SPIRIT OF 55: Homegrown players makes victory more satisfying (From Warrington Guardian)

SPIRIT OF 55: Homegrown players makes victory more satisfying

10:00am Monday 28th May 2012 in Wolves news

AS soon as I saw the big pitch, dry day and hot temperature I did start to wonder whether the scoreboard at a football ground would be able to go up to three figures.

Right from the opening minutes this match never looked like being anything other than a massive win for the Wire.

Playing against a poor team, on a big stage in perfect weather conditions was everything Warrington needed to be at their devastating best, and for the majority of this match that is what they produced.

For the fans it was a great day out at a brilliant stadium, in the Manchester sun, to witness their team destroy their most local of rivals.

There cannot be many times through the history of rugby league that a team has had a spell of almost 30 minutes without scoring and still managed to rack up 68 points.

Wolves are still searching for that elusive, complete 80-minute performance, but it was another match this season where the positives far outweighed the negatives.

Excellent go forward and urgency in attack, which helped produce some more fantastically skilful tries.

The accuracy of the basic passing is now far improved from earlier in the season, an underrated skill that gives the outside runners vital extra moments with the ball in the hand before the tacklers are on top of them.

Still, even in such a dominant and comfortable victory, there was time for the defence to be impressive, particularly when close to their own line and especially so given that the game was won so early on.

Even when 40 points ahead they showed a great desire to protect their line.

The most noticeable case being late in the first half, when Atkins made a great chase back to deny a Widnes try.

It was a great day out, fantastic atmosphere and a brilliant, devastating performance.

The most pleasing thing overall for me was that the 17 players on duty included eight who have come through the club's youth system.

For one thing this has given the squad a great depth, with each of them doing more than just playing a bit-part when they come into the team, they add something to the performance and have all been deserving of first team action.

If by some miracle all the squad is fit when the semi finals and finals come around, Tony Smith is going to have a lot of players to choose from.

It will be that bittersweet moment for a coach when he knows he will have to leave players out who deserve a place in the team and are good enough to play in a big match.

That is far better than being the coach who has to choose a few players who do not fit into either category.

Another great thing about it is that it makes following your home-town team even more enjoyable when the first team includes players who the club have developed through their youth system.

Not all are from Warrington, but the club have certainly had a hand in the development of all of them.

It is safe to assume that Wire are not going to win any trophies by beating Widnes any time soon, but it it is still fantastic to go into an occasion like that with complete confidence in a big win and then see it played out as if there was no other possibility.