? explain and also how badly treated was he at cas who were his first choice rather than us!

Yes so would i but you get my point.

I'm glad you are happy to right off a few thousand quid in wasted wages while our juniors get better deals offered at other clubs.

No thats true but neither does being an overweight Aussie



You are correct Kev i do care and that clouds judements at times.

Can't speak for Ben in this case but i've seen loads of young lads beg to go to Cas and even Hudds and Leeds before they would come to Wakey, its been like that for years, i think it is changing thankfully.

Most of ther juniors i coached legged it to other clubs sadly.

Like I said Al I was disgusted with the state Hickey turned up in. He can still come good though. I've stated also that I'd have offered Ben another year to see if he can kick on and cement a place. The whole idea of 1873 is to set up a great youth set up and to nurture these lads for first team a la Saints Wigan etc. The timings been wrong for Gledhill but these things happen, who knows he may return for a second stint a much improved player, stranger things have happened.

Isn't it an open secret amongst the RL fraternity that for many years, WTW was the club you would play at if you couldn't get a deal elsewhere? I've heard that from several former players and a current senior executive at a very high profile club.

If AG can turn that particular tanker, he'll have done a great job.

Too true and i'm sure thats already changed and will continue to improve, its a massive step forward.

I'll be honest, if T Drury and that coaching staff feel Ben should be moving on then i can accept it, if someone else made this decision then i can't and won't accept it.

If a new coach comes in and looks at the players, he may decide he can work with this player or he decide he can't better him and let him move on, my issue is with whos made this call.

It could well just be down to money and a decent deal for Ben so i guess we'll never know.

Good luck to him..Not really given a proper run in the team IMHO...

Would be much happier if we signed Dowes than Fozzard...

Let's hope we help bring his brothers through instead of losing those to other clubs also. Good luck to Ben and let's see what he can do under a different coach. I may be made to eat my words but I think for reds to offer him a far better contract they must see something. I remember when peacock went to featherstone and everyone wrote him off and look how good he turned out to be.

Now we need to not sign Foz, get hickey fit quick and look for a new prop but not dowes IMO. Want to see how spiers does this year.

In my dealings with Elston I have always found him cold, calculating and a little aggressive - things you'd want in a CEO.

Now I don't know the ins and outs of Bens case, he may well have been badly treated. So this post is not about him as such.

That said I'm getting a bit tired of all this young player loyalty stuff as it all seems a bit one way to me. Every time a player doesn't get what he wants he or a relative or friend blame the club. It's always the club isn't it, never the player. This despite the fact that as in all walks of life some are thick, greedy, deluded liars these young lads are not all sporting monks ffs. Like start struck sheep fans always seem to take the players side, no matter how crap some of them actually are both as players and people - any chance to have a go at the evil club.

Dealing with players, their parents and agents is a minefield and requires a certain toughness. Because according to some of those people especially the dad there lad is the greatest talent ever to appear at BV.

I have had dealings with two club chairman. I won't use Ted as an example for obvious reasons though I can assure you he knew how to deal with players. The other one was Richard Evans who was the Fev Chairman in the 1980's - 90's and was considered a very honourable man.

He told me once that they were looking at a lad playing open age, not a kid he was nearly 20. Fev were willing to offer him a trial, he arrived demanding amongst other things a free car! When Richard said no the lads dad took a swing at him. After being kicked out he and his cohorts went about complaining that Fev were wanting him to play for nothing etc etc whilst all he wanted was a chance. Surprise surprise a lot of fans believed him. To mend fences Fev gave him a trial and guess what, he was a total dobbin.

Put simply you just can't please every one but it is worth remembering there are always two sides to these stories and the clubs usually get it more right than wrong.

I wish him all the best, time will tell if we have missed a trick. Probably means we need to find two props now though for next season as Spiers and Trout (if he's signed) need bringing through and developing gradually. I'd have no issue with Dowes, he's a solid superleague standard prop that will do a decent job for us for a couple of years. I just hope we don't go for Fozzard, we'd be lucky to get ten games out of him.

I don't think there was any animosity when he left Cas. Ben had just won the most improved player award at his age group and when he was offered a contract by Cas he decided not to sign it and went to wakey.
Happens all the time.

There is a bit of dewy-eyed romanticism on the part of some fans when it comes to locally produced players, as most of us would love to see the side full of Wakey lads like Ben. So when they depart, there's a tendency to 'blame' the club - they weren't used properly, the coach didn't like them, they were offering peanuts etc etc.

In reality, the vast majority of these young men are trying to get the most money they can throughout their brief careers and as such, they don't really have any loyalty other than to themselves and/or their families. Sticks in the craw a bit sometimes to see local talent buggering off over the Pennines, but it was ever thus and ever will be.

What seems to be notable about Ben is that he's an unusally articulate and intelligent young man for a RL player and as such, I hope he continues to conduct himself with class and dignity; if he does, that will set him in good stead, regardless of whether he becomes a RL superstar or goes back to his career in the NHS.

Hopefully, his family and advisors will also keep schtum about any perceived ill-will towards WTW and focus on the future.

A good team needs to be more than just the sum of it's parts. Ben may not be a world beater, but he had the potential to have a long career as part of Wakey team for the next 10 years. I think this is a shame for us and once again sends out all the wrong signals about where we are going as a club - that's not say that the club haven't tried to retain him, but the bits I've heard weren't encouraging!

Ted's poodle etc etc...

How is wanting a home grown side being Ted's poodle ffs!

The club has made great strides in recent months, but we're far from a finished product and many people are still holding out until they see stronger progress on the playing side.

I would just like to see a side built largely from Wakey lads, that's all - and yes, I did tell Andrew that!

A poodle with balls, nice one, its a shame more people on here don't grow some.

I could be wrong Phil but I think that was meant as a dig at the usual suspects expected to come along and trot the poodle line out yet again.

Yeah, the guy just thinks that I'm having a go at anything Andrew, which is not the case, but I am dissapointed by this!

while I too would like to also see that its just not going to happen over night and again we have to look at the quick fix now we have been given the green light to stop up for three more seasons.

the 1873 club will go along way in help build the youth on but that too has to be push for us to have any impact on the Wakefield product.

the massive problem is money and we are not going to keep the kids interested unless we can compete with the bigger clubs.

Where did you coach Al?

Good luck Ben, hope you have a long, prosperous and illustrious career!

Gawthorpe, Crigg & Westgate I believe.

He coached Jay Pitts , and lots of currents juniors around such as the number 4 & 8 from leeds u18 last night.

And Nathan who was playing in the 20's tonight but seems to have been dropped, young Gledhill is another i've been involved with, its very nice to see so many young players coming through but i only played a small part in developing these lads along with many other coaches who are far and away above my level.

Cant believe fans questioning loyalty, you cant question loyalty when you dont know half of what could have gone on... At the end of the day its a career, if in your current job roles at the age of 21 you were offered twice as much money to do the job somewhere else you would all take it. So anyone questioning loyalty is wrong
And in regards to the fans questioning ability and effort its ridiculous! Makes me laugh how you think you know better than a person who has coached state of origin! For a player that hasnt had a a run of more than 4 games at a time in the first team swapping between Fev and Wakey i dont know how you can expect him to have such a huge impact!