Has signed for Wakefield. Link: www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news ... evin-locke If he can find anything like top form that's bad news for us when it comes to the middle 8's.

Has signed for Wakefield. Link: www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news ... evin-locke If he can find anything like top form that's bad news for us when it comes to the middle 8's.

The salary cap disparity in full effect, unfortunately.

What a bizarre signing. Not sure how they can afford him seeing as his wage demands were allegedly the highest in the league. That being said Wakefield have offloaded a few players which could have freed up some money to spend on other players such as Kevin Locke. Perhaps he is on a pay as you play deal?

Wakefield need a miracle to stay in Super League. I'm not sure Locke is the answer.

Locke? It's not an issue for us at all. Locke has done nothing in SL and has been a pale shadow of the player he used to be. He's hardly terrorised the league, has he? I could count the good games he's had on the fingers of one plank. Where did his brilliance get Salford in the league, exactly, just remind me?

Add to that the happiness engendered amongst the (much) lesser paid journeymen by an ex-name being paid five times what they are, and I don't see it as a recipe for success. In some ways it's a little bit like when we broke the bank to sign a substantially has-been Harris. That went well.

Wakey do seem to get a bit of luck with these situations. Both their coaches resigned rather than waited to get sacked to get a payout. Salford allowed Smith to join them for no transfer fee, and now same has happened with Locke but he's re-signed, right when Wakey have a bit of SC money to spend.

But maybe their due a little luck, certainly not had it with their stadium. Definitely a good signing if he can stay fit.

Journos all convinced they'll stay up. Happy for us to be written off. Been written all season with all plaudits all going to Leigh. While it's made our goal for promotion harder, lets just concentrate on ourselves and back the team.

We beat Wakey twice last year with an awful squad in probably the clubs lowest point. yes Wakey have better players but so do we. Gaskell, Clough, Ferguson, O'brien, Blythe, Sidlow, Pitts, are outstanding players. We've got a damn good team for the middles.

I'm not so sure Wakey need a miracle. They need to be ever so slightly better than us and Leigh and that's what I expect will happen.

Perhaps by the Middle 8's. Smithy has antagonised them and not inspired them, he doesn't seem to be a middle of the road Coach!

Brian Smith is rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic.

Certainly wouldn't say that. Wakey will be dangerous in the middles and i wouldn't be massively surprised if they finish in top 3. Someone like Widnes could easily get dragged in to the fight.

One thing i will say is Wakey throwing everything to try and survive this season. Beyond that, they don't really have anything in place. No stadium, Smith isn't signed for next year as of yet. If they do go down things don't look god at all. Survive and they can definitely progress. A lot writing on the middle 8's for them.

Same for us. We get promoted, i think well kick on. Don't win promotion, could be stuck here a while.

Like any other club they can only have what is available. There is clearly a reason why he is available. Probably helps our cause rather than theirs. Could be decent in the Championship next year. I didn't realise Smith had such an allegiance to us still.

Any switched on Wakey fans will be rolling their eyes at this. Brian Smith has got WAY bigger problems than the need for a more attacking full back. They're still shipping 30-40 points a game. That's not a hole that Kevin Locke is going to plug. Ever.
Locke's first game for Salford made me think he was going to carve up (200+m and a try or two as I recall) but since then he's gone to rat. Niall Evalds has rightly kept him out of the side.

Wakey wont offer much as a point scoring proposition until they fix the problems they have in many other areas. Their forwards don't seem interested, they lack an organiser in the halves, they've got some of the weakest outside backs in the league, they miss tackles and frequently fail to make over 1000m in a game. Kevin Locke returning kicks and bagging a few tries isn't going to make much of a dent in that.

Speaking of Widnes, they may well end up in a battle with us, Leigh and Wakey. If they lose Brown for any amount of time they'll be in real trouble. He seems to be doing it all for them at the moment.

The joys of P&R. If they go down they will go bust again.

To be right, smithy made his name, not as a hands on coach, but as the head of coaching teams which included decent under coaches. I'm looking at the coaching team at Belle Vue and I don't really recognise that scenario.

Smithy at Wakey is a bit like using a Rolls Royce to plough a field.

If I were Wakefield I'd be going hell for leather to stay up, trying anything and everything. Because I have no doubt you are correct that they would be staring at oblivion if relegated. That isn't a prospect that gives me any pleasure but I believe they would be far less well equipped than Bradford to undertake any sort of bounce-back in the short term.

