Been a Wire fan since late 1960s and like lot fans I'm bemused by club management and who's responsible but had a look at our first team squad and put down some thoughts.

Daryl Powell
Got to give him time to turn it around he's not a bad coach  over night. I think some of the player are not buying in to his ideas other have been on easy street for a few years.

Stefan Ratchford
Good player in broken field also good ball distribution and link player
A keeper

Josh Charnley
Good finisher takes ball in well sometimes clocks off in defence
Ok

Peter Mata'utia
Solid centre tends to go lateral a bit to often
Ok


Toby King
Has all the attributes to be great centre or second row
Needs to stop sulking and start to performing up a few levels or find himself in Curries position out of demand

Matty Ashton
Speed to burn and always a danger to any team we play a lot of improvement in him yet
Keeper

Greg Minikin
Can't judge him yet could be a good fit for us

Josh Thewlis
Young lad coming through plenty of potential
Keeper

Connor Wrench
Young lad coming through plenty of potential
Keeper

Jack Derbyshire
Young lad coming through plenty of potential
Keeper

George Williams
Not performing at a level that salary says he should be does not seem committed to us
Needs a good talking to doing his stock no good

Gareth widdop
Not performing at a level that salary says he should be does not seem committed to us
Needs a good talking to doing his stock no good

Riley Dean
Young lad coming through plenty of potential

Joe philbin
Used to be great impact off the bench speed and aggression
Need to find some props then use him properly

Mike Cooper
Good solid prop and committed to the Wire
Keeper

Jason Clark
Good 3rd man in all tackles never breaks the line just seems to coast through games with out putting any effort in
Get rid

Joe Bullock
Could not get a regular bench spot at Wigan and I can see why does not play this size
Get rid

Rob Mulhern
Does put in a lot of effort but has a lack of impact
Get rid

James Harrison
We are all hoping he goes on to be a Chris Hill Mark two just have to wait a see

Rob Butler
Not seen enough of him yet to judge

Morgan Burgess
Not seen enough of him yet to judge

Daryl clark
Still a good hooker but does not quite seem up to standard of three years and more ago
Keeper

Danny walker
A good hooker put a lot of effort in and is still improving
Keeper

Ben Currie
Should be breaking the line and solid in defence but falls short in both and has done for along time now
Get rid beyond help now I think

Oliver Holmes
Was very good at Castleford and has put effort in for us but not been effective

Jack Hughes
Should be breaking the line and solid in defence but falls short in both for last two years his work rate was his saviour before that
Needs to sort it out or get rid

Matt Davis
To small but did have a good work rate and utility value also but not last year and this

Billy Magoulias
Not seen enough of him yet to judge


Ellis Longstaff
Not seen enough of him yet to judge

Ellis Robson
Not seen enough of him yet to judge

Jacob Ganon
Not seen enough of him yet to judge

Tom Whithead
Not seen enough of him yet to judge

Good read, but as an outsider I think your being a bit too kind and praising there to a few….

Ratchford
Mautautia
King
Get rid

The get rids are j Clark..Matt Davis...widdop lazy swine..mulhearn simply not good enough..king well over rated...you never know saints Wigan Catalans may come in for some of these..

We have 3/4players who could play in the saints team, or who would get a gig at saints Wigan cats and Leeds. Cooper Currie Clark n williamsI would only realistically keep hold of 2/3 of those.

Powell was brought in to change how we play and the culture at the club. And that by its nature will see players departing. It would be nice if contacts and salary caps did not exist but they do, sobit doesn't happen as fast as we want but 16 players ooc it will be interesting how many get new deals with us, if we renew more than 4 I will then be worried.

Charnley could play for any club in SL too..

The majority of our squad could secure a contract at another SL club, the question is - at what contract level?

We don't know what we are paying individual players, aside from the fact that there are two marquee contracts, but the sum of the parts is going to be close to the cap limit. On that basis it doesn't appear that we are getting value for money.

Whenever you are bidding for a player there is a Bonus-malus calculation. A player may be happy to be paid £Xpa at Club A but would demand £X+1pa at Club B based on things such as Club A's chance of winning trophies, who the coach is etc. As a result of our failure to reach Grand Finals, an unispiring coach / playing style and a reputation as a big spending club I suspect that we are paying over the odds and have an unbalanced squad, notibly in the pack.

16 ooc could be a real issue. If some do not get renewed or sign elsewhere you may get a deeper rot that will be hard to cut out this season

My hopes are that when Powell went through the interview process and when he has sat down his plans for the squad will have been discussed. And his perceived view of the culture and mentality issues he touched on too. And that to change the culture some of the long term members will be let go along with players not adapting to his style over this season. 16 places gives him the real opportunity to redistribute a lot of the cap.

Savings to be made to invest elsewhere
Thewlis for ratchford
Longstaff for j Clark / Hughes
Dean for widdop
Walker for Clark.

Long term wrench for king or matautia should materialise if we could somehow get both out and bring wrench n wow factor centre in then we should try. Basically I think we will see the real direction the side will go based on how many of the squad gets new deals and the players who we do bring in.

As an opposition fan I am more than happy with that assessment as if the club also thinks the same way it will mean Warrington will not be a threat for some time to come.

For example ratchford for me he was always a player who was good on paper but has never delivered consistent top class performances.

Line him up against other fullbacks who played this weekend and he would not be top of my shopping list.

Better fullbacks.

Cooner - better
Field - probably equal but with more promise for future development
Evalds - equal
Ashall-Bott - not as good
Walker - not as good
Welsby - better with more to come
Coote - better
Tomkins - better
Lolohea - need to see more of him this year to decide.
Jowitt - not as good
Brierley - not as good

So in terms of superleague for me that puts ratchford squarely in the middle of the pack but far from a player that top clubs would move heaven and earth to sign.

For me he is past his peak and I'd be looking to get a new fullback, but if Warrington are happy with him and see him as their long term fullback then all the better for the rest of the league.

April Fools Day was Friday.

Thewlis wil be the next full back after ratchford possibly before the season ends

I entirely agree regarding Ratchford and the over-estimation of our squad. Looking at the NRL on the whole their fullbacks are explosive rather than ‘pivots’ - something Ratchford isn’t brilliant at either. I like Ashton at full back, he’s a constant threat there and regularly returns the ball 15-20 metres further than Ratchford - which at the minute is even more important. Any opposition fan would rather see Ratchford lining up at one for us than Ashton.

He will, however, come waltzing back in at 1 when fit. Ratchford starting the season as first choice FB and Hughes as Captain were two Powell red flags for me.