Head coach Sam Burgess was asked that very question following his side’s heaviest defeat of a desperately poor season, and it was a notion he rejected.

He did admit that his squad looked “flat and defeated” at half time after the Black and Whites ran up a 22-2 lead, with 18 of their points coming while Lachlan Fitzgibbon was in the sin bin following a head-high tackle on Sam Eseh.

Warrington did stem the flow somewhat after the interval – and Burgess insisted he was heartened by some of what his side showed after the break – but they could not prevent being kept try-less for the first time this season.

Here is everything the Wire boss said post-match…

Q: Your thoughts on the game please, Sam?

SB: The bottom line is that the team are flat at the moment.

We were trying hard, but then the yellow card hurt us. The 18 unanswered points in that period were tough.

We were chasing after that – we were missing so many guys, as they are, but we over-tried and lost any ascendancy on the game.

It’s tough for them because they tried in a lot of areas, but it’s not working at the moment.

Q: One of the key traits of last season was the ability to ride out periods like that – sin-binnings, multiple sets on your own line – so is the lack of being able to do that now one of the more disappointing aspects of the year?

SB: It’s not last season. It’s a new season and we’re all finding that out.

Last season counts for nothing and we’ve got a lot of work to do.

Q: But nevertheless, is it one of the more disappointing aspects of this year that that resilience has disappeared?

SB: One of, yes.

Q: I have to ask because this is what people are saying – did some of them give up?

SB: It’s a fair question, but I’d say no. If we’d have given up, we’d have lost by 60.

We saw Cai (Taylor-Wray) chase back to stop a try, Lachlan Fitzgibbon dived to stop Barron in the corner.

We can all look at the end result but I look at the things in the middle of it – there’s effort but is it good enough for this standard? Probably not, but they’re not giving up.

The three quick tries deflated them, but I disagree with anyone saying they gave up.

Q: Are the younger lads like Cai Taylor-Wray and the like pretty blameless in what’s gone on?

SB: I truly believe good things will come from this period. I’ve seen it as a player.

We’re going through a bit as a team and we’re all learning bits about ourselves and each other which can only make them stronger, more resilient and more hardened to the brutality of this sport.

Good things will come if it so for anyone sat in the negative tree – just hold on because good things will come. I know that.

Q: Any issue with the sin bin?

SB: Not really although I didn’t really see it.

I struggled to put 18 players out there today so hopefully the MRP see it kindly.

If some of last week’s were Grade As, I reckon that is too.

Q: There was a bit of an uplift after half time – what did you say at half time to spark that?

SB: I said a lot, actually.

I wanted them to know that I cared about them as they looked flat and defeated, and I didn’t like seeing them like that.

I didn’t really care what happened in the second half – I just wanted to see their response to each other.

They got their heads up, put their shoulders back and behaved like men even though it was a tough night in a few aspects.

We completed at 60 per cent while chasing the game in that second half but they scrambled.

It’s been one of those years but they did respond after half time.

Q: You look like you need the end of the season to come now so how do you motivate them to come back to Hull in five days?

SB: We’ve got five days left and I’ve just seen KR had a tough night tonight as well, so I can only imagine what’s coming our way.

We’ve got a few injuries tonight so we’ll see what guys we have available and see what 17 we can get together.

I’ll look for the same things I spoke about half time – I’m not too worried about the scoreline or things like that, I’m worried about how we carry ourselves because I don’t want them to look like beaten people.

We’re going through a tough period as a group – no doubt about that – but as I’ve said, good things will come from it.