I thought Wakey were our poor neighbours ... Is this all a massive risk and just putting all the chips on red or black for the 8s ? I get the feeling someone has pressed the huge red panic button ....

Remember that they have recently released Lopini Paea, Dean Collis and Jarrod Sammut. That is a lot of cap space right there and - more importantly - a lot of wages that they no longer need to pay.
So far they've brought in Michael Sio and now Kevin Locke. My guess is their wage bill is still lower now than it was a couple of months ago, even with the new guys on board.

You seem to be saying they lack bounce-back-ability? Unlike Bradford who are, once again, bouncing back.

"Bradford's Bouncing Back" - what a slogan...someone should submit that one to the council



Wakey [iare[/i our rabbits though....

Although 'Bradford's bouncing back' might be applicable to the Bulls, I tend to think 'Bradford's bumbling backwards' is more apt for the city as a whole.

There's [ialways[/i one dissenting voice in a sea of positivity....

You won't be saying that when Harrods & Harvey Nicks move into the hole in the city.

his is the situation that the franchising system avoided -- nigh on bankrupt clubs spending big to avoid a drop and blocking junior pathways. Locke will be definitely out to prove something and put himself in the shop window for better offers, so it will be interesting to see how he gets in in the remaining games.

Looking at the tables, I think the bottom 3 of SL are pretty much self evident...

- Wakefield, definite bottom
- Salford, will probably have to win all their last 5 games to avoid bottom 4 (which will be hard with games away to HKR and Leeds)
- Widnes would probably have to get at least 6 points from their last 4 games (Tigers (A), Dragons (H), Wigan (A) and Salford (H)) and favourable results elsewhere to stand any chance of getting in the top 8.

Then we come to the last place a tussle between Hull FC/KR but with FC having 2 games against Wakefield you might favour them until you see that HKR play Salford twice and FC at home. However, look closely:

- the Wolves are only 2 points above both Hull teams and and they only Wakefield below them (and all below them have a game in hand bar Widnes), with games against Saints and Wigan, although both are at home.
- the Dragons are sixth with 22 points so should be safe as they have a home game v the Giants and play both Widnes and Salford albeit away (I can't see them getting much out of their last game, away to Leeds)

So we end up with probably one of the Hulls, Widnes, Salford and Wakefield. Both Hull teams are actually quite strong so don't think that they'll collapse, leaving Salford and Wakefield. In the games that I've seen Salford in on TV they've been unlucky, including playing against Leigh with a very sub-optimum side. So its all on to take Wakefield's place.

From what I've seen Leigh are pretty strong and have proven that they can play with consistency at the intensity required to beat SL sides, and have strengthened their side over the last few weeks. Wakefield are strengthening as well. So it comes down to just how good are the Bulls? Its fair to say that everyone expected them to be where they are now, but they've hardly shown the consistency and intensity that are needed week in/out to take Wakefield's spot. So they need to really start building that consistency and some commanding 80 minute performances in their last few games.

There's a bit of a plus though - assuming Leigh and Bulls finish top of the championship, they get more home games than the bottom two from SL

I've said it before, if Bradford and Leigh both fail to win promotion this year then I expect Wakefield will still be in a similar position of vulnerability in 2016. If Leigh or Bradford go up I think both clubs would be competitive in SL (if there any decent players left to sign) so the teams left in the Championship will face an even bigger challenge for promotion in 2016.

Such a crucial few months ahead for our club, I just have that lingering doubt about whether we have the halfback combination required to get us up. Lose Gaskell and we can probably forget promotion as the makeshift combination we're currently running with just won't be good enough in the middle 8's.

Quite a bit might also depend on the couple of signings the Bulls were said to be about t make. Two forwards would leave me completely puzzled unless they are to replace the ones out on loan which would be daft.Smith and Locke are only there till the end of the season which is what will happen regularly from now on as desperation kicks in just before the middle 8s. Wouldn't it be lovely to see the Bulls bring in a NRL quality 7 for a short 12 week stint. It was stated in the T&A that the players out on rest of season loans releases cap space so why would they do that if they don't use it?
I can't believe Green, Ferres and Jimmy will risk the season failing because of one player (Gaskell) getting injured. They must have a back up plan just in case he isn't fit and Siejka doesn't find some form.
We can only pray and hope that a top play maker comes to Bradford for a 3 month loan.

It always depends on injuries and if Bradford lose Gaskell and O Brian. Likewise Leigh losing Brierly and Beswick it will make things difficult. Their will be more injuries with 7 intensive games. So all goes down on squad depths etc.