Nice to have team selection headaches poptart , I mean I have nothing against Ayden ,Crowther , Batch and the rest ,,their time will come sooner rather than later I suspect with the rigours of super league and always good to have players breathing down your neck to keep you on your toes .Also if this team we have buy into the poaching philosophy and what he is trying to establish with our heritage,I don't think this has ever been done at the club before ,and hopefully the team will embrace this, and will prove a real winner both off and on the field .

I agree wholeheartedly.

Gaskill is not a loose forward and Lino is injured.

For me, based upon pre-season friendlies and the unknown injury situations I'd go with

Jowitt
Johnstone
Hall
Lyne
Lineham
Miller
Walker
Battye
Hood
Arona
Tanginoa
Pitts
Crowther

Fifita
Whitbread
Batchelor
Kay

I think you're right. I don't go and watch Fev unless they're playing us but I'd hazard a guess that every time they win the toss they choose to play downhill first half and try and build a lead.
We noticeably struggled to make ground in the first half while they made plenty of metres in every set. We improved once we started playing downhill but being behind on the scoreboard at that point and having spent a lot of the first half defending we weren't as effective as Fev had been.

Lino will be running out against hull I can feel it in my waters ,and I put gaskill at loose as he has a great pair of hands and vision and not too shabby kicking game ,and for me that’s a good point to start him at IMO ,plus if a half goes down he steps into the breach .

Who do you think should play at loose forward? Crowther played there against Leeds and Featherstone.

Crowther’s defence is outstanding and will certainly stiffen up that area if Willie decides to go with him,of that there is no doubt

Totally agree. Gaskell gift wrapped 12 points to fev with his kicking



On what I’ve seen his kicking isn’t a strong part of his game. I’m not sure Gaskell has the physicality required on what we need from a 13. Walker or Whitbread for me on pre season form with Crowther chopping at their ankles.

He's been unlucky with his kicks tbf, they could just as easily have been brilliant, Friendlies are where you try stuff out, so long as he's learned and gets lucky as the season starts he'll do ok. You can't win games and you certainly can't win trophies if you are too risk-averse.

I look at it this way, he's probably got his worst kicks out of his system in two friendlies, I'll take that.

Do you know Trojan whenever he played against us he was a nightmare , hoping it’s the settling in period for him getting used to poaching structures, then we will see the undoubted quality he has in his game

I don't think he's been that player for a while to be fair, on his day he's excellent and a delight to watch but not sure what the coaching staff see in him at the moment however they are the professionals so I guess we will see in 6 months or so.

Neither walker or whitbread will let the side down at loose , likewise Crowther , just love to see how Gaskell faired having a game or two in that position as only walker has a kicking game on him and can we afford to leave the likes of Gaskell out with his experience, that’s why I’m championing loose forward for him ,but sure Willie will have something to say on the matter

I've seen no evidence of that at all so I don't think you are being fair, you're being presumptive at best, he looks strong and alert to me and as fit as any (touch wood). For reasons, I don't get some people who seem to want to find fault with a player who is genuine class, why?

It's like this sicknote rubbish spouted by some. In his career, he's averaged 20 games a season. Sure some players have done better but a fair few have done far worse, he's about average.

He may or may not work out as a signing but there is no doubt he is quality. Regardless of the other bit of nonsense peddled on here that he's a CC signing SO WHAT, he was a player not to be ignored when he came free and had we done so the same people would be moaning about that.

I wish him the best.

I'll start with the latter part of your comment, I too wish him the very best in his time at Wakefield.

He hasn't averaged 20 games a season, it's 17 which in season that doesn't last too much longer is a big difference. In the last two years he managed 21 games for Huddersfield, many of those I attended and can tell you he lost more games than he won.

He wasn't in the form he showed during his successful season with Saints 11 years ago. Unfortunately it's a common occurrence for people to judge a player on something they did way back when, going on form and his most recent years his performances have been below par and the stats show that. I'm not sure how that's unfair?

