Did anyone else feel the Sunday game was a bit surreal. A host of new faces not only in our group to learn but a whole team in the opposition to get our heads around . Now let me point out from the start we are where we are because we deserve to be ,that’s what the rules of the game stipulate , I have no grievance whatsoever on that score and that the bottom club gets relegated . But Sat on Sunday watching a team without household names in it was very bizarre for me , some cracking players on the York side by the way , the bearded one and the lad with the head band stood out for me . But as we are all going into these games more or less blindfolded somewhat barring the odd super league player that we recognise. May be just me who has problems with change , but I liked watching players with names that I knew , no doubt teams that have been in the championship will know more or less their opponents names to a tee . Hope this doesn’t come across as elitist because it certainly isn’t , it will just take some getting used to for me .

What is interesting is the sheer volume of former Trinity players and academy members filling the ranks of Championship teams. It will be good to see them in action and identify whether we have let them slip or they have found their level. Does it also question the need to improve the quality of our academy or is it a positive that whilst we do get a good number of Academy players to achieve SL status, many of the rest go on to very successful Championship careers alongside work careers that may have been facilitated during their time in our Academy.

Only surreal in the sense Ketty that to me that it was a new beginning - especially after watching what we had to watch last season for various reasons.
There seemed to be a togetherness with the players and they all seemed proud to be wearing the shirt and what to meant to us fans - that'll do for me....

Enjoy the ride.....

Very much a togetherness with the team

Had chance now to watch quite a few highlights of other championship clubs and they have more than their fair share of quality in their ranks and should provide us with some stiff opposition this season

Yes, was thinking that myself on viewing.....
Thing is - and no disrespect to any other team - we are the ones that seem to be from the other clubs perspective there to be the team to beat.

What was surreal for me ,we looked like a rugby club . One of the Championship coaches said when been interviewed ,that Wakefield look stronger than last year .Fans have got to realise that it was the first time most of them players had played together ,so think the best RUGBY is a few week away .Happy days

Definitely Stronger Squad!!! and all of last year's players look fitter and sharper than they were last season, Hood in particular.

I agree PB I thought Hood was outstanding and his distribution from acting half set the tone . We have to maintain that standard and no relaxing, foot down for the full game every game We are a super league team playing in the championship. There will be some tough games coming up along the way and I agree we'll be the team to beat.

The phoenix begins to rise from the ashes

No need to pray Fil, already airborne with after burners on full thrust

Hood looks in best shape I’ve seen him and in fact all the players look in good physical shape. It’s great to see and hopefully maintained as a permensnt expectation. The players looked alert and focused too which was good to see.

Hood was ferocious in defence on Sunday, the hit he did on the player then scragged him back over their line was terrific.

It was a cracker. Shots like that will be red cards in 2025 which is absolutely barmy to even fathom.

Listening to Powell on the heritage podcast , his remit at the wires was to weed out the elitist elements of the players and bring them down to earth and mould them into a winning squad , but they obviously rebelled and as he says he was then hung out to dry by the same person/persons who had give him that challenge only months earlier when things got tough . Think Ellis will back Powell all the way in his quest to get us back not only into super league but a powerhouse in super league and one that will challenge the best clubs for honours

Two sides to every story, but my take he's a club builder not one for fine tuning an underperforming finished product.

He's right when he says not everything in life works out, but what's important is what you learn from the failures, sometimes that can more vital than the successes. The key is not repeating them.

I’m guessing…. But I don’t think Josh McGuire helped.. he got a sizeable ban in a pre season friendly… then got another ban after a similar incident. That coupled with some players that had attitude problems, caused him to loose the dressing room at some point…. Let’s not forget that before the Second McGuire incident wire were battering teams, so something went wrong behind the scenes..
No such issues here.. the players we kept before Powell arrived have all bought into what’s going on , as was evident on Sunday. The new players lounge, stand , food and quality back room staff have all contributed to create a cracking vibe around the place.