its going to take a real shift in form for him to be the player he was and get another contract... In his own words, he is playing for his future this season.

It's not effort he is lacking in, he just doesn't seem to have that pace he had... So he cant effect games like he used to... its a shame for the lad, but he seems to have a fight on his hands to keep his place based on the Wigan game.

Lets hope its confidence and we WILL see that player again from a few years ago.

...Keith Holden...gutted

....but then we found Greg Mackay....went on one hell of a winning run....then lost him.

1 of only 3 players I remember since Wigan's resurgence from Div 2 that made a remarkable difference...
Being:
John Woods
Greg Mackay 1st stint
Jonathan Davis

Neither Boyd Blake Johns or Langar had such a spike in a prolonged period as those 3 players did.

Interesting, I will have to ponder that. How about Morley?

Morley didn't turn us from perennial mid table to challengersee.
Morley was part of a building process of several signings, thanks to SJM.

I don't want to make excuses for Currie but it might be a bit harsh.
He is now having to get used to a new centre partnership and he didn't play alongside Goodwin that long due to injury.
He has had God knows how many half backs on that side, Patton all last year, Ratch last night and soon to be Widdop.
Second rowers often have peaks and troughs in form and I think a lot of that is due to the combinations around them. In Westwoods prime he had stability with Briers and Bridge.
A lot also depends on what they are being asked to do. Have a look at the game again and Liam Farrell only ran off drop offs from Hastings on an line heading back towards the posts. Currie is trying to get on the outside shoulder of the opposition half back to attract Isa playing at centre to then create a 2 on 1 for King and Lineham.
I think he did a decent job.
It will be interesting how he goes against Payroux, Naquiama and Fages.
He is still a classy player and I have not given up on him yet.

I would have thought Boyd and Blake had a bigger influence than Woods and Mackey 1st stint.

Woods joined in 1987. The two seasons before we had finished 4th (plus won the Premiership and 3rd. It was just after the season when Wigan won every game in the league apart from two, home and away against us. In the two seasons Woods was here, we finished 6th and 11th. So yes he might have been a good player for us but it's hard to say he elevated the team, it was the start of the decline of that 80s team. Boyd and Blake surely made more of an impact on elevating us in the years before.

Mackey's first stint was only half a season. That was the first season I started watching. I remember us being very good - beating Widnes just after they'd won the WCC on the way to us winning the Lancashire Cup, and we looked like the form team in the league at that point, with Mackey leading the way. Then Mackey left and we tailed off, and ended up finishing 8th only to recover the season by reaching Wembley. So yes he did make a big difference but only over half a season. So you could put him in the category of Henare, Appo, Kevin Penny and Sandow. Of course he then came back and was a good player for us second time round too.

Davies was obviously the best example of a player single handedly lifting us.

Langer....probably more in the Woods category. A player who played very well for 2 years but didn't help us achieve much.

No they didn't.
The 3 I mention made a huge significant bounce.
Boyd was already a Wire in an average team at best...John Woods came in and was so prolific with his boot our scores in a game almost doubled!
Phil Blake was the best player I saw, but his stint was short term and didn't particularly have a stark impact.

I'm probably doing an injustice to Andy Gregory...he had a big say in a spike in results.

Once you start making these excuses for a player it's an admission that he's not top class. SL throws these sort of things up - if a player can't adapt to it he's not in the top drawer.

Think of the excuses that could have been made in 2015/16. Currie was being switched between second row and centre, and as for halfbacks he had Myler, O'Brien, Ratchford, Sandow and Patton back then. And he was only about 21!
Nobody needed to make excuses then though, because none of this was a problem, he was in the top 4 or 5 players in SL over that time.

The fact that we need to make excuses now, says everything.

I don't think anybody doubts that Currie was a total class act in terms of his talent. If he hadn't have got injured he looked like he was on track to be one of those dominant players like Morley, Sam Burgess, who could dominate either SL or the NRL.

The only thing in question is whether the bad luck he has suffered with injury, has diminished him to a level where he will never be the same. At the moment it looks like this is the case, until we see evidence otherwise.

He's been given more chances than most other players would have been, because he established his potential with his early performances.

