This really, is what made me start this thread, and is why I am worried.

Fans for years have wanted an end to the channel system our halves used, well tbh, I'd like it back for next week.
Briers was attacking the left flank a lot, and his passing isn;t as crisp that way, and our players aren't as good there.

Our pack did their job, but they were over-used.

That is a good point. He has brought in two honest players who will work hard for our team.

He wasn't responsible for bringing in dead weight like King (although I wonder sometimes if Cullen was either).

Fitness wise, we faded badly. You'd have to reserve judgement of that for now, given the fact that if there's any side in SL who can flag up your fatigue, it's Saints. Add to that, Lowes intimated that he felt we were a friendly short, so in theory it is excusable. Should this keep occuring over the next couple of weeks, questions will be asked, of Lowes & Halmshaw. It's two games now, the Hull KR friendly and Last Night, we've faded badly in the last 30 minutes, this cannot continue.

I do think though, knee jerks apart, and we all do that, all of us, that after another three or four games we'll have a decent platform to give our opinions on.

As disapointing as last night was, my view is we can't really make any sort of informed judgement on prospects and improvement until this first 'quarter' of the league has taken place. We have:

Saints A
Catalans H
Wakey A
Leeds H
London A
Hull KR H
Celtic H

There is only one game there you would pick as a banker, and that is the last one.

What would the expectations be for these games, considering they feature a match up against a team who stuffed us twice last year, a traditional bogey fixture against Wakey, the Champions, a tricky fixture in London and a game against a rapidly improving team who have beaten us in the last 2 home games, albeit the last one was a friendly.

To me, a solid sign of improvement from last year, and evidence of a more consistent attitude, would be winning all the home fixtures, as well as sorting Wakey out for a change. Of course, it's perfectly feasible we may not win a game until Celtic!

That leads nicely into the Easter fixtures, and again two very winnable games against Salford and Cas.

That's a load of crap. We were second after easter last year. Yet everyone is under the impression we had a bad year. Getting to the play offs is a must and getting there playing well is too. Other than that the first half of the season counts for nothing.

The point I'm making is that, rather than make knee jerk reactions following last night's game, let's see how we stand after a run of games, with some potentially tricky ones there, before we can assess whether there has been an improvement in performance, consistency, attitude, fitness etc from the close season.

Let's face it, given the move from top 6 to top 8, it would have to be a real shock not to make the play offs. Therefore, we have to look at different indicators, and assessing where we stand after the first run of games is as good as any. If we do have a bad first half to the season, we may well not make the 8, so it does count for something.

Again I refer you to the table after about 8 or 10 games last season.

Agree, that extra friendly could have made a big difference with some of the team hardly playing for so long. I think i may be on my own here but after friday and the performance where we totaly dominated Saints for most of the game, im really looking forward to Warrington having there best season for a long time.

Don't get me wrong, I think most people were made up with the way the forwards went, I just think we used them too much. Maybe that is just a case of the team neeing to get used to Jimmy's tactics, and they went too far that way.

A worry for me is that Saints scored 6 tries in half an hour, suggesting that we haven't improved in defence, which is all that cost us last year.

If our defence is just as bad, and our attack is worse (through tactics) then I'm not sure how we will be a better team.

That said, we were miles better than a couple of weeks ago in the friendly, and if we improve again next week, then maybe you are right.

I'm not sure i beleive Lowes had anything to do with Higham and carvell either. It wouldn't be good business in my opinion to let a man who has clearly been given a trial year to control the ins and outs of players.