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There are a few things at the club for me that are concerning.
I’m the last remaining Burgess foot soldier. He brought something to a team that Warrington haven’t had before. A steel and defensive spirit which saw use drive players back and choke teams out of possession and position. Which allowed a simple but fast attack to take advantage. But that hasn’t been there for a while now. Cas got out of their in goal three times last week, and Singleton and Westerman were made to look like prime Bradford.
But, there is evidence that this team can play. It can compete, including against the best. There was no evidence of that under Powell. Bar a run of beating the cellar dwellers there was no evidence that we could beat an egg.
I maintain that if we can find some resilience in defence, and unlock that spirit, this isn’t a 7, 8, 9 place team. But if you watch the last match back, and I could go back further, someone needs to get a grip of Sneyd and make sure that he is at least a speed bump. The look on Fitzgibbon’s face after the first try last week was enough to see the frustration there, and I’ve been critical of Sneyd’s defence before but it’s just a gaping hole at the moment. Similarly with his nonchalant approach at the line. It’s lethargic and often results with the ball on the ground.
It’s not just Sneyd though, Williams too plays like he’s a headless chicken at times. Trying to fix things on his own. It’s a sorry state of affairs that when we need a calm head at half back, Currie appears our best option.
Yes, we’re missing Walker to tie in defenders at the ruck, and to create some pressure on them to defend the middle before sliding, but that doesn’t wash when you have 2 England halfbacks and a marquee fullback. The halves need to step up and take accountability.
My gripe with Sam is that we’ve developed this culture of challenging decisions. Thewlis annoys the life out of me with it. Marshall is as much as a moaner, but at least he plays the ball quickly and then has a little cry. Thewlis just slows the play the ball down, pulls his face and then the next carrier gets hammered as a result. Yes, we’ve had some tough calls go against us, but so what. Go and moan about it at half time or after the game. We kill our own momentum time and time again.
I think, given the way last year went, and a cup run, Sam has credit in the bank IF we make the six for next year. It’s a huge ask now, we needed 8 points from 10 from the last five games and dropped easy points. Now we have to get something out of Leigh and Hull even to stay in the chase, and likely have to beat Wigan and rely on others losing form. But behind this is a club that is floundering. Injuries mounting up and no real investigations as to how they have come about. 3 ACL’s is extraordinary. These aren’t impact injuries, is it about preparation, is it about the field or the training pitch? Who knows but the club should be investigating why its assets aren’t on the pitch.
In a salary cap sport where there are a number of close competitors, you need to get the best out of your squad. And you see with Wigan of late, take one or two key players out and the results just fall away. They are lucky not to be 0 from 5 having scraped past Huddersfield on the last play and a dodgy call which ultimately got McGuire sacked. Leeds last night too, Connor goes off and they look completely rudderless. So there is mitigation for the RESULT but not for the effort areas and resilience.
Theres nothing in the murmuring of Williams, Burgess or Vaughan contract stuff. Or the drinking culture. These are all things that people grasp at when the results are poor. When teams win, nobody cares. Look at the Walker to Canberra stuff last year, nobody cared because we were winning.
We need a response after this week off (which, Hull KR aside nobody had played more games than us this last two seasons). This is the chance to get some system and structure work done, get Walker and Matterson on the field and at least make a chase of it. No more moaning, no more half baked efforts in defence.
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