I think it’s fair to say Dufty has some decent attributes but probably isn’t showing them regularly enough. When there’s a talent like Thewlis who’s come through the academy, and looks the real deal, whose preferred position is full back it’s easy to see why there’s a clamour to get him in there, so signing a proven quality winger (oh I don’t know, like Charnley maybe?) would make sense.

I don’t have a problem with pairing Williams with a half back who can just do the simple things really well, move the ball quickly and accurately with a kicking game that gets us in the right places on the pitch, a foil for a halfback partner with more flair and creativity. On paper that’s what Drinkwater should provide, in reality, like Dufty I don’t think we’re seeing his talent translate into performances on the pitch. Again with Dean and Hayes you’d really like to see them given an opportunity to see if they’ve got the talent to make it.

With Dudson, I’m not as apposed to him as many seem on here, but, I don’t think he makes the 18 when we’re at full strength, and that being the case, when we do need cover I think we’d all rather it be a prospect getting experience as apposed to a diminishing journeyman. I thought Thomas went well early on in the season when he had a bit of game time, ran hard and didn’t take a backward step…

I’d have no issue if Mautautia brought forward his retirement a few months, no issues at all…

Or thane: Wires71: karetaker: Liam Knight currently on short term deal at Hull. https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/warrington-wolves-hull-fc-transfer-1108561 I absolutely hate this, not Liam Knight as i'd be happy with him here, what i hate is that Burgess wasn't interested in the first place.He's knows him, has played with him, would have known he was available but wasn't interested, now he's playing really well Burgess is suddenly interested in poaching him. My confidence in Burgess has disintegrated very quickly, and he seems deluded and panicky with things he's doing. If we sign Him we should get rid of Musgrove and keep Vaughan. Byrne, Knight, Vaughan, Harrison, Yates, Philbin & Wood looks pretty solid, Crowther as back up possibly as well. Dan Russell i had a good feeling about, then saw him play and oh dear, not his fault but he's more championship level. We need 2 new good props minimum, and Either Play leyland or let him go. And just move on from Russell, and hopefully Lindop and Wrench both stay fit and keep developing. I like king, nothing fancy but is a workhorse centre and makes more yards and gets us on the front foot more than our props at times. And only costing 50k on the cap is a BIG plus, but the fact we haven't re-signed him already suggests he's on his way out. I think Sam/Chairman/Whoever has moved onto Liam Knight having missed out on 1st and 2nd choice targets Lees and Amone. The pack you cite is not strong enough in my opinion. Philbin is included in the 17 almost without hesitation when in truth he's too small to make an impact. Would you want to sign him if you saw him playing for another club?  Yates is solid enough, steady eddy. Think Vaughan wants a 2 year contract? We need an impact prop and have done since Sam Kasiano was mysteriously "released from his contract" in the pre-season of 2024.  This is where I think we can improve (in bold) Wolves: Matty Dufty,  Josh Thewlis * (giving him benefit of the doubt) Toby King Rodrick Tai,  Matty Ashton,  George Williams,  Marc Sneyd,  Zane Musgrove, (although he is improving) Danny Walker,  Paul Vaughan,  Lachlan Fitzgibbon,  Ben Currie James Harrison Joe Philbin,  Jordan Crowther,  Luke Yates,  Sam Powell

Or thane: Wires71: karetaker: Liam Knight currently on short term deal at Hull. https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/warrington-wolves-hull-fc-transfer-1108561 I absolutely hate this, not Liam Knight as i'd be happy with him here, what i hate is that Burgess wasn't interested in the first place.He's knows him, has played with him, would have known he was available but wasn't interested, now he's playing really well Burgess is suddenly interested in poaching him. My confidence in Burgess has disintegrated very quickly, and he seems deluded and panicky with things he's doing. If we sign Him we should get rid of Musgrove and keep Vaughan. Byrne, Knight, Vaughan, Harrison, Yates, Philbin & Wood looks pretty solid, Crowther as back up possibly as well. Dan Russell i had a good feeling about, then saw him play and oh dear, not his fault but he's more championship level. We need 2 new good props minimum, and Either Play leyland or let him go. And just move on from Russell, and hopefully Lindop and Wrench both stay fit and keep developing. I like king, nothing fancy but is a workhorse centre and makes more yards and gets us on the front foot more than our props at times. And only costing 50k on the cap is a BIG plus, but the fact we haven't re-signed him already suggests he's on his way out. I think Sam/Chairman/Whoever has moved onto Liam Knight having missed out on 1st and 2nd choice targets Lees and Amone. The pack you cite is not strong enough in my opinion. Philbin is included in the 17 almost without hesitation when in truth he's too small to make an impact. Would you want to sign him if you saw him playing for another club?  Yates is solid enough, steady eddy. Think Vaughan wants a 2 year contract? We need an impact prop and have done since Sam Kasiano was mysteriously "released from his contract" in the pre-season of 2024.  This is where I think we can improve (in bold) Wolves: Matty Dufty,  Josh Thewlis * (giving him benefit of the doubt) Toby King Rodrick Tai,  Matty Ashton,  George Williams,  Marc Sneyd,  Zane Musgrove, (although he is improving) Danny Walker,  Paul Vaughan,  Lachlan Fitzgibbon,  Ben Currie James Harrison Joe Philbin,  Jordan Crowther,  Luke Yates,  Sam Powell

