https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... on-wolves/

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... on-wolves/

All these suggestions of who we might or not be signing & who might be going are a pretty poor reflection on the man who has had his finger on the pulse for over 18 months. We will no doubt be dragged into a late spending spree once more to bring the overpaid over here to under perform.
And the club wants to sell season tickets.

Every time I saw Drinkwater last year he looked a stone overweight.

I recall seeing him make a break in one match and you could actually see the physio preparing the oxygen tent on the touchline.

As Saddened said earlier, he’s happy in France and he’s under contract. To me that says he wouldn’t be heading here for anything other than more money on a longer deal.

It’s a no from me. If Williams is good enough to be the England captain he should be good enough to steer us around the park behind a bigger pack. I’m sure Dean or Hayes have a good enough long kicking game to justify the other HB jersey (if Ratchford isn’t up to standard as we suspect).

I just hope we don’t throw too much money at Gildart for centre. He’s above average, but nothing that justifies King-style wages.

We aren’t half in a mess right now. I actually felt better last month at the end of an awful season.

So assuming we sign Drinkwater the squad for next season is looking something like:-

1. Dufty
2. Ashton
3. Ma'atutia
4. Ratchford
5. Thewlis
6. Williams
7. Drinkwater
8. Vaughan
9. Clark
10. Dudson
11. Currie
12. Nicholson
13. McGuire

Walker
Kasiano
Mikaele
Harrison
Bullock
Philbin
Wrench
Minikin

Sort of the opposite of last season - the forwards look good but are we a little weak in the backs? Or a lot weaker? I hope Dufty turns out to be the spark we’ve been looking for. Behind a winning pack he should look better. And with Powell’s attacking structures (we’ve not seen them yet really) it doesn’t matter too much about raw talent along the three quarters as long as we have pace. Maybe Gildart will slot in there, despite the rumour of him signing up long term at the Dolphins.

Looks good on paper for a change.

I think it’s clear that another back is essential. Ratchford at centre isn’t a good place to start, but competition for places and/or cover for injury is limited only to Minikin for a significant portion of the season. I’d prefer to start Dean and invest in a centre than get Drinkwater.

It`s looking like we will sign both a centre and a halfback for 2023.

Releasing Holmes and possibly A.N. Other will allow us to do that.

With the meagre salary that he will be on, I can`t see how it would affect our Salary Cap that much, and I would like to retain Longstaff.

[urlhttps://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/brandon-wakeham-super-league-fiji-25234955[/url

Were we supposed to be after him?

Yes, we were linked with him part the way through last season.

Weak in the centres. Which is not surprising when you let 2 go and don't currently have any replacements.

Wakeham didn’t really get a chance to show what he can do last weekend. The whole team was bullied from start to finish. The little bit I’ve seen of him on the NRL highlights suggests defence is decent enough, and short kicking game looks okay. I think we need a controlling half with a long kicking game, and I’m not sure Wakeham will be that.

I really don't think Wakeham is the answer.....or Drinkwater.

Play the youngsters and let the England captain (ahem!) Williams run the team.

Spend money on a centre instead

Drinkwater is at risk of being the scapegoat before he even puts pen to paper. It’s a cauldron at the moment, from last years performance, two promising halves waiting in the wings and an expensive and decorated pack to provide a platform to a halfback to do “something”.

If he comes in and doesn’t hit the ground running, the fans will be on his back no doubt. He’d be mad to come here, in my opinion, unless the money makes it worthwhile.

Potential plot twist in the Warrington half back saga https://twitter.com/catalanmedia/status ... xAhKoDEu8A

Potential plot twist in the Warrington half back saga https://twitter.com/catalanmedia/status ... xAhKoDEu8A

Quote ="Gaz3376"Potential plot twist in the Warrington half back saga https://twitter.com/catalanmedia/status ... xAhKoDEu8A'" Where did the Drinkwater rumour even come from? The WG only picked up on it after it was on here. It didn’t make sense at all. And we’ve not seen anything further on Gildart’s Spicy Pumpkin Latte contract negotiation in Lymm. I have no doubt we’re enquiring about the availability of half-backs and centres of course, I’m just not entirely convinced they’ll be the ones we’re discussing on here. I guess we’ll know soon enough.

Quote ="Gaz3376"Potential plot twist in the Warrington half back saga https://twitter.com/catalanmedia/status ... xAhKoDEu8A'" Where did the Drinkwater rumour even come from? The WG only picked up on it after it was on here. It didn’t make sense at all. And we’ve not seen anything further on Gildart’s Spicy Pumpkin Latte contract negotiation in Lymm. I have no doubt we’re enquiring about the availability of half-backs and centres of course, I’m just not entirely convinced they’ll be the ones we’re discussing on here. I guess we’ll know soon enough.

Has the title of the half back problem suggests Ratchford is not the answer. We need to find a decent back before we get to preseason, if not we will be better going with Hayes than Ratchford.

Just playing devils advocate,

Has anyone from the club been seen hanging around the gates of the Worcester and Wasps stadiums? There could be a few conversion projects becoming available...

Been there done that didn’t really work out.

Yes. I think we’ve established that costly experiments don’t win trophies. Whether that’s RU stars or retired NRL Goats.

I am just fooling around.

Although could we, in theory, sign them all and they wouldn't count on the salery cap?

Aaaahhhh so we did, i wouldn't be surprised if he starts at left centre for us to be honest. Unless the supposed Gildart rumour is true.

That's another one put to bed, who's next? https://www.totalrl.com/catalans-dragon ... es-rumour/

That's another one put to bed, who's next? https://www.totalrl.com/catalans-dragon ... es-rumour/

0% Would count on the cap in Year 1, 50% would count on the cap in Year 2, 100% in Year 3. I don't think there is a limit on the number of players you can bring in on this rule.