Reading his piece on the sportinglife website I think its disgusting the way he was treated by Cas and Ian Millward.

If Warrington treated a player like that I would be ashamed.

We all know that Mathers makes the odd howler but generally he is a solid proffessional who lives his life in the right way. To make him an outcast just because the new coach doesnt fancy him or wants to spend his cap elsewhere is a disgrace and should not be allowed.

I hope Richie sticks one up them when Wakey Play Cas.

To boot Millward is looking to take Martin Gleeson on when his ban ends, again I hope that comes back to bite him on the bum as Im sure it will.

Castlefords reputation has plummeted this off season.

Not really, Mathers is a distinctly average fullback, who found himself in 2 decent teams, and thus making him seem better than he actually is.

So because somebody is classed as average they should be treated as an outcast?

What do you expect it is Millward

His performance at Wembley in '10 alone proved that on his day he is a quality full back. Should have picked up the Lance Todd imo. Hope he settles at Wakey.

Mathers' problem is that he rides the emotion roller coaster. If it's going well he is brilliant, and an asset to even the best teams. But if it's not going well, he's off form and the world is against him. I don't read too much into this, he should just be digging in to make a difference at his new club, not stewing over a previous club/coach

Be ashamed then because Warrington did that to Iestyn Harris.

It's a long time ago Sal, but from what I remember Harris refused to play fullback and was transfer listed. When he eventually went to Leeds, he started playing..........fullback! Mathers just didn't fit in with Millward's plans so he binned him.

I wonder if Mathers is a bit of a pest at training. A know it all, or someone who doesn't shut up, as such, distrupts the team ethos a coach would try and build. Millward would have his reasons for moving him on and effectivly banning him from training.

He's turning into a little bit of a journeyman, 6 clubs up to now

Mathers suffered as Smith wanted him to be like Hodgson (who he ended up signing anyway) and he wasn't quite up to the job in terms of core skills and vision but was a still a good player in his own right.

He had some great games for us at crucial times as well.

Coach in rating a player as not good enough, shocker.

Let's move on

For me the role of full back has changed greatly over the last few years. More and more teams are looking for an extra pivot rather than a traditional full back.

Mathers is very much an old school full back and not suited to the pivot role, I know he originally started as a potential stan off but he never grew into the role.

It's a shame really as he seems like a decent bloke and keeps himself in shape.

At the time he signed for us I still think it was a great deal as it gave us some stability in a troublesome position. Over his time he made the odd error but my main memory of him will always be the game he had against Leeds at Wembley.

I like Richie, the game at Wembley should have been MoM and if it was not for Briers long service and sheer excellence at Wire i would have been gutted for RM.

I would also credit our defence elevating to both TS and RM, always letting the lads know their position and where to go, top pro.

Millward though is the coach and if the coach doesn't think X player fits in he's within his rights not to play X player, feel for Richie but Millward is paid to make tough decisions for the benefit of the whole club.

I would think it was more a case of Millward deciding for whatever reason he didn't want Mathers at the club and was going to move him on elsewhere and didn't want him having knowledge of Castleford's plays at training. Remember he kicked off at Saints media officer for inviting Brian Carney down to do a video for Chris Joynt's testimonial or something, because he was paranoid Carney might have been spying on Saints at training and telling Wigan.

Rock bottom on the respect charts for a few people posting here. Millward is millward and at the end of the day we don't really know the ins and outs. But speaking as a guy that saw him every week for warrington, he was a great player and was generally an asset to the team. He did make howlers (like at wigan away in 2010) but he showed his best stuff for us and his performance at wembley (2 years on the bounce- don't forget he scored our first try at wembley for umpteen years) makes him a class wire. Any one who says 'oh but' doesn't know what they are talking about. There are no ifs or buts. He was a great wire. Don't wanna be sounding like a pie do you??

Are you for real?

He was an reasonable fullback, no more, no less. He played very well at Wembley 2010. THAT WAS HIS JOB.

....a class Wire... I could name you 50 more, who contributed a ton more, played better,



Let's not get over emotional over a half decent player, who left nearly 18 months ago.

Let's also not forget, Millward (hate him or loathe him) has an eye for a decent player. SLs and CCs show this.
Also, our own Messiah knew we could live without him.
If he was THAT good, Smith would've kept him

nuff said

Well, firstly mathers left. He wasn't pushed. He didn't want to be second string to brett (and we can gree brett is better than him- isn't a shock) TS expressed regret at him leaving.

But the real question is what more did you want from mathers? Want him to be as good as brett? As good at attacking as billy slater or sam tomkins? That's never going to happen. Mathers showed some genuine heart and skill when he was at wire and he racked up a few accomplishments and good matches (2 of which were wires biggest games (maybe) ever)

The pies diss him cause he wasn't great for them but we really did get a steal when we got him. It isn't over emotional.

He had two very bad injuries ,and that put the damper on his obvious potential before that.He was in the goup regarded as the golden generation at Leeds

cas fans have been clamouring for Owen to be playing fullback since they got promoted again last time, he's been farmed out on the wing with mathers and ryan ing mcgoldrick over him.

I think its a bit of Emperors New Clothes with Millward as a coaching genius. Those SLs and CCs were helped no end by the fact he arrived at Saints at a perfect time with a generation of players like Cunningham, Sculthorpe, Wellens, Long etc all in their early 20s and forming the core of the strongest side in SL during his era. That Saints side had more class in it than Bradford who were just big and efficient but they shared out the trophies between them. If Saints had had a better coach I think Saints could have dominated that era like Wigan did before.

Then when he went to Wigan where he didn't have the core of class already there and he tried to build a team he made lots of big signings that didn't come off, Calderwood, Orr, Seu Seu, Logan, Fletcher, Paleaaesina. He had Wigan getting 70 odd point smashings at Saints and Leeds and were bottom of the league with 1 win from 9 when he left in 2006.

You can also say that Tony Smith arrived at Leeds at the right time with a core of players all young and ready to dominate, but Smith then came to a mid table (well bottom table when he arrived) Warrington side and won 2 Challenge Cups and a minor premiership in his first 2 and a half seasons. Brian Noble also proved he wasn't a fluke at Bradford by going to Celtic Crusaders who were garbage, and getting them into the playoffs. Is Millward going to do that? I reckon they are going to go backwards compared to where they were under Terry Matterson.

liked mathers when he was here,won me a few quid at wembley for the 1st try scorer and was unlucky the year after not to be m.o.m..i know its nice to see a former wire player do well at there new club but my main concern is about the players we have here at the wire...good win today by the way

Nothing wrong in a coach making a Statement!!!!
First thing Tony Smith did on His arrival at Warrington Dropped Lee Briers and got rid of Martin Gleesson!!

Not doing to bad since then are we??