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Warrington man of the match Michael Monaghan revealed there was a "hollow feeling" in the dressing room despite the Wolves kicking off their English Super League campaign with a resounding win.
The 27-year-old Australian made an impressive debut, engineering five of his side's six tries in a 32-20 victory over injury-hit Hull at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington.
But the former Manly Sea Eagle was less than impressed and insisted the Wolves needed a big improvement to topple St Helens in next week's derby at Knowsley Road.
"We got two points which was the important thing," Monaghan said.
"It was a little bit scrappy but that was always going to be happen in the first game of the year.
"To be honest, there is a little bit of a hollow feeling in the dressing sheds after the game. We probably didn't get on with the job like we wanted to.
"We'll enjoy the win but, if we play like that next week, we probably won't get a win. We're still fairly realistic about what we need to do."
Warrington, who are determined to shed their underachievers tag, looked a far more organised and purposeful side with Monaghan pulling the strings.
He played down his own contribution.
"It was good to get the man-of-the-match award but there's a fair bit of improvement to be had," said Monaghan.
"I haven't played halfback for a few years so I think it will take me a few weeks to get back to fitness and find some consistent footie at halfback."
Warrington, led superbly by new skipper Adrian Morley, opened up a 20-8 lead when Monaghan and winger Kevin Penny combined to get Australian Test centre Matt King racing away for a glorious length-of-the-field try on 28 minutes.
It is sure to be an early candidate for try of the season and one which may never be repeated.
"It was something we'd worked on during the week," revealed Monaghan. "We were lucky enough to get it on.
"I guess teams will be looking for it now so it will probably be the last time you'll see it."
Chris Bridge, deputising at fullback for the injured Stuart Reardon, scored a try in each half and Vinnie Anderson, Ben Westwood and debutant winger Chris Hicks grabbed the others, with Lee Briers kicking four goals.
Hull went into the match without seven first-choice players and their injury crisis deepened with the loss of Great Britain prop Garreth Carvell with a potentially serious knee injury.
But they played with spirit throughout and teenage centre Craig Hall kept them in the hunt with a brace of first-half tries.
There was also a debut for 17-year-old centre Tom Briscoe, who had to take time off from school to enable him to train with his new team-mates and found himself up against King for the final quarter.
SOURCE: NRL.com
The 27-year-old Australian made an impressive debut, engineering five of his side's six tries in a 32-20 victory over injury-hit Hull at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington.
But the former Manly Sea Eagle was less than impressed and insisted the Wolves needed a big improvement to topple St Helens in next week's derby at Knowsley Road.
"We got two points which was the important thing," Monaghan said.
"It was a little bit scrappy but that was always going to be happen in the first game of the year.
"To be honest, there is a little bit of a hollow feeling in the dressing sheds after the game. We probably didn't get on with the job like we wanted to.
"We'll enjoy the win but, if we play like that next week, we probably won't get a win. We're still fairly realistic about what we need to do."
Warrington, who are determined to shed their underachievers tag, looked a far more organised and purposeful side with Monaghan pulling the strings.
He played down his own contribution.
"It was good to get the man-of-the-match award but there's a fair bit of improvement to be had," said Monaghan.
"I haven't played halfback for a few years so I think it will take me a few weeks to get back to fitness and find some consistent footie at halfback."
Warrington, led superbly by new skipper Adrian Morley, opened up a 20-8 lead when Monaghan and winger Kevin Penny combined to get Australian Test centre Matt King racing away for a glorious length-of-the-field try on 28 minutes.
It is sure to be an early candidate for try of the season and one which may never be repeated.
"It was something we'd worked on during the week," revealed Monaghan. "We were lucky enough to get it on.
"I guess teams will be looking for it now so it will probably be the last time you'll see it."
Chris Bridge, deputising at fullback for the injured Stuart Reardon, scored a try in each half and Vinnie Anderson, Ben Westwood and debutant winger Chris Hicks grabbed the others, with Lee Briers kicking four goals.
Hull went into the match without seven first-choice players and their injury crisis deepened with the loss of Great Britain prop Garreth Carvell with a potentially serious knee injury.
But they played with spirit throughout and teenage centre Craig Hall kept them in the hunt with a brace of first-half tries.
There was also a debut for 17-year-old centre Tom Briscoe, who had to take time off from school to enable him to train with his new team-mates and found himself up against King for the final quarter.
SOURCE: NRL.com
Geez we are going to miss Monas and Hicksie this season.....we were crazy getting rid of Monas!
