Much as I don't like to say so I think Chris Chester and his coaching team have now outlived their usefulness and it is time to move on. Can I just ask a question of all those on here who think he/they are doing a reasonable/good job irrespective of injuries, and there seems to be quite a few of them who do, just what level do we have to drop to before CC and Co. are sacked or resign? We've all got to sit and think If relegation was an option this season we would be odds on favourites for the drop and we all know that if we do drop to the Championship (if there still is one), then MC will be up and away and Wakefield Trinity as we know it will be no more.

Whilst this season is what it is, most of us realise that we need a decent scrum half who can actually lead us around the field come next season or the writing will be on the wall and the Championship will be where we are headed, so what about enquiring about Sam Williams ??
Fairly sure he hasn't played for the Raiders this season (?) so surely wouldn't cost the earth to bring back over and he did ok for us last time ??

I’ve not seen him play for raiders once this season
I’ve seen most of there matches so assume he’s playing in the nsw cup team

I wonder what Mellor is doing now he not playing for the wolf pack this year
Very underrated half and I think very close to what we need. Good organiser and kicking game
Two areas we really struggle in

I’d personally write this season off and evaluate where we are 8-10 games into next season.

That will be Chesters 5th in charge...

1st - 5th
2nd - 5th

Two excellent seasons and rightly rewarded with a new three year contract which just about every Wakefield fan at the time would have agreed with.

3rd - A very difficult season blighted by injuries...excellent start with 6/10 to be 4th in the league...two close defeats in that too to Saints and Warrington. Injuries then struck and no-one can say they didn’t have an impact...

4th - Despite the feeling amongst many I don’t think our start to the season was the worst by any means...pre lockdown we were 2/5 and really unlucky (the width of a post) against Hull from being 3/5...in old times we’d have been 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses which in my eyes would have been an acceptable start to any season.

Since the restart things haven’t gone to plan but again there’s mitigating circumstances.

So overall 2 good, 2 not so but with reasons why.

The important thing will be recruitment though. As people say it’s going to be a disappointing season whether you like it or not but I don’t buy that if we changed coach and arguably won 1 or 2 more games, all of a sudden thousands more season tickets will be sold.

Times are going to be hard anyway so the way to attract people will be with quality signings, and the way to attract the floaters will be to get a good start like last season.

With offloading what looks like 3 or 4 of the bigger earners in the squad we may have a bit of room to make a few quality signings? I’ve no idea on the finances but to me that’s what will bring fans in...

Good post, utc, and I can't disagree with your season by season account of things, but the underlying point is why, for the last thirty or so games and at intervals prior to that, have a squad of basically good players been playing such poor , unimaginative rugby. The basic things that many punters on here have pointed out ie a) under performing forwards, b) flat attacking lines, c) very poor defence on the flanks and d) total lack of attacking ideas in the opponents twenty meter area all go unaddressed by the coaching staff. Why???

Sam Williams played for Canberra in the NSW cup competition until this competition was cancelled in March for the rest of 2020.

Believe he is contracted at the Raiders until the end of 2021.

Can’t honestly see how Sam Williams is going to shake things up at the club, whilst still playing behind a beaten pack .Said it before and I’ll say it again ,get the forwards sorted first ,bringing Sam over would be like sticking a plaster on a broken leg .These basics that I am talking about are taught to my 12 year old grandson on the field it’s not rocket science ,the forwards lay the platform for the backs to do their stuff .All of a sudden we’re going to fly a half back half way around the world and our problems are sorted .Now if it was josh papalii from the raiders then your talking ,but as much as I like Sam it’s forward power we need first as I see it .

It's not forward power it's forwards who are not passed it forward power we need

What?

Wax on wax off or some Confucius ?

I get it Legend.
We do need a refresh I think.
We can have an older head but once it gets too many it starts to work against you.

The young guns need to take that step but they tend to be back rowers for us. Front row is in a bit of disarray.

The whole big pack v organising/kicking half back debate is all a bit chicken & egg really as you need a decent organiser to take your pack in the right direction and you need the kicker to build & maintain pressure but in both respects you need the forwards to enforce that.

I actually think our pack isn't the worst in the league and that given our fair share of possession we can hold our own so I'd just edge towards getting a half first in this situation...but I do agree your forwards need to lay the foundation and they haven't done that since returning after lockdown.

Sam Williams is a good shout and one I've been echoing amongst close mates...then again I've also been calling for Benji and any other NRL half that isn't getting a game...eg Matt Burton at the Panthers

Well I think HKR's win tonight shows Tony Smith's got them going in the right direction and playing some good stuff into the bargain.
He hasn't got half the quality of players we have but he knows what he's doing.

Ditto for Ian Watson....everyone else is scoring tries for fun !!

Would say Watson even more so, as he's constantly having to balance the books and bring players in and get them to gel.
Watson is a quality coach.

Well, just the two points difference between us and HKR now. Guess that following our next game we'll be on the bottom.

Up there with the best for me, surprised top clubs aren't after him.
Much improved in his dealing with the media too.

All those that want Chester to stay remember the money we receive from Sky drops the lower down the league you are. The question is can we afford to keep Chester any longer.

I think it showed up the debate of do forwards or a half back come first...HKR's pack is no better than ours on paper but the work of an unfit Jordan Abdul, even tho he looked a few pounds over his fighting weight, was tremendous & better than anything our halves have managed this season...the one player we should've signed from London??...you decide...

So who do we suggest to get in the forward pack who we may be able to afford who is a bit nasty only one i reckon is probably ben flower at wigan if his contract has fallen through at wolfpack may be looking around personally i dont like him but hes certainly got a vicious streak in him that might charge up our other forwards

Not sure an increasingly injury prone 33 year old is necessarily the way we should be heading. We need some younger blood in the front row from somewhere.

Definitely not for me, Flower should never have played a game of RL again after the grand final incident .

he was totally outplayed tonight and as has been said at 33 we dont need another dads army member.

HKR perf just shows what can be achieved with a good coach & the right attitude from players, opposite of what stale Chester and his unmotivated bunch are offering.

Was Smith a good coach last week because he was on a long losing streak then.

It does show that previous form does not dictate form forever. We can turn it around if we stick at it.