THE decade 2010-19 proved to be one of the most successful in the history of Warrington Wolves, topped by three Challenge Cups and two League Leaders’ Shields.
Various views have been put forward over recent times of the ‘Wire team of the decade’, but what do the stats say about the 10 years that have just passed?
Ryan Atkins is one of the stand-out names, topping the overall appearance chart, having played in 273 games, and is also the decade’s top try scorer with 168.
Ryan Atkins scores against Widnes in 2016. Pictures by Mike Boden
Chris Hill, who debuted in 2012, is not far behind Atkins, with 259 overall appearances, while recently retired stalwart Ben Westwood is third on the overall appearance list, taking to the field in 245 games over the period.
Incredibly, Super Ben also played in 201 games in the 2000s as well!
Only Westwood and Atkins played in every season of the decade, though Mike Cooper was at the club in both 2010 and 2019, his spell being broken with three seasons playing for St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
Ben Westwood
Super-sub of the past 10 seasons is Joe Philbin, who rounded the decade off with tries in both the semi-final and final of Wire’s third Challenge Cup success. He comes up just one short of a century of substitute appearances since his 2014 debut.
Joe Philbin
Second to Atkins on the try-scoring chart is Joel Monaghan, with an impressive 145 tries in 145 appearances between 2011 and 2015.
No other Wire player scored a century of tries in the 2010s, Chris Riley being third on the list with 90.
The goal charts reflect the variety of kickers Warrington have used in recent years.
Brett Hodgson was the regular kicker throughout his three seasons, benefitting from the free-scoring rugby Wolves exhibited in the early years of the decade, meaning he leads the way with 317 goals in total.
Brett Hodgson
Stefan Ratchford is a close second on 299, spread across his eight seasons, with Chris Bridge rounding out the top three on 180.
Only 10 players kicked a drop goal for the Wire in the 2010s, Lee Briers landing 14 of his all-time club record of 74 in the final few seasons of his 17-year career to top this particular list.
Stefan Ratchford’s 80 tries, 297 goals and two drop goals make him the decade's top points scorer with 916, followed by Hodgson (788) and Atkins (672).
Stefan Ratchford
The team overall played 344 matches amassing 1,820 tries alongside 1,468 goals and 36 drop-goals for a total of 10,252 points, making it the highest scoring decade in the club’s history.
Full ‘top 10’ charts for the decade are as follows:
APPEARANCES
Rank, name, matches
1 Ryan Atkins 273
2 Chris Hill 259
3 Ben Westwood 245
4 Stefan Ratchford 236
5 Mike Cooper 182
6 Ben Currie 161
=7 Daryl Clark 154
=7 Micky Higham 154
9 Ben Harrison 146
=10 Joel Monaghan 145
=10 Richie Myler 145
STARTING APPEARANCES
Rank, name, starts
1 Ryan Atkins 271
2 Chris Hill 249
3 Stefan Ratchford 226
4 Ben Westwood 219
5 Joel Monaghan 145
6 Daryl Clark 144
7 Richie Myler 140
8 Jack Hughes 128
9 Chris Bridge 127
10 Ben Currie 126
SUBSTITUTE APPEARANCES
Rank, name, sub appearances
1 Joe Philbin 99
2 George King 83
3 Micky Higham 77
4 Brad Dwyer 75
5 Paul Wood 73
6 Mike Cooper 66
7 David Solomona 55
8 Garreth Carvell 43
9 Roy Asotasi 42
10 Ben Murdoch-Masila 39
TRIES
Ran, name, tries
1 Ryan Atkins 168
2 Joel Monaghan 145
3 Chris Riley 90
4 Richie Myler 81
5 Stefan Ratchford 80
6 Tom Lineham 72
7 Ben Currie 70
8 Chris Bridge 64
9 Ben Westwood 56
=10 Rhys Evans 42
=10 Josh Charnley 42
=10 Matt King 42
ALL GOALS
Rank, name, all goals
1 Brett Hodgson 317
2 Stefan Ratchford 299
3 Chris Bridge 180
4 Dec Patton 146
5 Lee Briers 121
6 Kurt Gidley 116
7 Gareth O'Brien 81
8 Ben Westwood 78
9 Tyrone Roberts 45
10 Bryson Goodwin 43
2pt GOALS
Rank, name, 2pt goals
1 Brett Hodgson 315
2 Stefan Ratchford 297
3 Chris Bridge 180
4 Dec Patton 139
5 Kurt Gidley 116
6 Lee Briers 107
=7 Gareth O'Brien 78
=7 Ben Westwood 78
=9 Tyrone Roberts 43
=9 Bryson Goodwin 43
DROP GOALS
Rank, name, drop goals
1 Lee Briers 14
2 Dec Patton 7
=3 Gareth O'Brien 3
=3 Michael Monaghan 3
=5 Brett Hodgson 2
=5 Stefan Ratchford 2
=5 Tyrone Roberts 2
=8 Chris Sandow 1
=8 Richie Myler 1
=8 Blake Austin 1
POINTS
Rank, name, points
1 Stefan Ratchford 916
2 Brett Hodgson 788
3 Ryan Atkins 672
4 Chris Bridge 616
5 Joel Monaghan 584
6 Lee Briers 392
7 Ben Westwood 380
8 Chris Riley 360
9 Dec Patton 349
10 Richie Myler 329
The above stats and analysis have been prepared by Neil Ormston in conjunction with Gary Slater. Neil also runs www.warringtonrugbyheritage.com, a site dedicated to preserving the history of rugby league in Warrington.
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