JIMMY Lowes was damning in his verdict on Warrington Wolves’ performance against Catalans Dragons on Saturday night.
Wolves’ head coach said: “It wasn’t good enough, not good enough at all.
“I thought we were dreadful in the second half, across the board.
“I’ve made that known in the dressing room to them and they’ll be working hard to put that right.
“Second half I thought we were terrible. We just got outmuscled in every department.
“When that happens, you turn the ball over very cheaply and Catalans capitalised on that.”
Just like at St Helens eight days earlier, Warrington built up a strong lead – this time 18-6.
“We controlled the game again in the first half,” said Lowes.
“We were quite dominant.
“I thought there were a couple of soft tries, particularly the one just before half time.
“But even in the first half there were little tell-tale signs about some of our execution and our decision making. We wanted to score every time we had the ball.
“Then in the second half it went from bad to worse.
“We came out of the dressing room looking for a big start to the second half and it was not very good. It went downhill from there.”
He acknowledged he was disappointed Warrington had not capitalised when Catalans Dragons were reduced to 12 men, with David Ferriol going into the sin bin for his side’s persistent off side.
“I was also disappointed when they had 13,” countered Lowes.
“We just weren’t good enough and the players know that. I’ve made that clear and it’s down to us to put that right.
“We’ll work extremely hard to do that and if some of them guys continue in that vein then they won’t be playing in the first team.”
Lowes highlighted his concern that Wolves have fallen apart in the second half of their opening two games of the season and pointed out that the problem is not associated with the players’ fitness levels.
“It does concern me and that’s something we need to look at in a thorough manner and try and stop that from happening because our first-half performances are giving us some good foundations, laying good platforms to work on.
“But then the second half, particularly against Catalans, just wasn’t good enough at all.”
So if the problem is not fitness, where does Lowes feel the issues lie?
“I don’t know,” he said. “Attitude maybe, a mental thing perhaps.
“That’s what I need to look at and make sure it is put right as soon as possible.
“We just never gave ourselves a chance in that second half.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel