Warrington finishing top.

A team that have spent most of super league outside the top 4. Only 2 seasons ago finishing in 10th. 10th to 1st in 2 seasons is the type of transformation super league has always lacked.

It's sometimes easy to forget where they once were not too long ago. But the change has been quite gradual and organic you don't really notice.

In 2002 they just avoided relegation. A poor team, with a very poor stadium seemingly going nowhere.

But then paul cullen came in. Saved them from relegation and turned them into a decent midtable team. Then a new stadium arrived and certainly the wuality of signings started to increase.

But it's worth noting that perhaps if cullen had been moved along and a top coach brough in sooner their transition to top team would have been made quicker. Instead after the new stadium for the next 5 years they hovered between midtable mediocrity and decent team near the top.

Enter tony smith.

Perhaps it was this period of half a decade on the fringes that allowed them to put the foundations in place. Tony smith comes in and BOOM, they make the final step.

I just throught it was worth it's own thread. It's happened so gradually (taken nearly a decade) that people don't really raise much of an eyebrow, after all warrington are a top team right, of course they finish top.

But go back to 2002. The equivalent now would be saying ''hey in 9 years salford city reds will be the standout team in the competition and will win the grand final''

Pretty hard to imagine right now, but it's entirely possible.

Their creative accountant was the best signing they made, must have gone to school with the same one as Wigan employed!




Is good to see a new team at the top though.

Interesting you went through the whole of that post without mentioning the words 'Simon' and 'Moran'.

An excellent point and, you're correct, one that is easily overlooked.

A final league position of 10th only two years ago and the turnaround has been astounding.
Can anyone imagine Bradford or Salford finishing top in 2013?

A little unfair and blinkered for people to play the Salary Cap card.
In March 2009, Warrington were beaten 60 points to 8 by Harlequins.
Of the 17 on duty that day, 11 are still at the club.
The other six were Hicks, Paul Johnson, Gleeson, Rauhihi, Vinnie Anderson and Pickersgill.
Not exactly making up the numbers!

I think this helps to underline what a brilliant turnaround has occurred in such a short time.

I am but one of thousands of Warrington fans who have endured decade after decade of mediocrity and disappointment and the present period of relative success is very much treasured and appreciated.
I know it won't last for very long, it never ever does, and I aim to continue to enjoy it with good grace and thankfulness.

Yeah, I bet you wish you had a simon moran huh?

without doubt a key component of the success story...maybe THE key component.

Money + good stadium = More Money = Top Coach + Top Players = Bigger crowds = more money = success.

Simon Moran's money has helped. He's got them the best of everything from finance staff to conditioning staff to coaching staff.

They also spent a far whack on transfer fees that clubs wouldn't normally be able to do.

Warrington are already at the stage where they will find it hard to maintain their success. Their experienced players are in probably their penultimate years and their younger players will demand mega bucks next time they renegoatiate contracts. So they'll end up at the stage where their fans are confused as to why the signings have dried up and they have fewer star players than the previous year.

In the NRL the youth systems are so strong that a team can go bottom to top with one or two signings plus promoting a few youngsters. It's not like that in Super League.

"only 2 seasons ago" they won the challenge cup and sacked off the rest of the season as a result - hardly the meteoric rise from nobodies to top club you suggest
they have made progress no doubt, but i doubt it is a model every team can follow

2006, Wigan were bottom for the majority of the season. 4 years later they became champions.

Simon Moran has been a big help for Warrington, particularly in paying for transfer fees for Richie Myler, Ryan Atkins, Vinnie Anderson, Simon Grix, Martin Gleeson, Garreth Carvell, Nathan Wood and Ben Westwood at a time when other clubs cannot afford transfer fees.

It's also worth remembering that Warrington are a profitable club anyway thanks to sound commercial knowhow at the club, which is exploiting the stadium to its full capacity both at matches and elsewhere. The ability to own our own stadium is crucial to this, and was a result of sustained pressure from the local community over a number of years, a good model for all clubs.

As for talk of the salary cap, Warrington have never been in breach of the cap as everyone knows. This could be because there is a big conspiracy whereby Warrington pay all their players in secret and nobody reveals anything, or it could be because the club is well run. Looking at the squad and comparing it to the likes of Wigan, Leeds and Hull then it doesn't seem unreasonable that the squads are paid at similar aggregate levels.

There will be some predictable willy waving on this thread.

I think Warrington have been changing for around 15 years, Peter Deakin started it all off and then the building of a new stadium, Simon Moran and the recruitment of Tony Smith have all followed.

It matters not how or when, its good for our game and I hope we soon see Hull FC (next most likely) challenging cosistantly followed by A N Other club soon after.