The fuss is now this is the 2nd player that Powell has signed on a long term contract only to want rid after 1 year. Bullock could be the 3rd. This speaks quite loudly on our selection and recruitment policy no?

Having said that I am happy he is going.

He certainly seemed pretty unremarkable on the few occasions I saw him. However I am wondering what happens to the remaining 2 years of his contract ? I hope we don't end up paying some of it like we are with Toby King's loan deal to Wigan. It all smacks of organised chaos to me.

Not only that but it completely betrays the culture Powell is supposedly trying to instil. Don't worry about trying your best at Warrington with a ruthless, professional, hard-working attitude because you can just go through the motions and have your contract paid up one way or another.

I suppose it does show Powell is willing to be ruthless where his mates are concerned which is good to see - but the whole picture seems shambolic.

Quote Wires71="Wires71"It seems the rumours on here hit the mark yet again. Another magnificent signing. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... n-25229345'" Reading that Leigh are fast becoming the Warrington B team, that is one of those games that will potentially bite us hard.

Quote Wires71="Wires71"It seems the rumours on here hit the mark yet again. Another magnificent signing. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... n-25229345'" Reading that Leigh are fast becoming the Warrington B team, that is one of those games that will potentially bite us hard.

I'm not saying that this absolves the club of any criticism as far as recruitment is concerned. I was hoping that Holmes was going to be a success, it seems a very long time (mainly because it is) since we had a SR of the quality of an Anderson, Westwood, Waterhouse, Solomona.

Maybe that's part of the problem and yes you would have thought that Powell had the mark of his man, but you can't have folk skulking about in the background and until we learn of the details of his departure then I'll reserve a bit of judgement on our retention as opposed to recruitment policy. I think we mostly agree that succession planning doesn't seem to be a department at the HJ but if we are continually subsidising half the league then I think it's to be expected that questions must be asked.

It's interesting, but not smart or sustainable .

A signing I was positive about at the time (don’t recall many being critical). Didn’t work out, moved him on.
Nothing is certain except death, taxes and the complete and utter meltdown on here when Warrington B beat us next season.

Would be interested to know what has happened here. Oliver Holmes is a good player, over his time at Cas he performed well fairly consistently, though had issues with injuries I seem to remember. Quality wise I think he was good enough to hold a spot down in our back row. I think he will do well at Leigh if that is where he ends up, and it looks like they are pulling a decent squad together (before the IMG drawbridge comes up).

Powell knew exactly what type of player he was getting with Holmes, knew his strengths, weaknesses, what he would bring to the culture / dressing room etc. Similarly with Powell Holmes knew exactly what he was coming into coach wise and you would presume they had plenty of chats whilst still at Cas over how and where Powell wanted him to play and what changes he expected to make at Warrington, I expect he would have wanted Holmes & Mata'utia to be driving that.

There are risks that all signings don't always work out, but with the signings of Mata'utia & Holmes especially both sides should have been well aware what they were getting. What went wrong with Holmes? Relationship breakdown with the coach mid-season when he was telling them all off? We didn't give him time off to work on his tattoos? Thought he could cope with playing on the right but couldn't? He was there as the fall guy so Powell could show he was ruthless?

Looks like we'll have James Harrison / Nicholson doing the same job for much less in 2022 and it looks like we need to spend the cap elsewhere so I think it probably is the right move. The fact we can afford to do this means it looks more chaotic than it is, most other teams would have just sat with players till their contract ran out before they made the changes, I do think as others have said though the fact we can afford to make these mistakes, seems to mean we make them more often.

Last try scorer in the Prediction Comp....a pretty long queue of ex P&B

Quote Captain Hook="Captain Hook"A signing I was positive about at the time (don’t recall many being critical). '" RE: signing reaction. It was mixed. A few "mehs", some getting very excited, and a general consensus of acceptance. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=634192

Quote Captain Hook="Captain Hook"A signing I was positive about at the time (don’t recall many being critical). '" RE: signing reaction. It was mixed. A few "mehs", some getting very excited, and a general consensus of acceptance. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=634192

All seems a bit strange if Holmes was supposed to be one of Powell's main pieces of the jigsaw. If Holmes is going to Leigh as has been suggested on another thread it will hardly be because of home sickness..

It all seems a bit starnge at the moment, players shipped out left right and centre, the Wardle/King fiasco, did we think we had him for next season? Have Wigan and Huddersfield done us up like a kipper? or was he not part of the plans for next season all along.
Something must be in the pipeline, it seems the club are letting it be known that we are trying to offload Holmes and are offering Longstaff out on loan for the season, so are we freeing up cap space for someone, (Drinkwater?).

Shambles seems a bit of an understatement recruitment wise! Also, the communication from the club has been non existant which makes it even worse as rumours become rife and conclusions get jumped to. Even a token "Don't Panic" or "we have a cunning plan" would help. I wonder if Brian Carney wants to interview KF!

I wonder if Holmes body is ed.

We know what the injury situation used to be like at cas and we know what rl players are like for playing through the pain barrier, it might be that he's put his hand up one time too many and burnt himself put.