I have to say that I'm not convinced by this ever growing opinion that the Sky commentary team are all anti Wire.
Maybe it's because RL is not my first sport.
I moved to Warrington 15 years ago and have been supporting Wire since then, but my first loves are Football and NFL.
So maybe I just don't see it because I'm a little removed than other more passionate fans on here.
However, when I watch the live games on Sky I just don't see it.
Yes they go on and on about Wigans injury list every time they play, but this is not just against Wire. They do this whoever they play.
Yes they always look for controversy in every match even when it isn't there, but they do this consistently in every live game, not just when Wire are playing.
Yes they get names wrong, rules wrong, decisions wrong etc etc and yes they come across unprofessional when they try to back up these errors and argue their case, but again, this happens in all the televised games, not just against Wire.
As for the idea that they support every team who play Wire, this simply isn't true.
And again, maybe this is because in the 15 years I've been supporting Warrington, they've mainly been contenders every single year (a bold claim I know pre-Smith) so I haven't been use to them being an underdog, but what I see is a very common commentator trait where they big up the underdog when they do well against the odds.
I was up late the other night watching Andy Murray in the US open against some Italian fella.
The Italian against all the odds was giving Murray a good game and only just lost the 1st set and then won the second set before being blow away in the final two sets.
Now this is an individual sport and Murray was clearly the guy the british commentators were favouring, yet all they talked about throughout the match was how wonderful the Italian was playing and how much effort he was putting into every shot.
They never once mentioned Murray's effort, but rather how badly he was playing and focusing on the amount of unforced errors.
Now I don't believe for one second that the commentary team wanted Murray to lose. They were simply excited about the fact that this unfavoured Italian was giving Murray a game when it should have been a walk in the park and because they expect perfection from Murray all the time, they focused on all his mistakes rather than what he was doing well.
This is all I hear when I watch us on the telly.
The commentary team know we are expected to beat the vast majority of teams in the Superleague and therefore most games we play we are favourites and the opposition underdogs, so they do get more excited about the opposition doing well than they do when we do well, but that is just something that comes with being one of the top teams.
Now I know people will counteract this with Leeds and Wigan examples because they are also top teams and you'll argue that they are not anti Wigan or anti Leeds, but I hear them doing the same things in their games when the underdogs are doing well.
But here's the thing, if you actually stop focusing on all this anti Wire mentality for a second and listen to them, they are constantly talking about how good Wire are and bigging up players like Currie, Hill, Westwood, Sandow etc.
And yes, even the clear Wigan fan Phil Clarke gives us praise all the time when its deserved. Can't stand the guy myself but give him his dues, if we are the best team in Super League he'll say it. He'll also point out our weaknesses as well, but what do you want? Do you want them to only praise us all the time?
I just think that for certain fans, unless the Sky team talk about Wire with the same passion we have for the team in every game and agree that every decision the ref gives for us is right and every decision against us is wrong, then they'll never be happy and always think they are anti Wire.
