Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:56 pm
It was more that the supply of good players from Aus dried up, due to increased salary cap over there and less attractive exchange rates making it much harder for English clubs to sign players. You could probably do a similar analysis of Saints, Wigan over a similar time period and see some rather underwhelming signings in the last few years compared to the blue chip signings from before. Steve Price is signing from the same market and guys like Lama Tasi, Matt Davis, Jake Mamo are also high risk players who seem similar to the type that TS was signing in his later years. Even the bigger name signings we are making now, like Roberts and Austin, are players coming over with question marks rather than guys with proven consistent track records at the top like Monaghan, King and Hodgson.
The interesting comparison in terms of recruitment from 2013 onwards is Cas - who were in a much worse position than us, bottom of the league and bust (hence having to sell Clark to us) and yet they recruited well from the same market we were shopping in to make themselves a very good side. So it can be done.
Still, we should remember that in the past three seasons we have made four finals and one one league leaders' shield, which in the context of Warrington RLFC history means we are probably coming in to 2019 on the back of one of the best three-year spells in our history....
