Dissatisfied with Salford game?



Appreciate that a win is a win.

But have come away from the game, with a sense of

Was it really worth the admittance money?



To me it had the atmosphere a pre-season Friendly.



Seems to me Tony Smith ( & other coaches ? ) are now of opinion following Leeds’ example last year that the league doesn’t matter – provided you finish near the top of the 8.

More important for your Stars to be fit, not burnt out, & in form at the end of the season.

The real season has been reduced to 4 games.



Salford’s no4 Moon looked good, but would he have looked good against Westwood / Bridge is an example in point.



Personally think the RL has a big problem.

No relegation, now no-one really interested in top spot.



Makes for poor Spectator value – would not want is sit through another reserve grade game at 1st team prices.

I will save my money for the final series – or maybe not as it is on SKY.

I am of the same opinion, i have followed Warrington for over 20 years now, with the majority of them with Season Tickets. This season, partly due to saving for a wedding i havent got a season ticket, i am following the results but i can say i am not interested in the league after last seasons anti climax, if we win great, if we don't, i'm not too fussed as long as we are in the play offs.



As you say its just a case of who is in form and injury free at the end of the season.



The end of last season killed a lot of my enjoyment of Rugby League. I think it was partly due to us never being good enough, more in hope than anything else. Yes Wigan fans, "the year of the wolfs" we'd hear every year by oppoisition fans and we'd flatter to deceive then last year being the best team and coming nowhere left a deflated feeling and one that has meant i am not so inclined to hand my money over for in essence 27 rounds of "friendlies".

I don't buy this "not interested in top spot therefore games are boring" argument. I thought RL fans were meant to love their sport and be proud it's a superior game? I quite enjoyed Sunday's match. It had a good ebb and flow to it with both sides completing their sets and as we know Salford are a much more entertaining side this season. We could have done with a more cutting edge at times and shouldn't have let them back in when 24-10 up but at the end of the day we got the win whilst resting several players and a few youngsters got valuable first team experience.



As for atmosphere - I know what you mean, it did seem very quiet at times. But the whole atmosphere argument is a bit silly I think. Atmosphere has always varied throughout seasons and in every sport too. It doesn't flags, songs, drums or any other forced gimmicks. Some games will have it, some won't. Shouldn't stop you enjoying the game though - after all watching a match of RL is what it's all about.

On the no-relegation / top spot meaningless argument being offered as reasons for people not to go. What about Premiership football? Not long into the season you know who's in with a chance of winning it and who's likely to be scrapping at the bottom. What's the point for the rest of them? Yet footy fans still turn out in their tens of thousands for meaningless matches, often having travelled the length of the country to do so and often in midweek.



Sadly it's typical of RL fans to simply find fault with everything rather than enjoying what they have.

Last season was one the most enjoyable for me for many a year. Last year we were the best side over the 27 rounds by some distance and the fact we missed out by 2 points in the semi doesn't make me feel anything other than proud of the clubs efforts.

If TS thinks that to mix the squad up from round to round is the right way then that's fine with me, we're blooding fine young players and that will only do us good in the long run.

Long season, keep the faith.

I'm willing to give anybody odds of 6/4 on the winner of Super League coming from outside of the top three.



So you get five teams to my three and better then even odds. Any takers?

I had the same opinion as the OP on Sunday after the game, but re-reflected later on because what we fans have to understand this year in particular is that TS needs to know if the 'kids' who have been doing well in the 20s i.e. Currie, Williams, Dwyer, O'Brien, McCarthy etc, are going to cut the mustard at SL level. Not just SL, but top 4 standard. At the end of this year and next, we have alot of players approaching the end of their careers and we cannot simply assume that these young guys will be able to step up, or at least not immediately anyway. Can O'Brien replace Briers, or do we need to look at buying in for example? The only way to know that is to start blooding them now against sides in the lower half of the league. It was more of a gamble this time due to the amount of experience left out of the side, but in a way it makes it all the more impressive given that Salford are a much better outfit this year and pushed Leeds all the way last week. Remember Salford with a weaker side beat Warrington last year.



I don't think the league is de-valued at all. Wasnt last year the only year when a club from outside the top 2 won the GF? We are certainly wiser this year, and probably realise we dont have to go hell for leather against every side in the comp.

We were spoilt last year is my view, though dissapointed with the end result of the year.

Any Wire speccie who's unhappy, try reading the Widnes forum.

Very good post. Bradford won the GF from 3rd in 2005, but that doesn't alter your point.



There are some right tarts on here though.

Maybe we will find out whether fans really want to see a team of 'home grown youngsters' taking the field for Warrington.



On the forums you always hear people going on about how great it is for the future that we have all these players from our academy blah blah but when they actually play people don't feel they are getting their admissions money.



Do you really want every game to be like a pre season friendly with a load of local kids wearing the jersey or would you rather watch the likes of Trent Waterhouse?



I suspect that whatever they might say to be pc on here about supporting youngsters, the true answer is they aren't interested in home grown players what they want to see is big guns who have been there and done it in the NRL.

I also think that some fans have been "spolit" by the brand of rugby we have played in the last couple of season. Inconsistent performances, handling errors, team selections will be forgotten come October if the big prize end up at the HJ and we have a squad of replacements for some of our retiring players.

I can see the argument that if you're an RL fan then you love the sport and close game are what you're after. But if Sunday was the cup semi would we have put the same side out, no we wouldn't. So it's pretty much the case that as the weekly rounds aren't as important as the playoffs, or the latter stages of the cup then it's ok to treat them as a chance to experiment rather than win at all costs.



To be fair, the Cullenesque approach of always playing your best 17, and in most cases playing them bandaged & injected to the eyeballs simply hasn't worked. If the approach of using the weekly round as something similar to the seeding process as in snooker or tennis means we hit our best form when it matters then that's fine.



there is a problem with the current system and that's two fold. There is a lack of contunial competetive games to improve standards. So our reserves get a testing time against the teams with lower talent levels. I'd rather see our internationals having to work and improve every week by having a similar level of opposition to play. But there's not the talent pool, or the level of coaching staff to sustain this. There's certainly not the finance to warrant reducing the number of teams either.



Also if the competition as a whole means that more than half the teams are in the business end, then where's the incentive to finish top at all costs ?



Until there can be a competition where winning it means more then it does now, finishing half way up the table isn't rewarded with a play off place, and there are no games where there is a difference in quality to the extent that you put your reserve squad out, then there are those that quite rightly ask why they should put their hands in their pockets each week and not cherry pick their attendance.