Really? You've never mentioned it.

He may or may not have been dropped for disciplinary reasons. We don't know the reasons, so it would be wrong to assume anything either way wouldn't it?

bad man management though. if he has been naughty surely he could have told " you let us down so go out and repay us"
and then not to select burgess either. the guy is a c0ck

I would have discipline reasons as well if I knew that __________ * was my boss.

[size=59* - Fill in your own appropriate word.[/size

That is the area which has caused most of the debate though, and not having Thackray there weakens our front row. If he has been dropped due to a couple of recent errors and not down to disciplinary problems, then it is a harsh call IMO.

From tonights 21's it looks like Hall will miss out leaving the team with Squad Numbers 1-13 starting and a bench of;

Tansey
Ablett
Lauittiti
Kirke

That looks insanley week.

Looks alright to me. At least, I wouldn't call it 'insanely weak'

Insanely weak, yet with Thackray in it would look really strong? Are your knees bruised yet?

I have decided to fill in the word "tactician" and assume that you are quite indisciplined. Even if you (probably erroneously) assume that Thackray doesn't like Smith, I've managed to work for bosses I haven't liked without breaching the codes of conduct of my employer over it. I bet you have as well.

Moore and Watene would walk into your team.

However we are now shot for the season and you will win comfotably IMO.

moore i mentioned at the start of the season as someone we should have signed. watene looks no better than what we have.
i don't think it will be an easy game tonight thanks to our leaders stupid selections

Ask any Wakefield fan and pleased as they are with Moore, Watene is the man. Utterly awesome (sorry to use that word) all season, really hurts the opposition.

Having built them both up they will probably blow out of their ar*es tonight

Once Ali limps off again, it leaves us with a very weak bench, which is what I was saying.

I suggest both of you re-read G1's post earlier in this thread.

When will people realise the club isn't run as a democracy? I notice much of the bleating on this thread is coming from people who seem to have some sort of connection with certain ex-players or current players. Like it or not, Smith is doing his best to go out of Leeds on a high - why would he want to sabotage that?

[iIf[/i Thackray has committed some misdemeanour, it is only his fault that he has been left out. For all those who think that leaving him out is a bad idea, you obviously have forgotten the previous run in between Smith and Thackray at the beginning of the season, in which Thackray was forced to change the way he carried the ball. Smith's disciplinary measures seemed to work then, so why shouldn't they now?

I notice the other Smith is facing a bit of a player revolt in Newcastle, because he has the 'audacity' to get rid of players deemed surplus to requirements in order to instill a winning culture at the club. Most of the fans down there seem to be incapable of seeing the bigger picture too, even if it means that the club will be turned round in the long-run.

brian smith has won nothing.ever.and has disrupted most clubs he has been at.
in 2004 smith rotated the team every week and everybody was fresh come play off time. since then it's been the same team every week almost. steve walsh was sacked because he stood up to smith and told him the players were tired and needed resting,
smiths ego is so big he thinks he can do no wrong. going into tonights game with 2 props,and one of them a short spell type prop, smacks of arrogance and stupidity

however maybe he sees that wakefield are a tiring team, whilst they have speed outside they often struggle to get it there quickly and rely on a very big pack to do the hard yards,

maybe smith thinks that speed will kill the wakefield pack and so has gone for a more agile pack to exploit that,

he does have three second rowers on the bench so its no like he cant interchange the forwards,

Kylie will probably do 2 20min spells rotating with Kirk who is a big guy to start with,

Peacock can play 60mins so we are only looking at being a prop down for 20 minutes

and its not like we utilise our props well anyway

we tried the mobile pack last season. remember?
you have to go forward and win the battle before you can play. out pack, with 4 forwards on the bench, got battered by hull last week. i can see the same happening tonight

Mick Cook, Wilkinson, and McDermott (both), need adding to that list Tad. This is the problem with Mr Egomaniac.

wilkinson was a top coach. i wrote a year or so back smith has surrounded himself with yes men

to be honest on another day we could have put 20 points on Hull, it was one of those days when nothing seemed to stick and we should have scored 3 times in the first twenty minutes, we had another try disallowed when it couldnt have been closer,

i can see why you say that our pack was outplayed because it was, Hull played a little of the rough stuff to shake us up and we had no response to it.

but i would say the only game where i think we utilised our pack properly was the first game against saints this year, which for me was also our best performance in probaby 2 years, and we are still only second,

so i guess what im saying is that your right that we are light tonight, but i think we have still been light all season and the difference between tonight and other games isnt as big as it may first appear because we dont really use our forwards when they are there so were going to miss them less when they are not

FWIW i think smith is about 10-15 years ahead of his time, by then all packs will be similar to what ours was last year and the bigger props are going to start drifting out of the game or becoming short spell impact players with a bit of speed

Whatever happened to the tinkerman?

The effect he's had at Wigan has been astronomical. Clearly.

Yes, we have a smaller squad, its called the salary cap and happened at every club.

Was he now? Evidence? or are we back to assumptions again?

I'd love to know where you know all this from.


Mick Cook went to coach at York,
Wilkinson i dont know why he left, neither do you.
Barrie McDermott retired, or was he forced to by Tony Smith?
Brian McDermott went to coach Quins, or again was he forced to by Tony Smith?

i know for a fact what happened to walsh. it came from a player at the club and from a friend of walsh.

a smaller squad due to the cap. thats bollox because we never spend up to the cap

You can think what you like, but some of us know the facts.

Barrie McDermott makes no secret of his relationship with Smith and why. Go speak with him sometime, he will tell you straight. And yes he was forced to leave Leeds as a player.

Brian McDermott left because of Smith. Most people know this, and again it is not just rumours, most know exactly what happend and what was said. The players dont hide from it, they tell it straight, and were 100% behind McDermott. Its a shame the incident did not happen preseason of 2007, because had that been the case Smith would have been the one out the door.

Walsh locked horns with Smith, that is a fact, Smith unleashed his arrogance on many levels at this time. Furner was the main opponent to his rants and regularly "checked" Smith

Walsh had been working for Red Hall this year conditioning the referees, and was told to throw his hat in the ring for the Conditioner for Gb.
Along came..
Walsh never even got an Interview...