Or thane: Wires71: karetaker: Liam Knight currently on short term deal at Hull. https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/warrington-wolves-hull-fc-transfer-1108561 I absolutely hate this, not Liam Knight as i'd be happy with him here, what i hate is that Burgess wasn't interested in the first place.He's knows him, has played with him, would have known he was available but wasn't interested, now he's playing really well Burgess is suddenly interested in poaching him. My confidence in Burgess has disintegrated very quickly, and he seems deluded and panicky with things he's doing. If we sign Him we should get rid of Musgrove and keep Vaughan. Byrne, Knight, Vaughan, Harrison, Yates, Philbin & Wood looks pretty solid, Crowther as back up possibly as well. Dan Russell i had a good feeling about, then saw him play and oh dear, not his fault but he's more championship level. We need 2 new good props minimum, and Either Play leyland or let him go. And just move on from Russell, and hopefully Lindop and Wrench both stay fit and keep developing. I like king, nothing fancy but is a workhorse centre and makes more yards and gets us on the front foot more than our props at times. And only costing 50k on the cap is a BIG plus, but the fact we haven't re-signed him already suggests he's on his way out. To be fair on Burgess didn't Knight only become available mid season when we had no quota spots left? Whether we should have filled that last spot with Russell is obviously the question we all know the answer to, its left our hands tied - maybe we would have been in a better position to bring Amone in if we had that flexibility of a free spot. Bringing in Russell certainly seems panic stations after losing Bateman & Nicholson, keeping our powder dry would have seemed the better option. King at £50k on the cap works well for his current contract, but I'm sure his next deal will be lower so the benefit is reduced, maybe having Walker / Ashton on £100k cap or Currie on £50k cap may work just as well. I'd keep King, but his salary has to be right and as you say Lindop should be considered first choice centre next year on his preferred side. Wrench I think at this stage can only be considered a back up given his injury issues of the past two years.

Or thane: Wires71: karetaker: Liam Knight currently on short term deal at Hull. https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/warrington-wolves-hull-fc-transfer-1108561 I absolutely hate this, not Liam Knight as i'd be happy with him here, what i hate is that Burgess wasn't interested in the first place.He's knows him, has played with him, would have known he was available but wasn't interested, now he's playing really well Burgess is suddenly interested in poaching him. My confidence in Burgess has disintegrated very quickly, and he seems deluded and panicky with things he's doing. If we sign Him we should get rid of Musgrove and keep Vaughan. Byrne, Knight, Vaughan, Harrison, Yates, Philbin & Wood looks pretty solid, Crowther as back up possibly as well. Dan Russell i had a good feeling about, then saw him play and oh dear, not his fault but he's more championship level. We need 2 new good props minimum, and Either Play leyland or let him go. And just move on from Russell, and hopefully Lindop and Wrench both stay fit and keep developing. I like king, nothing fancy but is a workhorse centre and makes more yards and gets us on the front foot more than our props at times. And only costing 50k on the cap is a BIG plus, but the fact we haven't re-signed him already suggests he's on his way out. To be fair on Burgess didn't Knight only become available mid season when we had no quota spots left? Whether we should have filled that last spot with Russell is obviously the question we all know the answer to, its left our hands tied - maybe we would have been in a better position to bring Amone in if we had that flexibility of a free spot. Bringing in Russell certainly seems panic stations after losing Bateman & Nicholson, keeping our powder dry would have seemed the better option. King at £50k on the cap works well for his current contract, but I'm sure his next deal will be lower so the benefit is reduced, maybe having Walker / Ashton on £100k cap or Currie on £50k cap may work just as well. I'd keep King, but his salary has to be right and as you say Lindop should be considered first choice centre next year on his preferred side. Wrench I think at this stage can only be considered a back up given his injury issues of the past two years.

Our first choice spine - Walker, Currie, Williams, Sneyd, Dufty, is very good.  Lindop is an exciting prospect at centre and King is worth his cap money, due to his 'club trained' dispensation, whilst Ashton is a top class winger.  Thewlis is ok.


Where we are weak is in the pack.  Yates, Crowther, Philbin - all try hard but just aren't big enough (maybe Wood also falls into this category).  You could afford to have any one of them in the pack, but not all together.  Similar with Holroyd at second row, works hard but lacks size.   Then we have a big prop in Musgrove who shows the odd glimpse of what he should be offering, but then reverts to type, and Russell who simply isn't good enough.

I'm pretty happy with most of our regular starting pack. Vaughan, Walker, Harrison, Fitzgibbon, Currie, all fine. The problems we have are at right-side second row, where we haven't adequately replaced Nicholson, and in the back-up areas that you have identified. When it comes to the bench, it's all much of a small-sized muchness, I'm afraid.

This could scupper our Liam Knight plan.  https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/key-super-league-salary-cap-1109791?fbclid=

This could scupper our Liam Knight plan.  https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/key-super-league-salary-cap-1109791?fbclid=