One thing that is instantly noticeable is the picture on the article.

When he first signed and he did his remorse filled interview with Brian Carney he looked to be carrying a lot of excess weight.

His face looks significantly leaner on the picture used on this article assuming it is a recent one.

Does this get me in the stalkers club?

Almost !!

I'd bet my last £1 Zak will be starting at FB. He's had more than enough time to regain fitness and become part of the team.

Notably in a recent interview Tommy said he expects to be playing 9 under Lam. Considering this it'll be either Escare or Powell to miss out on a select 17.

I agree about Hardaker mate, sure to start at FB. I watched the opposed training session against Leigh and whilst I didn’t read much into it, it was Shorrocks running at 7. I’m looking forward to the season getting started now.

Lam has said he intends to use the 1st team squad for the friendly at Barrow but it won’t be the starting 17. That’ll give us a good clue!

Only if you use your observation to then form the inevitable conclusion that Zak will soon be back at Cas.

aye 5th april

Nice interview with Zac on Granada reports looked to have bulked up a bit.

None of the players will be match fit, nor will they be at the same fitness level. Zak, as many other SL players have, has a natural fitness level. He’ll be fine and I expect him to be our starting FB come the opener v St Helens

You were warned.

Well he's lasted much longer than Shaun Edwards did.

You warned us four years ago, with a suggestion that it would happen any minute.

I think it's safe to say we had the best of what was left. He's now 30 and a veteran.

Since then of course, we happen to have uncovered a full-back who is ... ahem, somewhat better.

Still, if he's back in Yorkshire, at least that will make it a lot easier for you to stalk him.

Your commitment to this has been admirable



Best get over to the Leeds board and warn them now.

Well it was on the cards I suppose

?

We don’t need any warning as Know Zak better than you. He won x3 grand finals , x2 challenge cups and MOS here. He also went through a lot of tough times. We know how to support him better I guess and he’ll live nearer his support networks. We are desperate for some who’ll improve our team, and we’ll handle the rest. JJB is like a big brother to him too so will all work out……

We know how to support him better?

By turning a blind eye to all his off field antics and then sending him off to Australia when they became too much of a problem?

Done wonders for him that treatment!

Maybe if Leeds had dealt with him in the correct way in the first place his career would have ended up very differently rather than him getting sacked from every club he has played for.

He’d been involved in a lot of bad things and Leeds stood by him . If he was less talented he would have been moved on way before, but that’s sport and business. He then decided to run and ask to leave as soon as we had a bad patch . He was not shipped out to Oz at all, he requested a loan away. But then sold to Cas when he came back a bit humbled, as we couldn’t allow him back at that point.
He’s still had a brilliant career, even after Leeds. Wasn’t he your player of the season one year?
It’s also not easy commuting M62, especially with a baby and sleepless nights…….

Leeds turned a blind eye to all his off field problems because he was playing well.

He went to Oz because he had to because he got too much for Leeds and it was easier to move the problem on and as far away as possible.

Hardly great support.

If they had actually disciplined him when he was getting in bother off the field and creating issues almost weekly rather than letting it go because he was a good player he would probably wouldn’t still be having the issues (ego related) he has now, and indeed had before he signed for Leeds to a certain extent.

Leeds nurtured him in the field very well however let him down with their treatment of him away from the field in a big way.

Turning a blind eye isn’t supporting him, it’s letting him down particularly at such a young age and at his first fully professional club.

Senior players tried and were like brothers to him. JJB has referred to him as his little brother in the past. What more could we have done? Yes we turned a blind eye as on firod way going well . But in all fairness your didn’t sign him because you wanted to support him. You signed him because you sensed an opportunity to get a world class player, and was great opportunism…I don’t blame you for that as that’s how sport works….

It’s not the players that needed to look out for him though is it.

It was also the changing room that turned on him when he had to leave for Penrith.

The management at Leeds let him down.

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Rubbish. Zak admits he let himself down.

As he has at every stage of his career including this most recent one.

That’s very obvious but had Leeds supported him so well in the first place he may have had a significantly less erratic career.

Not sure if you are a parent but I am and when my kids were younger when they were naughty they were disciplined. Made accountable, a word that has cropped up a lot regarding Zak.

Leeds did not discipline him or hold him accountable as a developing lad off the field and that on my opinion has followed him all his career.

For you to come on here saying Leeds know how to support him, insinuating Wigan don’t is absolute nonsense. Leeds let him down as a young player by not making him accountable.

It's a bit late in the day to still be believing the lie about Cas and Leeds that Lenagan told you when you signed him. It's long since been exposed.

We “know but they refuse to admit it!