Warrington Wolves and the pursuit of glory...

Last Tuesday morning, rumours started to circulate that Warrington had tempted Greg Inglis out of retirement to sign a one-year contract for 2021. Little more than one hour later, Warrington had confirmed the news.

With little speculation, this came as a bolt from the blue. It is a huge coup for Warrington and the Super League competition as a whole. Greg Inglis was one of the leading lights in a dominant Queensland side and a mainstay of the Australian national side for years. He was a superstar in a competition full of superstars.

Our instant reaction to Warrington's signing of Greg Inglis last week.

With the backing of Simon Moran, Warrington have spent the cash in pursuit of their maiden Super League title over the years. Warrington have signed Blake Austin, Gareth Widdop and Daryl Clark to name but three top class international players, who are still in their squad. Over the years, the likes of Stefan Ratchford, Tom Lineham, Josh Charnley, Matt King, Joel Monaghan, Adrian Morley and Trent Waterhouse have also been part of that quest. None of whom would have come cheaply. Yet Warrington have not achieved their goal.

It is interesting is to compare Warrington’s approach to that of St Helens, Wigan, and Leeds. The three sides currently in Super League who have their names etched on the trophy.

In their most recent Grand Final winning squads, St Helens, Wigan, and Leeds have all included nine players who graduated from their own academies. By comparison, in their opening game of the 2020 season, Warrington had a comparatively few four academy players on display.

We are all in sport to win. All clubs will do whatever they can to win. It is not a criticism of Warrington that they have less reliance on academy players than their rivals. The club seem to prefer the approach of identifying established talent and superstars in pursuit of glory. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Who wouldn't want to see some of the finest, most exciting talent in the sport on your home ground every other week?

However, it is noteworthy that the clubs who invest the most in their academy are the same ones that have experienced success at the Super League showpiece.

In football, the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City have invested hugely in their squads with the aim of domination. Resultingly, Chelsea have won 16 trophies in 17 years and Manchester City have won 11 trophies in nine years. Whilst this approach has succeeded in football, it is curious that it does not seem to have worked in rugby league.

Take Salford for example. Under the control of Marwan Koukash, they went on a spending spree ahead of the 2014 season. Amid much hype and expectation, then faltered. By comparison, Salford's less expensively assembled 2019 squad, featuring many players deemed surplus to requirements by other clubs, took them to within 80 minutes of their first major trophy since 1976.

It would be idealistic to say that academy investment alone is the key to success. The St Helens, Wigan and Leeds championship winning sides have had sprinkling of talent signed from other Super League clubs and the NRL. But that was to supplement their home-grown talent rather than being the core of the squad.

Broadly speaking, the higher the club’s salary spend, the more likely they are to succeed. St Helens, Wigan, and Leeds are some of the biggest salary spenders. This is necessary to keep their academy talent such as Tommy Makinson and Oliver Gildart from heading to the NRL and also to sign players such Zak Hardaker and Luke Gale.

Warrington certainly rival the spending of the league's 'champion' clubs. The make up of their squad and recruitment policies are where they differ. After a decade of trying, the Wire have not changed course. If anything, they have doubled down on their high transfer fee, high salary spend squad of superstars. The Warrington hierarchy are nothing but relentless in their pursuit of glory.

We will watch with interest over the coming years to see if they can take that final step and add their name to the sadly very short list of Super League champions.