When Greg Mackey came and asked for a trial and he was on a pay as you play deal...it was when Holden had a broken leg and couldn't start the season, although he never played again. The leg was a sight too...he had bars either side drilled into his bone through heavy plaster.

From game one Mackey controlled everything...like Hastings at Salford. Wire was top of the league...we breezed the Lancashire Cup....
We must have gone around near a dozen games without defeat...or one as I can remember. Still Higham never offered him a contract. Hull came in and he was gone...we then went defeat upon defeat. I was gutted

Quote ="rubber duckie" Boyd was already a Wire in an average team at best...John Woods came in and was so prolific with his boot our scores in a game almost doubled! '" Duckie are you sure your memory isn't playing tricks. Boyd 'was already a Wire in an average team at best'....? Warrington were 11th under Reggie Bowden the year before Boyd arrived. They finished 4th and 3rd in his first two seasons. That was surely not an average team. As for John Woods doubling our scores in a game....the year before he arrived (1986/87) we came 3rd, scored 728 points in 30 games (24.3 pts/game). Woods first year (1987/8icon_cool.gif we came 6th, scored 531 in 26 games (20.4 pts/game) Woods second year (1988/89) we came 11th, scored 456 pts in 26 games (17.5 pts/game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986%E2%8 ... ampionship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987%E2%8 ... gue_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%E2%8 ... gue_season As I say I'm not doubting Woods was good, he was prolific with his boot, but it is hard to pick him out as a difference making player, when he came in to a team that was in decline.

Quote ="rubber duckie" Boyd was already a Wire in an average team at best...John Woods came in and was so prolific with his boot our scores in a game almost doubled! '" Duckie are you sure your memory isn't playing tricks. Boyd 'was already a Wire in an average team at best'....? Warrington were 11th under Reggie Bowden the year before Boyd arrived. They finished 4th and 3rd in his first two seasons. That was surely not an average team. As for John Woods doubling our scores in a game....the year before he arrived (1986/87) we came 3rd, scored 728 points in 30 games (24.3 pts/game). Woods first year (1987/8icon_cool.gif we came 6th, scored 531 in 26 games (20.4 pts/game) Woods second year (1988/89) we came 11th, scored 456 pts in 26 games (17.5 pts/game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986%E2%8 ... ampionship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987%E2%8 ... gue_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%E2%8 ... gue_season As I say I'm not doubting Woods was good, he was prolific with his boot, but it is hard to pick him out as a difference making player, when he came in to a team that was in decline.

I agree with this. I wonder how things would have been different if Mackey had been in the side straight through from 1989 to 1995. The early 90s, pre-Davies era we had some good players (Drummond, Mercer, Shelford), won the Regal Trophy in 1991 but we didn't really contend in the league. Mackey wouldn't have made us catch up with Wigan but we'd have been one of the bigger fish along with Saints, Leeds, Bradford.

Quote ="sally cinnamon"Duckie are you sure your memory isn't playing tricks. Boyd 'was already a Wire in an average team at best'....? Warrington were 11th under Reggie Bowden the year before Boyd arrived. They finished 4th and 3rd in his first two seasons. That was surely not an average team. As for John Woods doubling our scores in a game....the year before he arrived (1986/87) we came 3rd, scored 728 points in 30 games (24.3 pts/game). Woods first year (1987/8icon_cool.gif we came 6th, scored 531 in 26 games (20.4 pts/game) Woods second year (1988/89) we came 11th, scored 456 pts in 26 games (17.5 pts/game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986%E2%8 ... ampionship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987%E2%8 ... gue_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%E2%8 ... gue_season As I say I'm not doubting Woods was good, he was prolific with his boot, but it is hard to pick him out as a difference making player, when he came in to a team that was in decline.'" I'm not going to argue with stats... All they do is give me a headache. Before Woods came I rarely saw Wire scoring around 30 points in a match. I was happening regularly that we were high 20s to 30s. That was all because of John Woods. He never shun a kick whatever the score was.

