you believe correctly mate. there was never no mention of going home. bj and the club parted very amicably. the club wanted to make room for drew. bradford were after bj. everything worked well for both parties. as far as saturday is concerned thought everything we tried went through bj, seemed to work hard and was very busy. think he will go great this year which will disappoint some i suppose.

There is a balance between being supportive and critical of a player, I would hope that I have that balance right to some degree as most on here seem to do, I wouldn't be unconditionally supportive to a player, as I said in an earlier post I would give them time to show they couldn't hack it before criticising, however writing a player off on the basis of a performance in a pre season trial game where it was the first time the team had played together shows to me either a lack of knowledge of the game or an unwillingness to give a player a fair shout.
As for you not seeing anything that suggests scapegoating, you have been posting on here too long and are too intelligent to not know what is coming from certain posters, you just choose to ignore it for the purpose of your argument.

Actually the original poster and most of the subsequent ones were pointing out that the fans at the game used him as the scapegoat, which they did, I apologise for getting involved but was merely trying to point out why this might be, I accept the "quotes" may not have been real, therefore the reasoning was wrong. quite how we always seem to descend in to the same people arguing whatever the point, is for you to sort out, im bored.

Oh yes.

Did not go to the game but i'm not too concerned after 1 run out.

Although I am staggered that there is this debate over a meaningless friendly (didn't we win last year but Leeds went on to win the Grand Final?), I am biting.

Although not a BJ fan last time, I always thought that one of the problems was that he was too similar to Rooney in temperament, in that he is not naturally aggressive. The thinking with him coming back is that he might be a good foil for Brough, who will run the game, with BJ exploiting the spaces. I wasn't at the game, but the consensus is that Brough was invisible. If that's the case, why is anyone criticising BJ? Isn't it like having a go because he didn't do Brough's job? It's like criticising whichever winger is outside Atkins for not scoring tries.

This season, we will have a natural stand-off, something we lacked last year. If Brough does his job, I'm sure BJ will do his.

Yep.

Seems a touch strange and thats why the scapegoat tags been mentioned, rightly or wrongly.

If they both get it together we'll go well, but will it happen.

Edited some of these posts, but here is a start.

thank you for proving my point

kicked out on the full because morton was not where he was intended to be..after the play bj went over to talk ...inside ball when the ball was left nowhere was not bj's fault, i thought it was davey but it wasn't. these things will improve through the season. did anybody notice that we actually set up with db and bj at both sides of the play so we had options either way with newton taking the play? i am looking forward to this season more than for a long time!

I see what you are getting at with that, and I accept that I know what often follows. However, if we have to close off any discussion for fear of some getting out of hand, the forum risks becoming an arena of mindless backslapping and in that way the 100% negatives win. I'd like to think proper discussion can be used to counter anything that is merely scapegoating, which would still allow debate of genuine strengths and weaknesses.

yes blaymire for England,



to the king

yes and to toe the new line i will be agreeing with every post you make this season, and liking each player equally, welcome to the new politically correct wakefield forum!

all together now bah bah rainbow sheep..........................

I can't comment on the Leeds match as I was working, i have been one of BJ's biggest critics but would not have a go on a maningless pre-season friendly.

The top and bottom of it is, is that we all know he is a good player and that is the problem he will show what skills and attributes he has but it is only one in every five or six matches

...which is why he is so infuriating. Can we afford to have a player on a three year contract who goes missing or just goes through the motions with the inside ball all the time. I hope he proves me wrong.

Clean slate BJ make me eat my words and show us what you undoubtedly have week in week out. PLEASE

OK - I said I was out of this one - but, for the record, I don't think anyone is saying that anyone can't have an opinion, or that we cannot be critical, but it helps if the criticism is justified and that the poster can offer something more than just a good 'slagging'

Right -I'm out again on that note!

I really rated Jefferies when he was here before. However, I thought he went downhill at Bradford and that he couldn't tie Drew's laces. And for those two reasons I didn't want him back. But if he proves to be back to his best I will quite happily come on here and tell everyone that I've always rated BJ and that I was never really a fan of Drew!

The thing is as many of us as they are who didnt want this signing to happen me included, Mr Kear has not let us down in the signing stakes when taking a chance on a player who would probably struggle to get another contract in SL apart from maybe at the Crusaders. I think we should just show a bit more respect to Mr Kears opinion as he has probably forgotten more about the game than us lot know between us.

Using the logic of coaches always knowing better than those who haven't coached or played, I give you experienced coaches signed such 'greats' for Wakefield as Glen Tomlinson and Albert Talipeau. That, or we shouldn't post on any playing related matters as what do we know?

Hey no ones perfect all the time, i don't totaly agree with the logic and they sometimes get it wrong as you have pointed out.

You can't blindy follow and i'm sure JK or any other coach would not wish it to be.

one's a stand off and the others a hooker, good comparison

i agree, it does help if the criticism is justifed and the poster can offer more than a good slagging. but i repeat, where is the good slagging?

In Kear we trust

My god it's like platting fog with you sometimes, did you even bother to read my post. Did JK sign Tomlinson and Talipau? Did i say have blind faith in every coach who has coached us or did i say "Mr Kear has not let us down in the signing stakes when taking a chance on a player who would probably struggle to get another contract in SL"

Andy Kelly coached us into this league in the first place, and made duff signings, Shane McNally coached us to out best finish in decades, and got it wrong, yet some put John Kear's decisions above debate - not the best way to deal with things surely?

My new years resolution is not to slag the team off when

(i)they miss a tackle
(ii)fail to score on every set
(iii)fail to get a 40-20 on every kick

You started all this



5 mins into the first game you'll have "bust the resolution"