Wire in the NRL : Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:42 am  

Where do you think the current Warrington squad would finish if it was transported to the NRL and coached by one of Craig Bellamy, Des Hasler or Wayne Bennett?

Assume this coach had a full off season to prepare the team, freedom to set his own conditioning plan, work with his own backroom team.

My guess would be that we would make the playoffs in 6th-8th.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:49 am  

Anywhere below 12th.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:49 am  

Too fast for us over there if you watch us against the likes of saints and leeds when they get a roll on we have no chance but would like to think with the squad we have 6-8th

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:51 am  

Rock bottom. To be fair, most SuperLeague teams would as well.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:51 am  

Dead last

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:57 am  

Well I reckon Leeds would finish 6th-10th over there so (in no way trolling) I reckon you would be close to bottom. The gulf in class is still there to see at the moment. We were stuffed on Sunday even though the 8 point deficit says otherwise and it was just the fact that Lyon/Wiliams were so bad that we got anywhere near.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:20 pm  

Any super league team in the nrl would finish bottom in their first season as they wouldn't be used to the intensity week in week out. It's all very well winning a one off game on home soil, but even leeds and saints would come bottom. We would finish bottom with a record minus points tally.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:30 pm  

I disagree.
I'm one who champions the NRL competition, watch it regularly every week and don't find it slow and boring but the gap isn't as big as some would have you believe.
If we walked over there tomorrow and played this season we'd receive some tonkings but that's down to coaching and preparation compared to what they employ down there. Morley's one of our better players but he's probably 30% off his NRL form. Would our guys be capable of the step up in intensity? probably...certainly if guys like Kidwell or Tony Carroll can do it.
Given a proper coaching team, backroom staff, preparation and better squad depth i'm confident our team could hit 7/8th and I honestly think Leeds would finish in or around the top 4.
There's some freaks in that league but a lot of the players are no better than some of our guys, its the intensity and preparation/professionalism that sets them apart.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:32 pm  

I thing many people are missing the point of the question. Wayne Bennett is the most significant part of the equation as far as I can see. Cut the players down to individuals, and apart from the youngsters you have got some very good players who wouldn't look out of place in the NRL.

Monas, King, Hicks, Rau, Morley have all done well in the NRL.

Gleeson, Briers, V Anderson, L Anderson, Westwood, Wood, Carvell could easily play in the NRL and possibly a few of the others.

Don't forget, it's not all Orford's, Gasnier's or Slater's running around. There are a lot of "journeymen" as well.

Difference being, I would imagine the coaching they are receiving is at a much better standard than our's at the moment, th biggest key factor as far as I can see.

Remember, all these players that have been slagged off that came to Wire over the last 10 years from the NRL. They did a job there, don't forget, some better than others granted, but they all made a career there. Remember David Kidwell, slagged to death at Wire, he wasn't a failure when he went back.

: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:42 pm  

Have a look at some of the NRL squads, Wests, Souths etc and they don't come close to ours in terms of quality of the personnel.

I reckon it would be interesting to sit down with Craig Bellamy (to take one of the coaches mentioned) before the season and discuss the teams prospects with him.

Front row of Morley, Carvell, Paul Wood and Rauhihi, that’s a better prop rotation than most teams in the NRL have.

Westwood gave a good account of himself in the World Cup, the Andersons have both played NRL and are Kiwi internationals, so the back row would be sound (this is without including the fact that our best younger players, Mitchell and Harrison, are backrowers)

Briers might need a bit of shaking into shape and he might be losing some pace which is affecting his ability to slice through the line like he used to, but he's had one of the best kicking games in SL for a long time now and that would be effective in the NRL. Monaghan was one of the best performers in the NRL when he was there, he won't go on the market now because he'll be on a big salary in England, but if he wasn't, the NRL clubs would be queuing up to sign him. So that’s a good pair of halfbacks.

In the backline Bellamy would identify three guaranteed quality NRL performers in Hicks, King and Gleeson. In Penny he'd have raw explosive pace and ball skills not dissimilar to what some of the most exciting NRL backs have. He's a rough diamond which polished up would do damage in the NRL like Matty Bowen, Rhys Wesser, Ty Williams and co. Bridge is another who has got some natural skills he could work with, the fast hard grounds of the NRL would suit Bridge's fast footwork. Reardon and Johnson - well it depends on their fitness, but if they can be put back in one piece these guys have both proved they can perform well in the big arena under pressure.

We don't have the speed and athleticism of Manly, Melbourne or Brisbane but outside of those teams there wouldn't be too much difference between us and the rest. Last year you had sides like Cronulla and the Warriors being relatively successful and with a top coach like Bellamy we would be able to mix it with them.

I can guarantee that if you put the Warrington squad to Bellamy, he would be talking about playoffs as a minimum, he wouldn't look at our squad and predict the wooden spoon.