Warrington Wolves • Re: Recruitment rumours and links

I am pretty content with the squad for next year.
On paper it looks competitive but conscious that results and performances over recent years have made a ass of that statement.
I think we look stronger past squad number 17 with a lot of experience in Bullock, Kassiano, Dudson, Dwyer, Russell and Powell and then Green, Hayes, Thomas etc.

I still have a couple of worries.
A) the past couple of seasons have shown that we are a bit fragile when it comes to things derailing the season. There was the contract situation in 2022 with players like Cooper and King moving on mid season and then the Maguire situation in 2023. It just feels like any type of wave comes along and the ship capsises. It will be interesting to see how Toby King (suspect he will be the new escape goat) is welcomed back and Abe's recent statement about Tai could be one to watch. .

B) I know everybody has a view on Phil Clark but I don't think he was wrong when he said that to lift the SL title you need a ball playing fullback. I know the week after that Dufty threw a miss out pass to put a winger (Thewlis I think) over but I don't think he is quite at the level of say Brett Hodgson in that department. If we are going to compete for honours we have to get the most out of Dufty. He has frightening pace but we just need a way to maximize his abilities to make him a point of difference


So there are 4 final spaces up for grabs and it will be nearly 5 years since our last appearance in a final. If the big fella and the coaching team can get an extra 5% out of most of that squad then we should be challenging in at least one final.