Spirit of '55's Warrington Wolves season review: 'Must do better'

FROM 2011 to 2013 we really should have won at least one championship.

As each year passed Wire were probably fractionally less deserving of being crowned the best team in the competition, but could just have easily won at Old Trafford in any of those seasons.

In 2014 cracks were papered over and the players did extremely well to get agonisingly close to another Grand Final appearance.

Maybe it’s for the best that there’s no way this last season can be described as anything but being nowhere near good enough.

It has to be acknowledged that marked and noticeable improvements need to be made to win the Super League.

With the signings of Chris Sandow, Kurt Gidley, Tom Lineham, Mitch Dodds and Jack Hughes the club have shown they realise improvements need to be made, now it's the turn of the players themselves to do all they can to make sure they are better, starting as soon as pre-season training begins.

You only know when you’ve hit rock bottom when you start going back up, hopefully next year is a big upwards curve.

Like the past few years, Wire got off to a poor start. Unlike those previous years, this time they were unable to recover, never putting together a run of consecutive wins that would get them in the title hunt.

At first the team had a look of calm reassurance that there was no need to panic and the winning sequence would happen soon enough.

Somewhere around the middle of the season that calm reassurance was overpowered by a confusion as to why those wins still weren’t happening.

Defeat in the semi final of the Challenge Cup seemed to be the last nail in the coffin of this season, completely knocking whatever belief the players had left out of them.

We could talk about a whole host of injuries and towards the end of the season a string of video referee decisions going against us, but to not take responsibility for the failings this season would be an extreme case of being unwilling to face facts.

I believe the effort was there, working hard but maybe not smart.

Rugby league intelligence was missing on several occasions as was cohesion, direction, composure, consistency along with basic technical proficiency and as is always the case that leads to a lack of belief.

Throughout the year from the outside looking in they looked like an emotionally fragile team, only ever at their best when they were comfortably in front or in games late on in the season when the chance of the title was gone.

There were a lot of close games this season where they seemed to lack the know how, composure and belief that they could find a way to win in the last 10 minutes.

It appeared that the plan was to blow teams away and when it didn’t happen, the confidence and ideas would quickly disappear.

Without any trophies or final appearances, the undoubted highlight for me was that last-minute win against Widnes, a dream moment in an otherwise nightmare season.

Looking forward to next season it’s easy for an optimist like me to think positively about it, several promising signings and a lot of young players with another year of experience and development.

In terms of signings, Lineham is undoubtedly a top-class winger who should score plenty of tries and be excellent on kick returns.

As for Dodds, we definitely need more help up front and anyone who gets in an NRL Grand Final squad must know how to play the game.

Hopefully between them Sandow and Gidley can help provide the direction and composure we've lacked since Briers and Hodgson, played and Hughes’ combination of youth and consistency might mean he proves the best signing of them all in the long run.

Of the current crop of players I believe a few positional changes should be looked at.

Personally I think playing Ben Currie at second row is like having a Ferrari and using it to plough fields. His speed, class and handling make him a centre all day long for me.

I’d be tempted to move Atkins out of the centre, either making use of his best attributes – his pace and power – as a Ryan Hall-style winger or have him follow the path of Westwood into the second row.

I can see Westwood becoming a loose forward for us, his aggression and all-action style would suit the role. He might help strengthen the defence down the middle.

It would seem likely that Gidley and Ratchford would fill the full back and stand off role between them, but I’m not sure which way around.

Another option would be to play Ratchford in the centre, allowing Johnson at full back or Dec Patton at stand off.

People say that centre is a waste of Ratchford’s abilities, but I think it's an underrated position. Often they are entrusted to provide the final killer pass to create a try and I think that Leeds with Watkins and Moon have shown the value of having two dangerous and creative players in the centres rather than quick second rowers playing there.

I think all of our wingers would certainly be delighted to play outside Currie or Ratchford.

Daryl Clark and Brad Dwyer give us fantastic options at hooker, we have plenty of back row options, hopefully including a fit-again Ben Evans.

The signing of Dodds means we probably have just enough props, competition for places on the wing should be fierce as well as at full back, it’s probably only at centre where I think we’re lacking genuine quality in depth.

What would be good to see next year is a settled team, obviously injuries permitting, I think a lot of players would appreciate being given a role at the start of the season and being trusted to excel in that role throughout the year.

A lot of the problems this season came down to a lack of timing between ball carriers and runners and a lack of togetherness in defence, which can’t have been helped by constant changes.

Just like all the others 2016 could be our year. Here's the team I think'll be the one to finally win us the title.

1. Johnson; 2. Lineham, 3. Ratchford, 4. Currie, 5. R Evans; 6. Gidley, 7. Sandow; 8. Hill, 9 Clark, 10 Sims, 11. Hughes, 12 Atkins, 13. Westwood. Subs: 14. Dwyer, 15. Dodds, 16. B Evans, 17. Laithwaite.

If they get the chance those players will hopefully prove me right, and equally throughout 2016 it will be great if the likes of Kevin Penny, Matty Russell, Ben Harrison, Toby and George King, Gene Ormsby, Sam Wilde, Joe Philbin and a few others and Patton prove me wrong.

Hopefully 2016 will prove much more enjoyable for fans and players alike with smiles on faces, more flowing, creative attacking play and tighter, more dominant defence, good crowds, great atmospheres and victory parades at Wembley and Old Trafford.

How else did you expect an optimist to finish?