Can't see Ratchford starting, Currie simply won't be allowed to come up with such heartless displays with Burgess in charge and I'm praying we ship Drinkwater on or, at least, put him below Hayes in the pecking order. Kasiano can still be a dangerous weapon if used correctly.

Highly likely none of the above will happen though and mediocrity will reign again.

This is why I'm not optimistic for the next couple of years. The situation now is a long term rebuild we can't just turnover the squad in one season like Powell did. We messed up by signing a lot of players who we now would rather be rid of.

This season has seen some poor quality right across the board.
That’s why we were able to still finish 6th!

That is why I’m as hopeful as ever for 2024, the only team building and buying well other than ourselves, is Wigan.

To be fair I think Hull KR have done a decent job with their recruitment for next year.
And if Salford do manage to sign Brodie Croft that would be an improvement.

i think salford signing brodie croft is unlikely

According to Abe hell be our replacement hooker for next season meaning he'll be on the pitch a lot of the time. I also think he's the sort of player Burgess will like unfortunately (probably even if it is just for his experience and goal kicking).

That would be fantastic agent work

Not if Salford sign him on a lower wage than they pay their current star half-back.

Sorry, yep, meant Leigh.
Old age that.

In terms of reflection on 2023 my expectations have now dropped to pretty much pre Tony Smith levels when an appearance in the play offs was a successful season. So maybe that 10 year period where we appeared in many challenge cup finals and grand finals was just a blip and normal service has resumed.

I can't help think that this season would have been very different if it wasn't for the antics of Josh McGuire. Maybe we would not have lifted a trophy but I think that we fell off a cliff when all that business was going on. After a while It became clear that the coach was unable to heal that wound.

I was impressed by Saturdays performance. Still lots to improve on but we competed.

If he won't be on the pitch all the time I dont think he will be our number 1 goal kicker next season.

Or at least he shouldn't be.

I had to check the date of the topic when I read it.

I'm hoping Hayes is our kicker next season as it means Drinkwater won't be playing.

Agreed and since Dishwater is a Quota player he needs to be moved on if he can`t make the 17 man squad.

He really is an atrocious half back. I've absolutely NO idea what he offers. His supposed strength is his kicking which is garbage, he's an alleged leader who went hiding when it was his time to shine, was shown up by a 5ft 3ins 18 year old and his defence is extremely iffy.

If all we wanted was a steady-eddy foil for Williams then a traffic cone would be as useful and off-quota.

All this half-back talk leads me to another 2023 reflection - Riley Dean played ONE game for us. Does he still have a future at Wire, realistically? I hope so, but especially with the emergence of Hayes, it's becoming difficult to see where he fits in.

I’m afraid it speaks volumes that I don’t even know which team he has been playing for recently.

Might be worth saying (as we are summing up the year) ... what a bloody good goalkicker Ratchford has made himself. I heard that he's got 27 on the trot (on Sky). That really is pretty unbelievable. He has been so good that we tend to take his kicking for granted. Won a few games for us.

And this is where Warrington need to get a massive grip. Dean may not have a future at Wire nor may Hayes but they both should’ve been thrown in more this season to find that out. They both would’ve offered more than Drinkwater/Matautia even if they’d have had stinkers. I was really hoping Hayes would play on Saturday but even ex-head of youth Chambers decided to bottle it.

I have a sneaking suspicion Burgess may well give youth more of a chance, I really hope so.

The stats from the match on twitter have highlighted the difference between the second rows on Saturday. I’ve always thought our second row is/was as big a problem as our centres this season. I know we have Fitzgibbon but I’d also like a large bullocking second row to go alongside him. Crowther as a squad player, Nicholson to loose and Currie demoted to squad player too.

The only good game I saw matautia have in wire colours was when he had Dean as his half back partner!

I said last season after Salford away, that Dean is behind Hayes, otherwise it would a reversal with Hayes being loaned out and Dean being in our reserves as immediate cover.

This. It's been a total failure by DP and GC for not giving more of an opportunity to Dean and Hayes in 2022.

7 and 41 metres. But look at the tackles.

Not a direct attack at you, but this proves the point about Currie being a scapegoat. Currie demoted to a squad player, yet Nicholson should be moved to loose. One what evidence? Yes, Currie didn’t make enough meters, but he made 5 times that of Nicholson, who is being moved into middle ground where your job is to make meters. He made 7. All game. 7 meters. But Currie is the one that needs dropping?

Currie also made more than a starting quota occupying prop forward. And a bench prop. That’s not in any way endorsement of Currie, but it just highlights that the props aren’t competing. Only Philbin made decent meters. Crowther and Matautia. At 72 and 60. Were just not competitive enough in the forwards.

Fair point. Maybe Nicholson and Currie should fight it out for the loose forward spot next season. I picked Nicholson due to him being the future, but he should earn his place like everyone else.

Modern day second rows tend to be second line props (not something I like) so when we're missing our two first choice props it is more glaringly obvious than it would be if Saints had the same issue - Matautia and Sironen would still eat up metres for them.