strong.

I know that he wasn't here long enough to put in your lists but IF we could have kept hold of Hiku for a couple of seasons....I think he may have made it in SL

Ah yeah - I forgot about Hiku! He was definitely top rate.

Luther plays in London.

Not a problem his tenure in a Wire shirt was unfortunately too short all be it timely, but, what it shows to me and I include Burrell in this, is that the club does try to recruit in a fairly balanced method and centre is no exception, despite the position carrying more of a utility value than some others? The best are usually out and out centres but most are touted as centres that could play at FB, or Wing or Second Row.

Will Burrell perhaps a second row centre work out I hope he does looking forward to seeing him give it a go and FWIW I think King still has a decent chance of making Tier 1 fingers crossed

Oh what might have been. We ended up with an opportunist signing of Goodwin due to financial issues at Leigh, and although BG hasn't let us down, PH disappearing back home was a massive disappointment.

Couldn't really blame him. He was playing against teams which were way below his skill level, he had Matty Russell as his winger and Agar as his coach. I'd go back to the NRL an all.

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -saturday/

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... -saturday/

Yeah i'd say this is his debut, London are no pushovers but it's the best game he could start in to find his feet i think

So as we enter the year of Burrell's first ashes series appearance, any signs of him being in the reckoning for Wire's first XVII?

Luther had a good outing last night, looking much more an rl player than when he arrived . Scored a good try, good running in the game & snaffled the ball in a one on one tackle.

Interesting - am intrigued to see how he gets on this year with a proper off-season. Will he play on Thursday do you think?

I think definitely worth a bench spot to cover centre & forwards.

I think not, King and Gelling for me.

Interesting to see from the highlights that king has been switched to left centre.

I've seen Gelling play mostly on the right for Wigan, which may be the reason why.

If he improves fitness and continues to improve I can see him edging somebody out towards second half of season. Either at centre or second row. Had that been his first game for us we would be happy with him.

He looks strong and ran really hard last night tackling technique is massively improved too. I liked the move for his try and also when he was able to just lift the ball over opposition player to make an off load.

Decent interview in the Observer (also on Guardian website) today: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... per-league

Decent interview in the Observer (also on Guardian website) today: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... per-league

OK so Luther has has a couple of games last year and a full pre-season so his fitness levels should be ok, and general RL knowledge ok too, but based on what has been said here on another thread about him being 'ordered about' regarding his positioning - and at the age of 31 - I wonder how long it will take him to really acclamatize.
He'll have 3 or 4 years left at tops.
Seems keen and willing to learn but that's got to be backed up by actions.

This isn't a 'have a go at Burrell' post, just a genuine concern.
Maybe it's best to judge at mid-season

If memory serves he’s contracted for 2020 & 21 during which time his salary doesn’t count towards the cap this year and only 50% next. If our benefactors can afford the real money then you can consider him like an academy player this year and if he breaks in to the first team it’s a bonus. Next season he’s eating up some cap space so he will need to earn his keep. At the end of 21 we’ll see if he’s earned a chance to stay in RL either with us or another side / division.

Right now the fact that he’s in the side ahead of Luis Johnson, and hasn’t let anybody down, would suggest that the gamble may be paying off. He’s also on a massive learning curve so he’ll get better each week that he plays. Judging by his physique he’s clearly put a lot of work in since he signed.

As stated, in terms of salary cap, he's got a little time to prove himself. I think he's going to turn out to be a very good signing. He's got the ability and his attitude seems very good...sounds like he's popular amongst the players as well. He'll make mistakes as he goes but hopefully we'll be good enough to cover them.