Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:22 pm  

Well I didn’t fancy us at all tonight as I said a week ago but I didn’t expect us to get hammered. It seems the pre season worries were correct. Very poor that and almost a carbon copy of starts in recent seasons. Our squad players in the back line look way off. Hardaker made a huge difference to that back line last year, we’ve definitely gone backwards there.

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:38 pm  

Glad I missed that one by the sounds of what`s been said.
I feared the worse when I saw the team selection with Handley and Fusitua at centre and Tetavno LF with Donaldson on the bench.
Smith had to start at LF with Walters in for Donno.
Other than that Myler, Sezer and Austin have enough experience to at least keep us in the game.
Chelsea Wire have spent plenty of money to put that team together and absolutely must finish top 2 to justify the spending.
Once we get our injured players back will be the time to judge how good we are.
But once again our squad looks thin with players for the future and not enough quality.
Sounds like Leeds United!

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:45 pm  

Had to laugh when someone said Nene McDonald is still to come , my Nan can tackle better than him .

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:47 pm  

Think we miss Bentley a lot, he puts 50+ tackles on in a lot of games hopefully he’ll be back soon

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:48 pm  

D4mo78 wrote:

First 40 minutes of the season mate. Wouldn't get too carried away. Powell will have you playing some good rugby, but that won't necessarily win the Grand Final. He who laughs last Rodney.

He is a Saints fan mate and an idiot.

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Thu Feb 16, 2023 11:56 pm  

chapylad wrote:

Glad I missed that one by the sounds of what`s been said.
I feared the worse when I saw the team selection with Handley and Fusitua at centre and Tetavno LF with Donaldson on the bench.
Smith had to start at LF with Walters in for Donno.
Other than that Myler, Sezer and Austin have enough experience to at least keep us in the game.
Chelsea Wire have spent plenty of money to put that team together and absolutely must finish top 2 to justify the spending.
Once we get our injured players back will be the time to judge how good we are.
But once again our squad looks thin with players for the future and not enough quality.
Sounds like Leeds United!

Wire have spent no more than most of the other teams unless you are suggesting they are breaching the salary cap.

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Fri Feb 17, 2023 12:40 am  

Seems clear Smith wasn't happy in the post match. He said a few contradictory things, saying losing yards in defence wasn't as big a deal as defending big players but admitted later that we need to fix up the yardage. I just don't think being passive in defence is a good idea as a game plan. Might work against some teams but we'll get mullered by Sts if we play the same.

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Fri Feb 17, 2023 1:43 am  

Wow. I knew we stood little chance of winning tonight, but that was just depressing.

I know it is game one of the campaign, but I can't see a single positive from tonight's game and I'm already fearing for the season. It's probably the weakest Leeds squad I've ever seen and they look unprepared and uninspired as well.

Smith was clearly dismayed in the press conference after the game, and he knows that he can't hide behind the excuse of having players out. He needs a completely different attitude from his players next Friday.

I think everyone expected a loss tonight, players included, but it ended up looking like a Wire training session. Embarrassing.

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Fri Feb 17, 2023 2:47 am  

Tetevano robbing a living.

Re: SL RD 1 | Warrington Wolves (A) : Fri Feb 17, 2023 2:59 am  

Smith needs to stop mollycoddling Tetevano. Great at training is utterly pointless - he's a Kiwi international marquee player. Play up or be dropped.

It feels like the whole club got a bit smug preseason to me, treating pre-season games as a big mess about rather than focusing on hitting the ground running.

The main thing is the defensive intensity. I really hope that this passive defence stuff gets knocked on the head. We worked around it last year, but its simply not a viable strategy against a team with a big pack and strikepower. It'll work against smaller teams who don't make as much yardage, or against teams with big forwards and nothing else, but if a team has both its a recipe for big losses IMO.