Ashton Crowther Currie Dufty Fitzgibbon Harrison Holroyd King Leyland Lindop Musgrove Philbin Powell Ratchford Russell Taylor-Wray Thewlis Vaughan Walker Williams Yates

Dufty Thewlis Lindop King Ashton Williams Leyland Vaughan Walker Yates Holroyd Fitzgibbon Currie Powell Philbin Crowther Harrison This won’t happen ofc.

Yes, expect Ratch to play at 7 - though I would prefer Leyland. Only other real question mark is who starts right second row, I expect Russell but hope for Holroyd. Great to see Lindop seemingly getting the nod for centre, has Burgess indicated Tai has an injury, or is Lindop just considered first choice right now?.

[quote="Alffi_7":1ear33dl]Yes, expect Ratch to play at 7 - though I would prefer Leyland. Only other real question mark is who starts right second row, I expect Russell but hope for Holroyd. Great to see Lindop seemingly getting the nod for centre, has Burgess indicated Tai has an injury, or is Lindop just considered first choice right now?.[/quote:1ear33dl] Maybe burgess has realised that our attack completely dies when the ball gets in Tai's hands. Unfortunately he also seems to think that a 36 year old veteran playing 7 will help our attack. It's all a bit odd.

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... s-dragons/ I have to say I am personally disappointed reading that, if he is going with Ratchford again this week then barring injury he will be there till Hayes is fit and ready and if I was Leyland I’d be asking what’s the point of me.

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... s-dragons/ I have to say I am personally disappointed reading that, if he is going with Ratchford again this week then barring injury he will be there till Hayes is fit and ready and if I was Leyland I’d be asking what’s the point of me.

Cannot believe Ratchford is still haunting our 17 - well starting 13 to be precise. It irks me.

......Burgess Out!

[quote="karetaker":356ne45k]https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sport/wolves/wolvesnews/24948254.warrington-wolves-star-return-catalans-dragons/ I have to say I am personally disappointed reading that, if he is going with Ratchford again this week then barring injury he will be there till Hayes is fit and ready and if I was Leyland I’d be asking what’s the point of me.[/quote:356ne45k] I think this is the first thing Burgess has done in terms of selection that I find genuinely mystifying and massively disappointing. It's almost Powell-like in its attitude (can't believe I'm saying that) towards a talented young player. As you say, Leyland must be thinking why have I come here.

It read to me as though SB is treating it as Ratchford’s pre season run out

[quote="Alffi_7":1oid8nfl] Great to see Lindop seemingly getting the nod for centre, has Burgess indicated Tai has an injury, or is Lindop just considered first choice right now?.[/quote:1oid8nfl] In the last press article I saw Sam said ... Q: What was behind James Harrison and Rodrick Tai missing out? SB: I expect them to be banging on my door! It’s a healthy spot to be in and I’m happy we’re in this position. Jimmy’s had a disrupted pre-season and hasn’t trained a lot, and I thought Zane (Musgrove) had been good for us. Arron (Lindop) has had a great pre-season and took his points well tonight. Rod’s got a couple of things to tidy up, but it’s a healthy position to be in with the competition.

[quote="ratticusfinch":1c0nd6vz]Cannot believe Ratchford is still haunting our 17 - well starting 13 to be precise. It irks me.[/quote:1c0nd6vz] Exactly - he was not great at halfback even when a spritely young man nevermind 37. Baffling. I think we are the only team in SL that would have him playing 7.

Honestly I think something is off about this. As far as I’m aware Leyland had done nothing wrong in the preseason games, also not buying that he is still learning the systems. Going off the Giants game most the team are still learning they systems and Williams had not even picked up the book

Dufty Thewlis Lindop King Ashton Williams Ratchford Vaughan Walker Yates Holroyd Russell Currie Powell Philbin Crowther/Musgrove (more than likely his boyfriend Musgrove) Fitzgibbon

totally baffled why Ratchford is being picked ahead of Leyland. There must be something in this that we aren't seeing/aware of!

[quote="Oxford Exile":2nsn8o60]totally baffled why Ratchford is being picked ahead of Leyland. There must be something in this that we aren't seeing/aware of![/quote:2nsn8o60] We need Oracle Abe.

[quote="Wires71":2v8cobxy]We need Oracle Abe.[/quote:2v8cobxy] Think he is currently on the naughty step.

Be interesting to see how Leyland is used throughout the year. My guess is that he'll get his chance & show what he can do. If not we'll be making an offer to get Drinkwater back as he was always seen as a better half back option than Steph.

So far ,i haven't seen Leyland do anything wrong ,unless Sam sees Ratchford as a steadier pair of hands.

I can only assume Leyland has done something behind the scenes to off Burgess, there's no rational explanation.

After reading through this thread I had to remind myself that we had actually won on Sunday and that Ratchford had a reasonable game ... Nothing too flashy but solid throughout the 80 mins,much like every other player ... So why should he be dropped this week ??

I think it’s more a case of challenging Leyland to go and take the shirt off someone. It was meant to be Hayes with Leyland in pursuit, now he’s got a slow moving target, but he obviously isn’t doing enough to force Sam to put his trust in him. But, the one positive from this is the absolute iron confidence in Hayes. Sam has said publicly, as has Chambers, that he is the plan. It’s so un-Warrington like. We’re not sniffing around an aging superstar, not keeping the door open for Sneyd, it’s Hayes. The job now is to persuade the terrace to be patient. He won’t be polished or the finished article, but we all have to take a breath when things go wrong, because if we do we might just drop lucky.

[quote="sirlesboyd2":1czyyy9p]After reading through this thread I had to remind myself that we had actually won on Sunday and that Ratchford had a reasonable game ... Nothing too flashy but solid throughout the 80 mins,much like every other player ... So why should he be dropped this week ??[/quote:1czyyy9p] I guess it's all opinions. I cant remember him excelling in the halves in his career, he's 37 and we are spending cap on a backup half. He's a stop gap fix, not a strategic forward looking selection. It reminds me of something Price would have done and is total opposite of "next man up".

[quote="Barbed Wire":2eow5ah0] But, the one positive from this is the absolute iron confidence in Hayes. Sam has said publicly, as has Chambers, that he is the plan. It’s so un-Warrington like. [/quote:2eow5ah0] Do you think Hayes is good enough for us to win a league title in 2025? Or just good enough?

[quote="Wires71":3r0347pz]I guess it's all opinions. I cant remember him excelling in the halves in his career, he's 37 and we are spending cap on a backup half. He's a stop gap fix, not a strategic forward looking selection. It reminds me of something Price would have done and is total opposite of "next man up".[/quote:3r0347pz] Last season was all about next man up, now this all feels a bit Peter Mata’utia. Granted Ratchford is not as crap as he was but would not have had him as next man up.