Quote ="sally cinnamon"Duckie are you sure your memory isn't playing tricks. Boyd 'was already a Wire in an average team at best'....? Warrington were 11th under Reggie Bowden the year before Boyd arrived. They finished 4th and 3rd in his first two seasons. That was surely not an average team. As for John Woods doubling our scores in a game....the year before he arrived (1986/87) we came 3rd, scored 728 points in 30 games (24.3 pts/game). Woods first year (1987/8icon_cool.gif we came 6th, scored 531 in 26 games (20.4 pts/game) Woods second year (1988/89) we came 11th, scored 456 pts in 26 games (17.5 pts/game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986%E2%8 ... ampionship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987%E2%8 ... gue_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%E2%8 ... gue_season As I say I'm not doubting Woods was good, he was prolific with his boot, but it is hard to pick him out as a difference making player, when he came in to a team that was in decline.'" I'm not going to argue with stats... All they do is give me a headache. Before Woods came I rarely saw Wire scoring around 30 points in a match. I was happening regularly that we were high 20s to 30s. That was all because of John Woods. He never shun a kick whatever the score was.

Its very very sad but i dont think currie will fulfil his potential, he was on course to be a fantastic second rower, and its to his credit that after 2 knee reconstructions he is contention for a spot. But he cant provide the quality that we require. Fingers crossed i am very wrong.

I like Ben. I'd have him at Leigh in a shot.

I think we all like him and hope that he makes a FULL recovery and gets back to where he was pre-injuries. It's too early in season to be writing him or anyone off but it's only right and I would think that Currie recognizes this, that he is playing for his future....fingers crossed

Watched the game back today, I think he played quite well. Not the dynamic runner of ‘16, but carried well and gave King a bit of early ball. The comments about lateral runners is accurate, twice Ratchford runs out his options on the left hand side. Widdop is good at squaring up the defence, which in theory should open up space out wide, let’s hope they can form a combination, as when Ben’s good, he is a major asset.

didn't manage to see last weeks game, so the comments on here were a bit confusing since some were positive, some negative.

i thought he was very good last night, not back to his best but significantly better than last season, ran very strong, he was attempting to beat defenders on the outside again, which i dont recall him doing last season, very encouraging.

Just need a few gaps now for him to exploit.

I had serious doubts on whether he could get back to anywhere near his best BEFORE last night.
Now, it's looking a lot more hopeful. I guess its all about confidence...he needs to be confident that if he runs into two prop forwards at full tilt...he isn't going to end up back at square 1. Admittedly running into Stains props last night wasn't a true test....hopefully in the coming weeks he might get a more serious challenge. For now, I'd say he was at about 80% of his full potential...which I think is remarkable. If he just stays at that I'd be happy to give him another contract.

Ben was very good last night. Whether he can be the same attacking threat as before the ACL reconstructions time will tell, but he does seem to have adapted his game better this season to suit his limitations with the reduced lateral movement he has.

Ben, like all our forwards, was utterly fearless last night and it will do him the world of good. The knee problem is the first real setback he has had in his career and mentally last night will give him huge confidence.

....... and how good was Joe Philbin? MOM for me - we forget how far and how fast this lad had progressed and GB honours have elevated his confidence hugely.

1 to 17 played well last night.

Thought Currie did very well - got through a lot of work defensively and in attack he often seemed to be half through with 2 or 3 defenders clinging on.

As has been said above - Joe Philbin was immense. Even though he's played for GB, I think he really came of age tonight and didn't look like a bench interchange prop.

I add a word of caution to all this celebration though - Saints were without several key players and i mske no bones for raising this - losing Warmsley before the match was a MASSIVE blow to them. Coote was another. And in the match they lost Percival too.

Not taking anything away from a superb Wire performance, but the next march against Saints will be tougher and we'll need to show the same resolve to win.

So who's responsible for turning us from a boring / predictable side at the end of last year to what we've shown in these2 matches?

Did Briersy say to Price at the end of last year 'We need to do x,y,z' or maybe Hendo?
Or was it a bit of all of them?
I'd like to think that it came from the assistants in some ways because that would bode good for the future.

Onwards and upwards

We were playing good rugby last year until injuries and a drop in form ruined our season.

The key this season will be to maintain this level of form throughout the year.

I think the biggest difference between these first two games and the end of last season has just been the intensity of the players. They seem to be thinking faster and playing at a more aggressive tempo than last year when it just seemed like we were accepting being second best.

I'm definitely encouraged by Currie last night.