I am intrigued to see where Poching see’s Gaskell’s role in the team this year. He’s a versatile player from when I’ve seen him. There’s only one way to find out whether he’s past his best and that’s him producing (touch wood) this year on the field where ever he plays. Looked like he dislocated one of his digits on Sunday as he was struggling holding his hand, then looked like the physio popped it back in. Really hope he has a great season.

Early in the game Gaskell was one of the players who had low intensity in his defence... getting bounced off the forest tackle regularly... but I thought he grew into the game and showed some nice touches with ball in hand.

Tbh it’s really the first time I’ve seen him play... and I thought he was ok without being impressive

I’m not convinced by him being class and neither are a few other wakey fans I speak to regularly. I haven’t seen him play before this season so all I’ve had to go on is the pre season games and I can’t say I’ve been impressed by his kicking or general play.

Now that said I will back him and shout for him to have a successful season. I don’t care what people say before he arrived. None of that matters and I’ll form my opinion over the season. I may not be overly impressed now but what’s to say he won’t go on to have a successful season and play well for the trin. I really hope he does. Who cares who signed him. He’s a trin player that’s all that matters.

Same for all the trin players. I may be critical of them on ocassions but at my roots I want them all to succeed and will be more than happy to sing their praises when they play well.

Still massively excited by the season to come. I hope we are ready to lay down a huge statement against Hull!

Well then I don’t know what would convince you, I’m baffled because every time he’s played against us he’s caused us major problems.

Regarding pre-season games.. if you were to isolate Lyne, Johnstone and Fifita to name but three to just the last two games you’d think they were very ordinary players or worse but you know they are not. Alternatively you’d think Hall was the finished article yet on truth he’s virtually never played a real SL game.

So sorry, but the pre season games are an utter irrelevance, it’s the Hull game that counts imo.

Surely pre season games are an indicator as to where we are within our preparation as both a team and individually. It’s ok training the house down, but if it can’t be applied on the field against competitive opposition than that’s pointless. I agree we shouldn’t read into friendlies too much in regards to results as they are obviously times to learn and gel etc. I think what everyone can agree on is that there is definitely room for improvement both with skill and attitude before the season starts. As Poching said on the podcast he’ll have to decypher through what went wrong in that performance because I don’t think any coach or player goes into any game happy to lose friendly or competitive.

In part yes. It's just my opinion but a friendly cannot replicate a real game and I'd be annoyed if the players tried. Players get injured more often when stretching themselves to the limit, I don't want TJ or Fifita doing that in a worthless game and I don't think they do, they go through the motions.

So yes you can see formations, moves and general fitness. What you won't see is the commitment you will in a real game, certainly not when your living depends on it. TJ, for example, needs a real run in SL to regain his hopes of international honours, his performance against Fev won't count so he's not going to risk overdoing it.

It's different for up and coming players, it's a chance to shine. But we have to be realistic, no established player will put his neck on the line in these games, well I wouldn't if it were me. I'm not saying they don't try I'm just saying they don't push it to the max and it's the max that sets SL players apart from Championship players IMO.

I don't even think Fev were playing to their peak tbh but I suspect they had the let's get a scalp motivation.

A number of teams have lost to lower league opposition pre-season yet I doubt that would happen in any real games.

If you look at us, the best performance of three friendlies was against Leeds with a team missing many first-teamers, why? The motivation of players wanting to get noticed IMO.

IS lino 100% out first game ?

I agree but time will tell over the coming months…..WP mentioned that Featherstone’ran their size’ in a recent interview.

We need to be having one eye on the future too. The club I hope are actively looking for the next David Fifita. Whether it’s this season or next season the time will come where we need to find a player like him. He will be hard to replace. Though with the new stadium development it may be less of an issue attracting players.

We need to be having one eye on the future too. The club I hope are actively looking for the next David Fifita. Whether it’s this season or next season the time will come where we need to find a player like him. He will be hard to replace. Though with the new stadium development it may be less of an issue attracting players.