Warrington 32-20 Hull FC

For those that stumble across this blog by accident or even for those that don't know, I am in fact a Warrington fan.

So I suppose if I am going to give my opinions on the first game of the season I will be biased to that underachieving set of bridesmaids, right?

Wrong! I am in fact going to critisise the effort put into that first game.

Despite the fact I enjoyed what I saw and the performance was good, it didn't fill me with excitement, joy or the anticipation that I was expecting. In fact I would go as far to say I was disappointed.

For a team that has spent huge money over the past six and a half seasons under Paul Cullen, previous seasons have always started with the same optimism. In 2004, every supporter was expecting another top six position, two years after just surviving relegation. In 2005 there was anticipation after the signing of Martin Gleeson. In 2006 a massive improvement was required for the progression as a club who had finished fourth after the regualr season. In 2007, an injury hit squad was expected to go every game unbeaten after the high of beating Leeds at Headingley. Basically Cullen keeps raising the bar every Febuary and three out of four times we miss.

Now Cullen is going for a personal best that may be too far beyond his coaching standards. Last nights showing was too flashy in my opinion. While we attempted to offload the ball in the same style of St Helens and Leeds, we often failed or the plays looked scrappy. We may be capable of winning a Grand Final, but that was not a Grand Final winning performance. Valid excuses may be that it was only the first game of the seaoson and players are no where near their full fitness levels. Others may blame the pitch. While it is in better shape than it has been over the pre season period thanks to a scouse football team, there were still patches of grass missing throughout the entire 100m x 64m field. There was also of course, a gutsy oppositon who tried not to give Warringtin a sniff of an oppertunity. Which is another problem for Warrington and always has been. They race into a lead and then take the foot off the accelerator pedal. Luckily they didn't stall but the point stands. Top teams do not do that and is an issue when competing against them in major finals.

Now Hull FC are plagued with injuries at the moment. They have lost several players including Adam Sykes, Gareth Raynor and after last night, Gareth Carvell. To have only lost by twelve points, Peter Sharp has done well. Although his time is surley up due to an impatient board who see each loss as instant failure dispite not knowing the full reaon behind them. Thats if its the same people who sacked John Kear.

Finally to end with Warrington. Maybe I was a little harsh. It is only the first game after all and despite the fact I was insisting I wasn't going to fall into the group of supporters that want instant success, I think I just did. But I stand by my argument that it wasn't a final winning performance. In fact I doubt it was a Saints beating performance. I suppose we'll find out next week then.