Warrington Wolves • Re: Rumours 2
I have read a lot of what has been said and I have a couple of points to throw in the mix.
Since the demise of Bradford we have been dining at the top table. OK the big one eludes us but our record of CC, LLS and finals indicates that we are competing with the holy trinity. So on that basis how many players have moved from Leeds, Saints or Wigan in the last 13 years and had a big impact (exclude moves to NRL). None have moved on and won a grand final. OK Mccillorum has picked up a CC winners medal along with Benjamin Jullien. Before 2005 ish we we lost our best players (Andy Gregory, Sculthorpe, Harris etc) to the teams that were dining at the top table just like Salford have done for the last god knows how long. So unless our players move on to Saints, Wigan and Leeds (to a lesser extent recently) then they are not going to grab a man drawer full of grand final rings.
My second point is that we are a buying club. Look at our signings since Gleeson. We go and try and buy our way to success. The list of big names is probably just as or if not more impressive than the big 3.
That does put us at a disadvantage in recruiting young talent. Why would a 16/17 year old halfback look at signing for us when in the last 5 years we have had Sandow, Brown, Gidley, Austin and Widdop. They stand a far better chance at pretty much any other club.
An interesting theory to consider is just imagine for a minute that we won the GF in 13. Would some of the younger players coming through then have been given more of a chance if we had lifted the SL trophy. So when Briers retired would GOB have been given more time to develop because the monkey had gone.
Since the demise of Bradford we have been dining at the top table. OK the big one eludes us but our record of CC, LLS and finals indicates that we are competing with the holy trinity. So on that basis how many players have moved from Leeds, Saints or Wigan in the last 13 years and had a big impact (exclude moves to NRL). None have moved on and won a grand final. OK Mccillorum has picked up a CC winners medal along with Benjamin Jullien. Before 2005 ish we we lost our best players (Andy Gregory, Sculthorpe, Harris etc) to the teams that were dining at the top table just like Salford have done for the last god knows how long. So unless our players move on to Saints, Wigan and Leeds (to a lesser extent recently) then they are not going to grab a man drawer full of grand final rings.
My second point is that we are a buying club. Look at our signings since Gleeson. We go and try and buy our way to success. The list of big names is probably just as or if not more impressive than the big 3.
That does put us at a disadvantage in recruiting young talent. Why would a 16/17 year old halfback look at signing for us when in the last 5 years we have had Sandow, Brown, Gidley, Austin and Widdop. They stand a far better chance at pretty much any other club.
An interesting theory to consider is just imagine for a minute that we won the GF in 13. Would some of the younger players coming through then have been given more of a chance if we had lifted the SL trophy. So when Briers retired would GOB have been given more time to develop because the monkey had gone.
Statistics: Posted by Deus Dat Incrementum — Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:59 pm