Just been watching the highlights of quite a few of our games from 2011 on YouTube.

Boy did we play wonderful Rugby League that year, every attack Lee & Brett created something, they were both sensational.

Also our goal line defence was ruthless & brutal, watch the game against Saints at Widnes early in the season Saints had about 4 sets on our line yet they never got through.

2011 was my very favourite season in over 30 years of watching the Wire.

My very favourite game by a country mile was the play off decider at Langtree Park in 2012. I know we got to 3 CC wins in recent years but even they could not surpass the Saints game.

Totally agree with both, the atmosphere at that Saints playoff game was sensational. As far 2011 we were immense, gutted we didn't lift the big one. Leeds away that year sticks out for me, absolutely battered them on their own patch. Monas controlled the ruck and Briers was red hot. Lovely stuff.

Ahhh the year that should have been, then Myler went and spoilt it by being a yard offside when charging down a Sinfield kick in the Grand Final decider.......

One of the most nerve wracking games I have ever been to, was in the Leeds end for some reason, absolutely gutted with that result!

That was the peak year of the Tony Smith generation Warrington.

We had enough potential to win the double that year: one bad half of rugby against Wigan in the CC and a game that could have gone either way against Leeds in the playoffs cost us but that's the one year since I've been watching us when I felt confident that we were the best team in SL.

The 2011 team was even a cut above 2012 and 2013 basically because of Michael Monaghan, I thought he was the best player in the league that year, he was unstoppable and gave us a level of direction and danger in the attacking end of the field that we haven't had from anyone else apart from Langer (in a much weaker team). Morley was also right at the top of his game then, a close contender for MoS. And we still had Matt King back then.

In 2012 and 2013 we were still strong but looking back you could start to see slight signs that the edge had gone. Michael Monaghan and Morley were not what they were and by 2013 even Briers wasn't quite the force of old.

+1

For me it was Briers setting himself up in perfect position to drop a goal then deciding to kick to the corner instead. Absolutely heartbreaking!

I travelled down from Hull first thing and got the train back the following morning, I couldn't bring myself to look left as the train passed Old Trafford. I remember then locking myself in my room as I walked through the door to the sound of w*nky Warrington. I had the attic room which was unbearably hot due to the weird late summer we had, yet I refused to leave until I was close to wetting myself!

Completely agree with Sal, I imagine many will always look back to injuries last October but 2011 really was the best opportunity this club will ever have.

Recently there's been criticism on here of TS for bad squad management letting Briers, Hodgson, Morley and Carvell all leave together when he should have been replacing them before.

But I don't think it would have been a very popular move if any of those four had been moved on at the end of 2011...it would have looked like us breaking up a team on the verge of greatness before we had to. As they were all likely big earners we couldn't replace them while they were still at the club with an established quality signing as they were taking up cap space.

Also if we had have done that what would the impact on the dressing room have been? They were all obviously senior and well respected players, so starting to push them out could have caused bad feeling amongst the camp where players would have thought why do that?

TS actually pulled a good rabbit out of a hat by going down to Leigh and getting Chris Hill to supplement that team because that meant that at least for one of the props we had a ready made replacement that had surpassed the existing props by the time they left....who would have ever thought that would happen? For me Chris Hill is the best signing a Warrington coach has made since Van de Velde signed Briers in 1997, it was absolute genius.

By keeping the core of that admittedly ageing group together at the end of 2011 it meant that we would never end up saying "what if" about the potential of that team. We got two more years out of them, won our third Challenge Cup and got to two Grand Finals. Without the freak bad luck to lose two backs at OT last year we would have been champions.

So IMO that was the right decision by TS for the club. Yes we can criticise it now and say we'd be in a better position if we had started the replacement earlier but I don't know if we would and we would definitely have risked the last two years success.

How can you say that with any certainty?

No Saints fans on yet saying how the standard of the competition was incredibly poor that year.....



or rogues saying we were just flat track bullies....

I saw a game on Friday night that was reminiscent of one from 2011.