Had the pleasure of watching our 16 year olds the other night ,and after going 18 nil down early doors they regrouped and got stuck in and came away with a cracking win . Their attacking structures were were fluid and slick as apposed to the first team that half way through the season still look as they they’ve just played their first team together.
Is this a coincidence that they are coached by applegarth and not chester . The very future of our club lies in these kids as well as the older lads that have just signed contracts ,has chester ever come down to watch these future players NO, and hopefully that will stand them in good stead for them and the club in the future ,and fingers crossed by the time their chance comes we will have a quality coach in charge at the club.

I get most of what you say.

The best we have ever played in SL was under McNally but that was a freak.

The most consistent was under JK first time.

However imo the best rugby we have played in SL was from 2016 to 2018 when we were hammering teams like Hull and Wigan and Bering Leeds and Saints, only Cas eluded us. We can’t just dismiss that to suit a new narrative which I’m sure you unlike some are not doing. Was it the JK factor?

The question now is what’s gone wrong?

Covid and injuries are a part but something is now missing and doesn’t seem to be returning.

Ageing team for one.

Lack of quality signings, but is that bad management or just a total lack of available talent?

Was it the team who performed rather that the coach in those good seasons.

Did JK make all the difference and CC is just not good enough?

Have we got some bad apple who need to go?

Can we only win at home with a totally partisan crowd

Is it simply that we can’t compete money wise but just struck lucky for a while?

Plenty on here seem to think they have the answers but they don’t, I’m not sure anyone does but only the club’s management can sort it.

It’s no fun and I’m not shooting people down today, I don’t have the energy anymore.

If I were to say anything I’d just like to see some real endeavour, spirit and above all desire to play the full 80. I can accept that we are not vey good at the moment just so long as I believe we are trying and I’m no longer convinced that some players are. Very sad.

If we could afford Chester and Kear before surely we can afford just Kear? Be interesting to know whether he wants another shot at SL or not. I'd have him back in an instant personally

Lots of questions there Vasty and probably more than one applies at the moment.
I too support the team if they try but it's hard to see from some players sometimes.
Like someone else on here has commented , I too have supported the team for 60+ years and it used to hurt for a couple of days after a defeat. Sadly, it no longer does because I'm now well prepared to deal with the defeat.
Like you say, it's up to the management to change things and they have to get their finger out because very soon season tickets will be on sale for next season.........!

Sums it up really, a combination of factors is likely the cause but irrespective the fundmental question remains, should the current incumbent continue in his job next season given the situation we are in?

...

Well CC has been at Wakefield a few years now, and for that reason alone, I feel it's time for a change.
I think some of the players that are OOC also need to be released.
It's a pity that some are on longer contracts because some of them are not doing it.

The attack is the problem, if he can't see that then that's an issue in itself. There are no so blind as to those that will not see.

Chester is a coach that from the outside appears to rely on players to do his job for him, that's great when the players all click and perform at the top of their game, but those days are few and far between for us. There is nothing to fall back on, no player knows where they should be running, there appears to be no set structure at the end of plays to either consistently force a drop out or score, we have the ball players crabbing along reducing the space our outside backs have to work with, our players run at bodies rather than gaps, we stand so flat and bunched up so we have no momentum, we are not streetwise and foul foul of balls steels (both ways), Lino, after looking quite lively and creative in his first few games has now drifted into a kind of nothingness and going through the motions with drop off balls, Johnstone, when fit, is criminally starved of any good ball and is reduced to carting the ball up against forwards, just so he has some involvement in a game.

If/when Last is going /has gone I'd like to see Chester look to add an attacking coach into the mix. An old half perhaps ala Sean Long, who can impart on our pivots what to do at the end of a set and where they want our runners to be. A left field option maybe Leon Pryce, who has some coaching experience and also, as far as I am aware, is available.

Fundamentally, we are still lacking an organiser, who tells the players what is going on and gives some kind of clue as to our next play.
Lino has some great skills and you can see that he's trying but, he is not organising the plays.
Westerman seems to have most input, although he hasnt played the last couple but, we are like headless chickens in the opposing 20.
We dont seem to have any plan to move the opposition about and try and create a mis match in numbers or in personnel.

The off the cuff stuff is ok and can be a great watch when it works but, off the cuff is all that we have.
Again, Lino will often get caught in possession on the last, granted, he may be trying to get through the line but, a grubber or, kick to the in goal has to be a better option.

Complacency most have set in, no matter how poorly some players play they keep getting picked.

You would hope that Gaskill's arrival puts the boot up certain players behind.

On the other hand, if a younger member of the squad makes a mistake they are dropped.

I believe that we’ve tried in every match and the effort as been there, I’m not getting into the ins and outs of my opinion anymore I can’t be d. What I do think is in all the years of watching us I’ve never seen the club as unhappy, the fans are at each other’s throats, there’s splits all over the place in some cases pure hatred on a stupid scale. How it can be solved and rectified is beyond me but the growing discontent is there to see and it’s building and building. How do
We get a happy club back

I don't think Gaskill will be taking any senior players place in the 17. Chester does seem quite ready to drop a young lad who makes an error compared to an older head in the same situation

Think the poor way we are playing as brough more of the fans to gether .There playing that bad .Steve Wonder would be able to see it

Its a pity some players get sentimental contracts rather than for form

Thing is, I don't think they are that far away, up until the final 20 I'm relatively happy with, defence has improved, effort is there, its just the absolute cluelessness in the final quarter/fifth of the field thats so frustrating

I’d actually disagree that the defence has improved that much at all. The goal-line defence and scramble seems better than previously which makes it stand out but we nearly always concede more meters than the opposition through slow line speed, let plenty of breaks and tackle busts through in the middle if the field and keep getting outstripped by opposition wingers. I will say though that it is better than our non-existent attacking structures so it does mask the deficiencies.

Ashurst has another two years despite not hitting anywhere near the form he showed a few years ago. This is despite having Tanginoa to play SR a player the club were going to “build the pack around” last season. I like Tanginoa but he’s lost his mojo just driving it in constantly at prop. We had on our hands one of the best and most exciting SR in the comp and we’ve ruined him turning him into an average prop. I’m not sure if we put him back he’d be able to reproduce his barnstorming runs and MOTM performances he used to. It’s sad.

The justification of giving him a new contract according to MC, is because there is no-one out there any better, they were his words in the last but one zoom meeting.

Agree 100% our best player is playing out of postion all because certain players have to play because they can do no wrong add to thiswhen playing sr kelepi can do full 80 mins playing at prop he doesnt wouldit not be best to have our best player outthere in his best postion for 80 mins.matty ashurst has been superb for theclub but sadly age as caught up performances are average injuries setting in and he gets a 2 year deal.

But yet according to the coach Ashurst is a massive player for us, the glue that holds everything together, etc, etc. I would prefer Kelepi in the back row, but I don't mind him at prop, but as with a few others' this season, he just appears to have gone backwards, in fact I can't think of anybody who's now better than than they were 2 or 3 years ago! Apart from Kershaw.

After 60 year, I’ve completely given up interest. Didn’t even listen. You knew what would happen. Four tries by wingers, what a shock.
If MC etc have business brains I can’t see them, as an alleged two year contract extension is the kiss of death,

Im no fan of kershaw but i have to agree...like with ashurst there others who our coach says is vital to us non more so than miller but when was last run of good games he had

No one knows, least of all the coach

No one better as a RL coach, yes man or golfing partner.

If they think he is the best we can do it does not bode well for our ambitions for next season. I wonder if they are taking this stance so not to be seen caving into the supporters who have been critical of his continuing employment because there is no justification to extending his contract.