Warrington Wolves players ‘rattled’ after being given one of three letters

Warrington Wolves have been well below par in 2022 so far.

Winning just five of their 15 games in Super League this season, the Cheshire club sit outside the play-offs – though only just by four points – but remain just six points clear of Toulouse Olympique at the bottom of the table.

And, Warrington fans have made their feelings well known throughout the year so far.

Credit to the Wolves, though, they have met the problems head on and chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick and head coach Daryl Powell sat down at a Fans’ Panel Meeting to discuss the urgent affairs of the club.

Among those topics was of course the form of the team at hand, with Fitzpatrick revealing that 12 out of contract players were given one of three different letters.

The minutes at the fan’s meeting say: “The main topic on everybody’s minds was the current situation of the club’s league position and obvious difficulties on the pitch. This was openly addressed by Daryl with a main theme of uncertainty and nervousness amongst the playing group.

“It was clear that we have 12 players off contract, breeding the uncertainty. Karl explained that on the 1st of May every season players are given one of three letters. 1) You’re being retained. 2) It’s undecided. 3) You’re being let go – in short – and the indecision surrounding this has rattled the players’ stability. We can see that announcements are now starting to be made about players’ futures either at the club or elsewhere. This will increase the certainty of players’ future careers, and help to breed stability as we go through the other half of the season. 

“The other issue to note is nervousness. This is something Daryl commented on prior to the season talking about how when the team make mistakes or fall behind on the scoreboard, they lose composure, and this has been on ongoing issue this season. Some good performances were beneficial in improving confidence, and confidence comes when the team is winning, which has not been consistent this season. It is thought that more stability in the team will allow players to feel more confident and therefore decrease the problems we face when feeling nervous.”

It will be interesting to see whether or not Warrington will be able to overcame that nervousness as they host Hull FC tomorrow night, eager to back to winning ways after a disappointing loss to Wakefield Trinity last time out.