Ah I see. Thanks.

Hes never going to make a SL prop just not big enough but he will have a good career in the Championship good luck to the lad he always gave 100%

Spot on. I think a change of strength & conditioning coach will do Gledhill the world of good as well. This is something I hope we also address as a new coaching team next year along with maybe a dual reg/loan deal with a championship club will bring the likes of Trout & Spiers on nicely. They are though probably 12 months behind Gledhill so we may end up looking shorterm somewhere until they are ready for regular superleague action.

As much as I like Ben Gledhill as a lad I just don't think he will ever 'kick' on at Wakefield.

Like has been said, perhaps the change in strength and conditioning coach will do him some good? But the lad does push himself in the gym but I don't think he will never be size where he needs to be...probably down to that genetics thing? I am sure jonh will take this thread by the horns and inform us all whether this is the case?!?

Another astonishing thing that I noticed when I was watching the warm up last weekend was that the lad looked like he had just been plucked from the crowd and given a shirt, he looked completely lost and out of place.

Your double-negative tomfoolery has created a rift in the space-time continuum that could cause the entire forum to disappear in a puff of logic; clarify your position quickly, and you may just rescue the situation..!

Coach A thinks he can make Ben a better player and keeps him. Thats a fair call.

Coach B does not feel its going to happen and lets him go. Thats a fair call.

Or we can do it the Wakey way and not offer him a decent deal and let him leave before we have a coach in place (who's call is it) now to me thats not how we should be doing it imo.

In the meantime we'll carry on paying Hickey more money.

He's somewhere in-between for me, so to compare him to either is just wrong.
Fox was a first team regular showing much promise on a regular basis, Gledhill isn't really at that level.
Southernwood thought he was better than he was and he got the Bulls to think that as well.
The Gledhill that burst onto the scene for us was a very exciting prospect but seems to have got lost somewhere.
A few enlightened posters have mentioned physical development or lack of it in some of our younger players, it will be interesting to see how Ben develops at Salford and indeed if things change here post JK.

I will say is that Gledhill had a fantastic debut and I think we were all a bit guilty of doing a bit of a Westerman on him. Now it's hard to tell if he is actually worth a better deal or not.

That said it should be the new coaches choice, but to be fair Al that's assuming the player or his agent isn't pushing it quicker than the club can manage.

Yep.

Yep.

Of course and its never black and white, its just such a shame to be in this situation and be plugging 1873 at the same time.

I think it's a bit unfair to bring 1873 into it.
1. It's only just started
2. We don't know the circumstances of him leaving
3. Would 1873 money even go on contacts for "established"/existing players?
I have to say IMO I'm not sure he was worth keeping hold of, we have others in a similar potential bracket, I accept it would be nice to keep hold of everyone, but out of this years squad there are going to be quite a few making room for the new signings, and in the hard nosed world of developing in SL that's as it should be.

Good post, yes we do pick up top juniors and the new head coach needs to ensure those juniors develop and progress and realise their early potential. Shame if we lose the likes of Gledhill and Trout and end up paying over the odds for ageing alternatives

Gledhill cannot be compared to Fox as he was not played and allowed to develop in the same way as Fox. We have to look at why he got lost and why he has felt the need to move on

For me Ben didn't do himself any favors, I said when he made that stunning debut that it was the best debut of a youngster in a Wakey shirt, even more impressive the fact he is a forrad. Takes a lot to live up to a debut like that, think we have missed the boat with him now, should have spent the whole of the last year in the championship playing better opposition.

Quite right.

I think we need to be asking the question why Gledhill and our other youngsters have not developed in the same way that the youngsters at Wigan and Castleford who they beat a few years ago in the Academy have developed.

Maybe because Wigan and Cas send them on dual reg where they face better opposition week in week out?

Mr Kear, take a bow.

In the defence of your youngsters, not all good youngsters realise there potential. Having seen the leeds utd youth team beat Man Utd in the 90s ( the beckham scholes mu team and the kewel smith lufc team ) your logic suggests the leeds boys would go on to be better , History suggests otherwise.

there are loads of reasons not all players make it

yeah but Gledhill has signed for another Superleague club according to rumour here. Good luck if so Ben .
Its possible we already have a replacement prop

Maybe his performance was related to the way he was treated and constantly pushed to one side. As you all know if you are unhappy at work your effort drops off. Regarding size, this can be corrected in weeks. Good luck to the lad.

Maybe AG should interview some of the experienced coaches on this thread as they seem to know the players positions so well.

I'm happy to attend - quite busy next week, but could probably fit it in one evening.

If so he should be shipped out for having a attitude. He's a RL player not a hairdresser. TBF I didn't get the impression this was the case

Coach mate not clown...

That's harsh - I'm deeply wounded.