Originally Posted by
RV12
Quite an interesting thread this. I think the talk of sacking Woolf is way wide of the mark. To an extent, he was dealt a rough hand with the early departure of Thompson. In 2017 and the first part of 2018, Holbrook adopted the approach of having one of Walmsley and Thompson on the bench and one starting.
When Walmsley returned from injury in 2019, both he and Thompson started. Why? To blitz the opposition up the middle. Then Taia, Peyroux and Knowles would cause problems with wide runs. Then the likes of Coote and Lomax could cut open defences.
The problem we had under Holbrook was when teams coped with us in the first 20 minutes (see Cup final against Wire), we struggled and could not open up defences. When teams couldn’t cope with our pack at first, we tired them out, took advantage of the resulting defensive lapses and won (see play offs last year).
Woolf has tried the same approach as Holbrook, far more than many of us acknowledge, but with Thompson leaving we have been firing on one cylinder. We have also been without Percival all year so lack strike out wide. You could tell the boost we had in the first 20 minutes of the cup game against Wire with Percy in the squad.
This, combined with lockdown, self-isolation and changes in routine and training methods has meant it has been a hard season. Very few teams top the league in any meaningful competition in any sport three years on the run. We were within a whisker of it, and probably would have won if the structure hadn’t been changed at the last second. Hardly a disaster.
To sack Woolf would be very harsh and may even put off future coaches from joining us for fear of the trigger being pulled after, objectively, we have done well.
Where you can criticise Woolf is his lack of adaptation. We have a huge over-reliance on Walmsley. If you nullify him, you nullify our whole attacking game. This is probably why we haven’t beaten Wigan or Warrington this year (apart from Wigan’s reserves).
Our lack of big-game success over many years and poor record against the big teams this year concerns me. I struggle to see how we beat Warrington and Wigan in consecutive weeks. I wouldn’t rule out us beating one, but beating both back-to-back is probably going to be beyond us. The big concern is we are playing dull rugby and it doesn’t look to be putting us in the best position to win trophies (that’s not to say we won’t, just we aren’t positioning ourselves as we all we could be). That is the worst of both worlds.
What I do like about Woolf is that he seems to have identified the weaknesses and doesn’t have his head in the sand like Cunningham did. He is taking steps to strengthen the pack next year with Joel Thompson and we are linked with some big, nasty NRL props.
This is sensible recruitment as we already have plenty of strike in the back line, if we lay a platform for them. If we can restore a pack that can give them a platform, then I would hope to see a return to the more entertaining style we had under Holbrook.
Woolf’s contract has a one year option in our favour at the end of next year. If we continue with this style next year and continue to struggle against the best teams, it may be better to look at someone like Ian Watson or elsewhere. If Woolf can strengthen the pack and bring a bit more pleasing style as a result, then he will earn that extension. I think a wait and see approach is best for now.