STEVE Price has answered questions about the team’s performance and what can be done to make it a better one after the let-down display against Hull FC in the play-offs last night.

The Wire, challengers for the League Leaders’ Shield until Super League cut the regular season short to the increasing impact of Covid-19, were knocked out by a Hull side that were only in the finals series because of a late change to the structure that made it a top-six play-offs instead of a top four.

He raised the point of accountability and ultimately said The Wire were not good enough on the night.

Warrington Guardian:

Picture: SWpix.com

Price’s men led only briefly in the first half thanks to tries from Matty Ashton and Anthony Gelling, but Chris Satae’s score four minutes into the second period left Warrington with an uphill struggle at 19-8.

It was game-on again when Ashton crossed for a second and Stefan Ratchford converted, 19-14 with 28 minutes remaining.

But the visitors lived on their instincts, a 69th-minute penalty from Marc Sneyd put them two points clear and the game was finally sealed three minutes from time by a bizarre Jake Connor try from a one-on-one ball steal on Gareth Widdop.

Here’s Steve Price’s press conference in full in Q&A form:

Can you sum up the disappointment Steve?

"It's hard at the moment.

"We thought as a group that we got it right over the last couple of weeks with our training and our intensity.

"I thought we started the game reasonably positive.

"We were a bit unlucky with the Jack Hughes one where I thought the ball was stripped and I think they scored the next set.

"At the end of the day they were better than us tonight.

"The standards we set ourselves as a club we didn;t hit which was disappointing.

"We thought we had a really good opportunity this year but we weren't good enough tonight against a really good Hull FC team tonight."

> AS IT HAPPENED: Recap how the match unfolded

Those standards that you refer to Steve, what standards did you feel weren't reached?

Steve Price: "The small efforts in big games is required.

"I thought that set after half time, I think it was a re-set and they scored over on our left edge.

"That is unacceptable in our eyes as a defensive unit.

"We got back in the game and we started to play some reasonable footy and we got that try on the left with Matty Ashton.

"I thought it was game-on there but we just couldn't execute our game plan which we set ourselves throughout the week.

"We put ourselves in a position but then they just got too far from us."

Warrington Guardian:

Picture: SWpix.com

Why did you feel the team couldn't execute the game plan at that stage? Was it errors?

Price: "There were a few unforced errors by us which was uncharacteristic, you could say.

"But we've got to look at that. We've got to hold ourselves accountable as a coaching group and a playing group, which we'll be certainly addressing.

"We've got to be better and we weren't.

"I think Hull had 100 per cent completion rate in the first half and controlled the ruck a lot better than us. We couldn't generate a lot of ruck speed. On the flip side they did it quite well and Marc Sneyd's kicking game was superior than ours."

 

Did you feel there were times where you had the possession and territory but didn't get enough points on the board for the time that you had with the ball?

Price: "You could say that. There were chances there, especially over on the right side when it went into touch with Gells and over on the left with Matty Ashton too.

"It's tough at the moment because we set high standards as a club but we didn't hit them tonight."

You chose to go with 15 players for most of the game (Ellis Robson didn't get on, Jake Mamo was thrown on near the end), did you feel then that you had the right men on the field to turn things around?

Price: "Yes I did, and that wasn't a reason why we lost tonight.

"Big plays and big moments we need to be better and we weren't good enough tonight."

Did you feel the lack of game time over the last month played any part in what you was able to produce tonight?

"No, I won't cop that, that's totally incorrect.

"We felt we got the training intensity and our loads right.

"We've trained really hard through this block.

"The last game does feel a while ago, but that's no excuse."

So you're in a really strange position now that Warrington have to go on to standby for the semi-finals in case Covid strikes one of the four clubs during the week?

"Yeah, that's right. Testing on Monday and on standby. Hopefully the other clubs pull through, it would be a bad way to jump in.

"Credit to Hull tonight, I thought they played a good game."

It's a strange position for the lads to have to get themselves up again and go through the motions and get everything right for a game that might not happen?

"Yes, it will be, it's different, and that's the year it's been. It's been a very strange year.

"There's been a lot of curve balls thrown at us. The players have been class throughout this pandemic.

"We came back after Covid and I thought we played some really good footy through that nine-week block we won those games.

"It's just unfortunate that we didn't live up to our expectations where we set ourselves."

Did we see how important Mike Cooper is to this team tonight (Cooper was not in the squad and his absence has not been explained by the club)?

“He was missed. He’s been fantastic all season. He’s one of our leaders of our forward pack and has played some really tough hard football for us, and set some really good standards among our group.

“It showed against Hull that we did miss him and it was just unfortunate he couldn’t play.”

How do you reflect on the season now it’s over? Can you find any success to it or ultimately does it have to go down as a disappointing one?

Price: “There’s been some really good moments.

“The period after we came back back from Covid the players threw some really good standards out and I thought we played some really good football.

“We had some really good battles against Saints.

“We went out of the Challenge Cup against Salford which was disappointing.

“We had some moments. We put ourselves in a position to go for the League Leaders with St Helens and Wigan, and it was unfortunate the season got cut short by two games and finished in this position.

“We need to be better. I’ve got to put my hand up too, I’ve got to be accountable. It’s tough to take at the moment because it was a performance in which consistently we weren’t good enough for the majority of the game.”

How do you make this team better? Year in, year out you’ve been at the top and got to the right stage of the season but not won the games at the very end, so how do you put the processes in place to make sure you’re better in these games?

Price: “As a collective and as a coaching group we need to look at that and that will be part of the process in the off season.

“A lot of senior players need to take responsibility too. We’ll review that and we’ve got to put our hand up. We’re in it as a team and as a club. We’ve got an off season to think about that.”