What Has Gone Wrong at Warrington?

Warrington 12-84 Bradford (2001), St Helens 72-2 Warrington (2002), Warrington 6-8 Harlequins (2008), Warrington 28-36 Castleford (2008), Harlequins 60-8 Warrington (2009), Leeds 40-0 Warrington (2017). These are just some of Warrington's worst performances in the Super League era. On Friday night, Warrington added a new performance to that hall of shame.

Warrington put in a truly horrific display to be humbled by a Leeds side who went into this match sitting in 10th place in the league and in the midst of a disappointing season themselves. Warrington are one of the highest salary spenders in Super League and have one of Super League's highest ever-earners in George Williams. So, what is going wrong?

Culture Wars

I do not claim to have inside knowledge of Warrington, but all you need is a pair of eyes to see all is not well. Someone who may have that inside knowledge is former Warrington player and player welfare officer, Warrington resident and Sky Sports presenter Brian Carney. A comment that he made in the build up to Friday's match stood out to me (but did not gain much traction at the time):

"I'm hearing a lot of 'it takes time to settle under Daryl'. He's had a full pre-season and a lot of involvement in the recruitment for this year. I don't believe our game is incredibly complex, yet I'm being asked to believe that the players here have difficulty working under Daryl's way of doing things."

This is a more tactful way of suggesting a minimum of dressing room unrest, or at worst, a full scale revolt. Some of the performances that Warrington have thrown out this year suggest the latter rather than the former.

Clear Out

Conventional practice in most sports when things don't go according to plan, or when there is dressing room unrest, is to replace the coach. So far, Warrington look to be taking a different approach. A clear out is beginning to take shape. Josh Charnley has been frozen out of the team and will leave the club at the end of the season. Mike Cooper, a born and bred Warringtonian and on the face of it one of the club's stronger performers, looks set to leave too.

These decisions look to be consistent with a club that has concluded that the playing staff are the problem. And the management at Warrington have justification for such a view. Warrington have won one major trophy in a decade.

That is less than Hull FC, equal with Catalans and behind St Helens, Wigan and Leeds (clubs who they would see as their equals). Largely speaking, the more you invest in players, the more likely you are to win trophies. Warrington have not seen a return on the level of investment that they have made.

A new approach may be breaking. Daryl Powell may be at Warrington for the duration. And for players that don't like that, they do not look to be welcome any longer. 

You can blame Powell if you like, and say that the players don't like working under him. But this same squad have bombed out of the play offs at home, for three consecutive seasons, to lesser opposition. Warrington have lost two Challenge Cup Finals where they have entered as favourites. Warrington failed to make the final 'Super 8s' campaign and faced Championship opposition to secure their Super League status in 2017.

This has happened under three coaches now; Tony Smith, Steve Price and Daryl Powell. There is justification for the Warrington board's approach not to listen to the thinly-worn excuses of players whose performances do not justify their high salaries, as they watch teams with far fewer resources out-perform them.

The Warrington players may be in for a rude awakening. The finger of blame is shifting away from the coach and towards them. If Warrington are willing to get rid of these players, not too many would attract their current salary elsewhere.

Reasons to be Hopeful

Despite how dreadful Warrington have been this year, all hope is not lost. Very good teams go through very bad patches and come out of the other side.

In 2013, St Helens lost 8 of 10 matches under new coach Nathan Brown in the middle of that season. The board held firm against the drumbeat of calls for Brown's head. The following year they won the Grand Final. In 2017, St Helens were in 8th spot in June and ultimately made the play off semi finals before embarking on an era of dominance in the years that followed.

In 2017, Catalans were within one match of relegation. The year after they won the Challenge Cup and since then have kicked on to win the Minor Premiership, reach a Grand Final and become a major player in this league.

In 2019, Wigan sat in 10th place by Good Friday. By the end of that season, they were in a play off semi final. More recently, they had an appalling end to the 2021 season, yet turned it around to win the Challenge Cup in 2022 and appear to be contenders for the title this season.

Every side has a poor spell, even the best. It is about how you react to that. Warrington have the resources to get themselves out of the hole in which they currently find themselves. Even now, they are just four points outside a play off place, with a favourable run of fixtures to come. A play off berth in 2022 does not remain out of the question.

The bigger question is do they have the strength of character to get out of this? Based on their performance against St Helens two weeks ago, you would say yes. Based on Friday's debacle, you would be far less certain.