At the start of the season I tipped Warrington Wolves to win the Super League competition.
I felt the addition of 2014 Man of Steel winner Daryl Clark would give an additional attacking dimension to a team full of speed merchants and try scorers like Joel Monaghan, Ryan Atkins and Stefan Ratchford.
Furthermore, Fijian international Ashton Sims was set to further enhance a powerful forward pack, including England internationals Chris Hill, Mickey Highham and Ben Westwood.
Add in the expected improvement of Gareth O’Brien’s partnership with Richie Myler and the youth of Ben Harrison and James Laithwaite (I didn’t even mention Ben Currie) and they had the right ingredients to take the Super League crown after being runners up in 2012 and 2013.
How wrong could I have been. The Wolves have never really got going this season.
The same can be said for Clark. He failed to reach anywhere near the level of performance he achieved for Castleford last season, and he will struggle to keep hold of his international place as a consequence.
But the buck doesn’t just lie with Clark. The Wolves have not settled on a halfback partnership all season, with either injuries, loss of form, or the tinkering of head coach Tony Smith meaning the Wolves have got through numerous pairings that were never able to get an understanding of each other and in turn failed to control the team.
The mid-season loss of hooker Mickey Higham to Leigh Centurions affected the Wolves more than it should have done, although it did bring about the return of young Brad Dwyer from a season-long loan spell at London Broncos, and he has been a standout in the second half of the season.
Halfback Richie Myler hasn’t fulfilled his potential, and Smith appears to have finally got tired of waiting to see the best of him on a regular basis and has not offered him a new contract.
In addition, Smith has this week released another young halfback, Gareth O’Brien, along with club captain Joel Monaghan – who still had one year left on his contract – and veteran forward Roy Asotasi.
Monaghan has not had his best season in Wolves colours with only 16 tries (after a hat-trick against Catalans this weekend) but at a try per game in over 140 appearances in a very successful five-year career at the Wolves, they would fare better next season by pairing Monaghan with new signing Tom Lineham on the wings rather than Gene Ormesby or Kevin Penny – neither of whom are at Monaghan’s level.
Strangely, Smith has not ruled out a return to Warrington for O’Brien sometime in the future. He seems to want O’Brien to prove himself at another club, looking likely to be Salford Red Devils, before maybe returning as the finished article at a later date. If Smith feels he has the potential to be a top Super League halfback, why release him instead of moulding him into the player he wants him to be?
Chris Bridge will also be a big loss, he is a player I rate highly and Widnes have made an excellent signing. He has a lot of experience, is a top-quality centre, and can also do a very good job at halfback.
Australian enigma Chris Sandow signed towards the end of the season after a turbulent end to his career at Parramatta Eels and although his first four games have not gone that well, he’s set to be one of the stand-out players in Super League in 2016. He will have to gel quickly with his halves partner, veteran Aussie international Kurt Gidley, signed from Newcastle Knights, to make sure the Wolves get off to good start next year.
Ben Currie has had an outstanding 2015 and should earn a call-up to the England squad, and the signing of Jack Hughes from Wigan, after a successful loan spell at Huddersfield Giants in 2015, gives the Wolves good strength in the back row, with James Laithwaite due back from a season-ending broken leg suffered in the Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Leigh Centurions.
The squad looks good, but do the Wolves have to look off the field a bit more to see why they have underperformed in the last two regular seasons?
Has Tony Smith outstayed his welcome? Has he got his feet too firmly under the table?
Is Richard Agar the right man to be his assistant coach?
Smith generally knows when to move on, and obviously feels that he can turn around the Wolves’ fortunes and get them back to major finals in 2016 and beyond. But another struggling year in 2016 may see the club force a change in the coaching set-up.
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