Does that tell us more about Briers than the players who followed? Don't think the perfect replacement was ever out there.



We've had all different kinds of half back since he retired, some of them very good players.



In terms of his coaching, who knows what goes on on the training pitch. I also don't believe that just because he was so good, means he can teach that to our young half backs. It doesn't work like that

What was said for a few years afterwards, certainly in the case of ratch replacing hodgo, we were continuing to try and play a style, that we no longer had the playing staff to support.

Was Ratchford signed as a replacement for Hodgson.

The reason that I ask is that I remember Matty Russell being signed as a fullback well after Ratch arrived and then we signed Gidley who had been playing full back for Newcastle and gave him the No 1 shirt although from memory he only played a pre season friendly at No 1.

I thought we stumbled around signing players with no real long term plan.

It maybe that Ratch was signed as a full back but all the shuffling at 6/7 meant that Ratch had to move



At the start of this season I saw a programme and it showed a recruitment meeting at Castleford where they were looking to sign a pivot for next year. They had identified the need and looked in the NRL and SL as to who was available 12 months in advance. It sounds like that ended up being Evalds. It would be great to compare our recruitment process to what I saw at Cas especially with signing Latu and Burrell neither of which appeared well thought out.

I imagine our recruitment 'committee' to be a 3 man WhatsApp group, consisting of Moran, Fitzpatrick and Price. At various times of the day, Fitzpatrick pops up with YouTube clips of various NRL players that he's been sent by unscrupulous Aussie agents..



'Watch this fellas, this lad is an absolute monster' as Karl links them to a 3 minute clip of some huge Aussie or Kiwi lad knocking 10 bells out of various NRL opposition..



'Looks great Karl' says an excited Moran 'we'll have some of that'



'Yes, looks fantastic' says a giddy Karl,



'Ahem, lads, have we checked out his stats, his stamina, discipline, important stuff like that?' interrupts a not as enthusiastic Steve Price 'remember, I've got to work with the guy'



'Typical of you, Steve' says a mocking Fitzpatrick 'always trying to put my great scouting work down - I'm going to contact this guy's agent in the morning'



'Good stuff Karl, get onto it, I'll sign the cheque' says Moran



Price throws his phone to the floor and goes back to bed....





... 6 weeks later, Price walks into Fitzpatrick's office,



'Karl, that big lad you brought over from Oz?'



'What about him, Pricey?'



'He's another pile of $hi+e, Karl.. Thanks' .....

Sandow was a talent, who then decided to leave us and then completely waste it. If only he'd been fit for the full 80 minutes at both Wembley and OT.

Russell was a panic buy after Briers retired and he had a fairly decent world Cup.



Gidley was signed after we gave up trying to go young and British with myler and gob, ratch bridge an a young patton. We got Sandow and gids. Who as you say generally had been a utility player in oz

I don’t buy it , sorry.

Moran didn’t get rich by “staffing money up the wall”.

I think we can all make an educated guess re prop re ruitment.

SP “ We need an experienced front line prop”

KF “Turns out not to be as easy as we would like. Every time we got close to signing a contract his agen called to say he had been offered an NRLcontract based on our offer”

SP “ but we REALLY need a prop, even those know it all’s on RLFans have worked it out”

KF “Well there’s always Latu as a last resort, I know no one is keen on him but...”

SP “ (I with words he will come to regret ) “well he should do a job”

So the likes of Latu and Sita were thoroughly scouted and not picked up after viewing a 2 minute showreel on YouTube?



I'm struggling to believe that...

Wasn't sita signed because he was hiku's mate? And then hiku buggered off! Some mate.

Not sure you actually read my post, that is not what I said at all (or if I did I didn’t mean to).

How are you quantifying that Briers is a bad coach? As he's an assistant all you can really base it on is the opinions of others within the sport. The role of an assistant coach is to assist the head coach. He could be doing a sensational job of that and you wouldn't know.



I think what Warrington are lacking at the moment is a genuine leader in the squad. If you had a Jamie Peacock or Paul Sculthorpe in your dressing room over the last 10 years, I suspect you'd have three or four titles by now.

I've made this point a few times.

How many of us know what the exact role is and to what extent he's listened to by SP?



Agar was vilified during his time as assistant coacb to TS on here, but doesnt seem to be doing a too bad a job at Leeds.