Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 11:32 am  

The other thing with that Bradford team in 2005 was that there were lots of players moving on at the end of that season (Peacock, Pryce,Paul Radford). They had signed Harris and we're going through a battle with Leeds about compensation. Then at the tail end of the season they bring Morley in meaning one of the regular forwards was going to miss out on selection towards the end of season.
They still managed to pull together to lift the SL trophy.
If we went through that sort of disruption in a season I think it would be like a 1990's England batting collapse.

Plenty of teams have had major disruption in a season. Look at Wigan in 2018 when there was the Tomkins brothers incident. They were both suspended, I think Joel was shortly off to Hull KR and Sam to Catalan with Shaun Wane being replaced at the end of the season. Yet they still had enough to lift the big one.

Adversity doesn't have to be a good excuse why things fall apart. It can be a reason that there is a risilliance and determination to succeed against the odds.

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 11:44 am  

Well you never know maybe this lot has the leaders/motivation to turn this around. Vaughan/Chambers/Williams might be the people to inspire this bunch. This Super League does not take much winning.

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 1:06 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

This has been a repeated problem with Warrington sides. It happened under Price too. When we start to get into a rut we can't get out of it and we get mired in bad form for ages.

It's because we have a complete lack of leaders in the squad. We don't have the characters who can step up and turn round a losing situation, either during a game or in a run of form.

So this is why every year we get people on here saying "if you look at our squad in terms of ability there's not much between us and Saints" but every year we are a million miles away from Saints in results.

When you have a side that folds and gets mired in to runs of bad form and can't get out of them, you've got the wrong players if you want to compete for the Grand Final. You can make excuses and say "it's just confidence...everybody gets affected by losing/when the crowd is on their backs..." ok sure, but the type of players who will win a Grand Final won't be.

I remember seeing Jamie Peacock once talking about Bradford's last title winning season in 2005. Their mid season form was up and down and they were getting stick from the fans and media and when the pressure was really building they went to Wakefield and Wakey stuck 60 points on them. It was the lowest point that Bradford team had ever been in. Peacock and a group of other senior players got the squad together and basically said this is how we're going to turn this around and they became a juggernaut for the rest of that season who smashed everybody on the way to winning the Grand Final. After that year, a lot of those senior players (including Peacock) moved to other clubs and Bradford never got close again.

We saw other seasons where Leeds or Wigan had embarrassing defeats mid season and their fans were demanding McDermott/Wane get sacked. By the end of the season they were winning the Grand Final (often against us). But in our case, we respond to a setback by being poop for the next 10 weeks.

It’s not for the want of recognising that we needed a vocal sergeant major type character to motivate passion and aggression, I would assume that was what we brought in McGuire in for.
We go again for that in 2024 maybe.

However, I do feel that energy coming from Chambers. He is the type of person you would run through a brick wall for, I never felt that from Powell and only occasionally if at all with Price.

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 1:17 pm  

ratticusfinch wrote:

Well you never know maybe this lot has the leaders/motivation to turn this around. Vaughan/Chambers/Williams might be the people to inspire this bunch. This Super League does not take much winning.

Sadly Vaughan and Williams couldn't inspire us during our 8 on the bound phase.

The team is not as talented as the top sides and mentally fragile. The latter has dogged us even when we had a great side. We lack grit and determination on field and off. Maybe Burgess can change that.

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 2:05 pm  

For quite a few years the Wire have been in this position of having one or more of the following deficiences ...
1. lack of team or individual confidence
2. lack of winning attitude or positive mental attitude
3.Some or all of the team are in a cba comfort zone.
4. a psychological block to attaining success on the field.

Perhaps a positive management & coaching & fitness regime will be the answer.

[Uncle Rico]

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 4:09 pm  

Wires71 wrote:

Sadly Vaughan and Williams couldn't inspire us during our 8 on the bound phase.

The team is not as talented as the top sides and mentally fragile. The latter has dogged us even when we had a great side. We lack grit and determination on field and off. Maybe Burgess can change that.

Whilst I agree with your top line. I'm not sure that the great TS sides (if that what you were referring too) were "mentally fragile" they 'just' lacked a bit of composure, or is that the same thing?

We didn't disintegrate/collapse but IMO we were (too easily) 'duped' and knocked off our stride by ultra professionalism from the opposition who knew what they had to do to nullify our talent and win...

I still have nightmares ha ha "Hopefully a Change is Gonna Come"

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 4:51 pm  

ratticusfinch wrote:

Well you never know maybe this lot has the leaders/motivation to turn this around. Vaughan/Chambers/Williams might be the people to inspire this bunch. This Super League does not take much winning.

Well how come it's only saints Wigan and Leeds who occupy super League births that are the only winners of this end of season comp..others have got there and been beaten..so it's harder than you say..and no doubt it'll be the same this season

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 5:11 pm  

I meant this current Super League season. No team looks particularly great but you’re right in that Saints or Wigan will probably win it again.

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 6:35 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

Whilst I agree with your top line. I'm not sure that the great TS sides (if that what you were referring too) were "mentally fragile" they 'just' lacked a bit of composure, or is that the same thing?

We didn't disintegrate/collapse but IMO we were (too easily) 'duped' and knocked off our stride by ultra professionalism from the opposition who knew what they had to do to nullify our talent and win...

I still have nightmares ha ha "Hopefully a Change is Gonna Come"

We didnt have the collective composure to beat Leeds at home in the SF.

We lost the plot in the GF against Wigan after the injury to Monaghan.

That's 2 GF we should have won with our team at its peak.

We havent been good enough since then. In fact last 2 grand finals we struggled to score. Was it 1 try per GF?

There is a soft underbelly/comfort zone/low expectations/no consequences culture at our club.

Re: Remaining season : Fri Sep 01, 2023 6:45 pm  

Well none of it matters now, the Sky pundits have just said we are not making the playoffs.