If you are TS, what is your objective ??



Answer: To win as much silverware as possible by producing a highly motivated, high quality team of athletes.



So if it's only necessary to get into the top 2 or 4 at the end of the season, why would you not rest players before the CC where you could easily get knocked out and miss one of the two top prizes ? Secondly, you have to keep an eye on 2013-4 and need to provide experience to your young stars, because you wish to be successful in the future as well. So you pick a team that you think can get the 2 points and satisfy the above as well. If you get beaten, tough titty, you are only half way through the season and you only need that top 4 position.



So the problem here is with the structure of SL. We should NOT be moaning about the team that TS puts out. Similarly, it's not TS fault that there are weaker teams in the league. OK you say, but what happens if attendances start to fall because fans don't wish to pay top whack to see a weakened team play ? Personally I agree with the poster that said this does not seem to be a problem and compares our situation to premier league football. But even if it did / does happen, its a problem for the RLFC to solve - they are the ones that created it with the current structure of SL. Although fans and club can demand change, its their problem NOT the Wire's.



So my bottom line is don't come on here whinging and winding people up.



If you don't wish to pay the money to see the game, don't go.

If you don't like SL with several weak teams, go and watch some other sport.

If you don't like to read what fans post about their side then stop reading it.

I wasn't at the game so can't comment on the atmosphere.



But to me - we beat a good Salford side with a team made up of our most promising youngsters. Personally, I enjoy seeing the young kids playing, seeing who is going to be a class player etc. I certainly don't see it as reduced entertainment because I'm there to support my hometown team.



If I watched Warrington for entertainment, I'd have stopped going about 20 years ago!





I appreciate it's different for everyone and I'm not trying to make this a I'm a better fan than you type nonesense (I've only been to 1 game all season so it would be hypocrtical of me anyway.)

I think you are missing the point here Sally. If we spend our cash on high salary imports from the NRL there is less to spend on the youth system and club development. If, for the sake of argument we only had players coming through the youth system, all clubs would be working their socks off to encourage their local schools and companies to field sides and encourage growth. They would spend more time coaching youngsters, we would have better facilities for training etc etc .The emphasis would inevitably ensure a growth at grass roots level. I don't see any reason why this would not lead to high quality players coming through the system to take the place of the NRL imports. We would still be watching exciting high quality rugby, but it would be predominantly UK players.

I am not saying have no imports, simply that we should be able to nurture most of our own. And that might mean we could finally sit down to a Aus vs Eng match with the expectation of a win rather than defeat.

Im finding it increasingly more difficult to get overly excited for league games now.



Last season was brilliant.. we battled hard for every point, winning the league was a great achievement, and proved that we were the best team.... Then we went out in the playoffs and we had to watch a grand final contested by two teams we had beaten home and away in the league.... The players gave their all, finished the league on top and ended up with nothing off the back of a penalty in one game...



Bottom line is the OP is right... we now have a season that is based on a few games AFTER the long hard slog of the league is over... We now have a competition in which it doesn't really matter if you lose 5/6/7 league games.. As one fan said to his mate when we were getting mullered by wakefield "doesn't matter anyway its only a league match"... Unfortunately thats the game were in these days...



So are we the fans bothered about winning the league? i would say the majority don't really care after last season... as long as we finish top 4 I would be happy. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the players also felt the same way... and we can see from player selection that Smith's attitude has changed.



like it or not most league games are little more than friendly's now.

One question, if you have an advantage in the playoffs by not winning too many games during the season then how come we didn't win Super League when Cullen was in charge?



Surely then we could have taken on teams like Bradford, Saints etc who had burned themselves out through the full season and then we could have taken advantage and gone on to win the playoffs?

To be fair though ,if this new plan of winning from down the league is the way forward ,i am sure it wouldn't have taken 16 years for a wily manager to sniff it out & avoid working his team into the ground for 27 weeks.I am sure that last season Leeds just came into form at the right time to get to O/T & Wembley after what was one of their worst SL seasons... after all wasn't Brian McDermott hanging on by the skin of his teeth at one stage ?

Ok, they might still be jittery at times & inexperienced ,but the youngsters are the future & can't be ignored.

Dissatisfied.. I'm confused.. didn't we win at weeekend, and hopefully got to watch the next tier of talent coming through the system, where exactly are the lads supposed to get the experience, or as some previous posters have already stated is Tony Smith and the club, see whether they can handle the next level.



I agree it wasn't the most expansive rugby we've watched the side play, but at least it made me sit up and kept me there to the end with game being a close call.. and if you feel p****d off watching our so called second team (I thought they were all part of the first team squad...!) How the hell do you think Salford felt..

Well done lads and like the other thread states.. The Future is Bright!!!!

I don't think we lost league games in the Cullen era because we were resting our better players and playing promising youngsters, we lost because we put out strong teams that were simply not good enough. If the players you have are not good enough in the first place, it doesn't matter how much rest they are given.

I am sure you are correct about Leeds. During the early season they looked exactly like us this year, with daft offloads, dropped ball etc etc. They were playing catch up in the league all season. Fortunately (for them) they suddenly put it all together at the back end of the season and went on to win SL. I think the point about Leeds though is that it doesn't matter about finishing 5th, because you still get to play in the playoffs. All those poor games they played, all the points they dropped, all the heavy defeats, counted for nothing at the end of the season.



So, if you have a squad with quality in depth and you are close to the top of the league, you stand a better chance of winning SL if your 1st team pick arrives at the playoffs with no niggly injuries and not mentally or physically tired. It doesn't guarantee that you will win; its a knockout competition and anything can happen 'on the day'. But the odds are stacked in your favour.

It was always 'weakened teams' under Cullen, I remember every week when we lost the debate on here was always the same



Me, Wires71 and the cynics: "we are crap, we will never win anything till we change the coach, we should go for someone like Hanley or John Lang"



The All New Chester Wire and the loyalists: "knee jerk reaction, look at the players we had out: Reardon, Sullivan, Johnson, Rauhihi, Bridge, Vinnie Anderson, when we have these first teamers back we are as good as anyone"



Various other posters: "the future is bright as these games that Bracek/Pickersgill/Penny are playing now will stand them in good stead for the future, they will be the bedrock of our side for years to come"

Interesting debate, this.

One point I'd like to make - there seems to be a lot of assumption on here that we are not bothered about finishing first this year, but a look at the table might suggest otherwise!

Maybe we still want to achieve it, but to do it smarter, so there's still something left in the tank for the play-offs.

As for the Salford game, yes it was a flat atmosphere and a poor game, but if I had a pound for every time I'd experienced that at the HJ or Wilderspool over the past 40 years I'd be doing OK!

I'm just happy we got the win and some young players got vital game time. It's not going to be champagne rugby every week, I'm afraid, but I reckon we'll get better and better as the season progresses.

I agree we're only one point off the top spot!



What happens if the top two lose a game and we win, we could end up back in the same position we were in last year and all this planning will have been for nothing.