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George has clearly been kidnapped and replaced by a body double who actually says nice things about the Wolves. :)

I think judgement really has to be reserved on this Warrington side until they have won more close games of significance than they have lost.

Of course, steamrollering sides throughout the regular season (average margin of victory in the 27 rounds was over 30 points last year) does require a large number of the attributes needed to be champions, but not all. Perhaps it could be surmised that Warrington display the physical requirements of Grand Final winners, whilst not showing often enough that they have the mental toughness to do so.

Catalan's win last week was made that little bit more extraordinary given that it was against Saints, who have for so long demonstrated that mental resilience to keep going to the end. Whilst it perhaps hasn't been in evidence in the recent Grand Finals, but all those last minute Long drop goals and Cunningham tries were not luck.

Warrington's stumble last season was all the more surprising given that Tony Smith was the main architect of the champion mentality that has run through Leeds for the last seven years or so; that bloodline can be traced through to last year's play offs and the second half of the WCC of a fortnight ago.

Perhaps that small selection of evidence point towards it being something that is within the players, rather than a coachable trait. As Saints' side has changed over the last two or three years, have they lost that mentality? Have the years spent in underachieving Warrington sides somehow affected Briers' belief in closely fought pressure matches?

I thought they were the epitome of resilience at Huddersfield two weeks ago; perhaps they have learnt from the end of last season, but each time they go 20 points up inside 20 minutes, it just delays the asking of the questions that they need to answer the most.

Warrington won an incredibly close game on golden point away at HKR in the CC in 2009. This was, to my mind, a huge turning point for Wire, as it became apparent that, under Smith, winning trophies was a realistic ambition, rather than the faintly ludicrous proposition it had been under Cullen's stewardship (witness being knocked out of the cup by HKR a season or two earlier when they weren't even in SL).
Wire went on to win two CCs in a row, admittedly without too many 'close' games on the way.
Losing to Leeds in last year's play-offs was disappointing, no doubt, but I'm not sure mentality had anything to do with it. Bear in mind Wire had the likes of Hodgson, Morley, Monaghan, Monaghan, King, Higham, etc - these players have plenty of experience of play-off rugby. It was a close game, and Leeds edged it with a last minute penalty. That's how it goes sometimes. Annoying when you finish top that you're not crowned champions, but that's just the way it is these (Murdoch) days.

Top blog. Super League this season is starting to boil nicely.

Wothingwire - stop moaning, u finish top u win the hubcap - not SL.


Warrington looking class, like wigan, Cats, Saints and Leeds Hudds & Hull - its looking good !

Loving the new season already. Fantastic Catalan v Saints match, but a big ask for the Dragons backing up this week away at Wigan.

Obviously Warrington and Wigan look good, but they did at this time last year and still lost out in the playoffs so current form is no guide to who peaks for the final push.

George

Do you really believe for a second that Gareth Ellis hasnt already agreed a deal at least in principle with a club in Superleague and we're going to have an auction- You media guys must be naive if you think someone walks away from the final year of a big deal without already having his future sorted.

Give the lad some credit

Good stuff George, that final try Catalans scored v Saints was a cracker and so was the commentary by one Mr Woods to boot. The season is shaping up well with 6 talented sides - would be great if another 2-4 clubs can genuinely get in the mix as is often the case in the NRL.

Living on the South coast I have not yet had a chance to see the Broncos but at a distance, I am worried about their form - especially given their tradition of getting worse as the season progresses. I can't help thinking that someone like John Kear would provide the current coaching set up with some real impetus and nous, at least for this season.

Also George, what do you think of the switch of the amateur (now 'community') clubs to Summer RL, plus the expansion of the Championship? I am sure an article on the new structure plus clubs like Hemel Stags, Northampton and the reformed Crusaders outside the M62 corridor would make some interesting reading away from Super League.

Cheers

Great to see Briers getting the recognition he deserves both from your good self George and from Brian Ashton. Union is perhaps far more open minded in the professional era than League and they are reaping the benefits.

As for Briers, it's like he's been around forever and I'll never forget his performances for Wales against Australia. Certainly showed England how to go about the Aussies and put them on the back foot. What would England give to have a player like him but more than that,the Welsh have a certain passion and commitment that other unnamed international sides are distinctly lacking? And the French on their day seem so much more imaginative as witnessed by the Cats putting on a show in Saints' backyard.

I for one would love to see a couple more French sides in Super League. But isn't good to see Salford playing some great rugby again. Been a long time they put Wigan out of the Challenge Cup. A sleeping giant of the game.

*sigh* George, you didn't mention that the Dragons try shouldn't have actually existed had the ref noticed what was before his eyes in the preceding set ... namely, Leon Pryce passing from the ground with his ball carrying arm on the floor and Saints defenders on top of him. That's a penalty to Saints btw, who would then have taken the ball up field and the final set at the very least would have meant the Dragons coming all the way back down the pitch.

I hope that all poor performances by the ref when they clearly influence the outcome of a game will be equally ignored, especially if it involves Saints winning a game as a direct result!

As for the rest of the post Warrington did look good in that match but they didn't look so hot against Bradford. I noticed Briers up to his old tricks again, hobbling off with an 'injury' when the going was tough for his team. He used to do that a lot when playing Saints in the hoodoo days! And Warrington should have been one man down following that disgraceful elbow in the throat by Chris Bridge. Very weak refereeing again there.

I don't think Warrington look as impressive this season as they did last although that in itself means nothing of course. Leeds looked pants for most of last season and still managed to win the Grand Final, although whether they would have done if their opposition had been anything other than Saints is another matter (talking of hoodoos ...!).

It will be interesting to learn how the Dragons go against Wigan this weekend. It is a shame it isn't televised. I would like to have seen how they perform against a team that can defend for 80 minutes (which Saints are incapable of doing at the minute).