Betham! One season man and not that great, not a patch on Poching or a fair few others. Again imo.

Well might as well

1. Blaymire (longevity)
2 Johnstone
3. JD
4. Lyne
5. BJB
6, Finn
7. Brough
8. Fifita
9. Aiton
10, P Jackson
11. Ashurst
12, Solomona
13. Ellis

So many, I could probably make another couple of lists I'd be pretty happy with.

As HB pairings go Rooney and Jefferies were probably our best pairing and Rooney was a superb kicker of the ball

Rooney couldn't defend, Brough could, Jefferies in-between, good partnership all the same.

1. Halpenny
2 Johnstone
3. Domic
4. Lyne
5. JD
6, Smith
7. Brough
8. Fifita
9. Aiton
10, Korkidas
11. Kirmond
12, Solomona
13. Ellis

Picked players on how good they were for Wakefield but also best in position.
So Solomona beat Ali as they played a similar position. Kirmond got in for his effectiveness on the right.

BJB was unlucky not to be in but JD needed to be in somewhere and I decided Ellis did enough at Wakefield to get a place.

Halfpenny in at fullback but I would have liked to include Grix. In attack we've never been better than when he was there. Less so in defence.
As Brough was covering GK, Smith was in over Rooney.

Somewhat surprised that, as far as I know, no one Has suggested Mathers at full back. Not the best full back we've had in my opinion, but he did have quite a spell as a decent attacking fb.

Considering his rep I thought he was pretty underwhelming at best and he nearly screwed us over with that ridiculous sending off.
Not for me

Its all to do with circumstances. If we are honest most of us would say Grix was the best FB, his stats say he was but nobody is mentioning him. Why? He was very popular on here until he committed the worst cock up in our SL history and I do think it was. Regardless of all the good stuff he did he will only be remembered for that and won’t be forgiven by many.

Mathers was an inconsistent player in an inconsistent team so opinions of him are, well, inconsistent.

Blaymire, consistent team and so on.

Truth is most of our FB’s have been ok but none were outstanding. We’ve been lucky to have no stinkers but as yet nobody of the standard of TJ, Kirmo or Ellis in their respective positions. Let’s hope Jowitt is the one.

Best in position but JD on the wing? I find that a strange one. I don’t think he’d get a game on the wing with the squad we have now.

I actually thought Smith was underrated for much of his first spell, and got a lot of unwarranted stick from fans. It wasn’t until he’d gone we realised what we had. His second spell was nothing special. The difference between the two for me was that whilst Smith had a fantastic rugby brain, he needed the players around him to play their part, whereas Brough could create for himself and win you a game on his own. I’ve always felt that fans have judged our half backs since by his standard, leaving us feeling let down because they’re not at that level.

1. Mathers
2. Johnstone
3. Tupou
4. Domic
5. BJB
6. Rooney
7. Brough
8. Amor
9. Aiton
10. Fifita
11. Lauittiiti
12. Solomona
13. JD

14. Kirmond
15. Ellis
16. Korkidas
17. Moore

There is no doubt Smith could play and as you say he had an outstanding RL brain but there was clearly an issue with the players temperament.

Ask yourself this, what was such a talented player doing in SL let alone at its least fashionable club? Imho it’s because he couldn’t handle expectations and the pressure that went with it. Exemplified by his alcoholic fuelled exit from the club.

Brough had his demons and he too could occasionally choke in big games but compared to Smith he was Mr Consistent. He was an all round far better player imo but what I feel is less up for debate is who had the heart and who didn’t.

Truth is imho that if anything Broughy was too headstrong and too gutsy too the point where teams that could really challenge steered clear of a player who would almost certainly clash with other star players. Loved to have seen how he’d have gone at a big club but in truth it probably wouldn’t have worked.

For Smith it definitely didn’t.

Completely agree. But those personality traits that somethimes got Brough into trouble are also what helped make him the player he was. Best half back in my time watching Wakefield.

Although he didn't stay for long, perhaps our best prop forward in the SL era was Shan Tronc.
He disappeared at the same time as Brough went to Huddersfield, never to return.

2010 was going well until Brough, Tronc and Newton all left for various reasons.

Indeed, cash was becoming a HUGE problem, hence parting with Brough.
Tronc looked like an ordinary kind of prop forward, maybe even a little light but, he certainly went forwards very, very effectively

Not strictly correct in Brough's case. For once we didn't actively try to sell Brough and matched Hudds all the way. However, Brough had other issues and Hudds agreed to make those go away shall we say. We couldn't compete with that. Have to say it was probably the best bit of money uncle Ken ever spent. Nothing illegal by the way, just an act of generosity we couldn't and to be fair wouldn't match.

If you don't believe me I can accept that but on this occasion, I know the whole story.

I heard the same with Brough, without going into detail I believe Hudds dug him out of a bit of a hole.

Yes, I remember some of the rumours.
Mind you, we went into admin in 2011 so, there will have been plenty going on.

Yeah that was a shame as I felt that season we had the makings of an excellent team which should’ve made a good impression in the play offs.

Has any mentioned Stosic yet, good prop.

I considered Mathers. I have to say our defence was strongest when he was at the back. Not because he was a good defender but because he could organise the defence in front of him. Grix was the same. I really hope Jowitt learns that part of the game. It will make him a superb player. Same for Hampshire to be honest.

FB role has changed during the time of Super League. Its no longer a defender or even a try scorer. Having someone like Coote or Hodgson (Hull Coach) who can manage the team is far more important now. You have to be fit too. Probably covers more ground than any other player, both on and off the ball.

Its a bit like the scenario in football. Its exciting to have a shot stopper, but its better to have a dominant character that marshals his back 4 to be able to defend well enough that he doesn't need to make as many saves.

I’m not sure I can agree on this one PopTart. I think we were on the end of some high scoring games in 2012 when Mathers was at the back and conceded less points in 2013 when Mathers missed a bit of the season and L.Smith played at FB. That’s not to say Mathers wasn’t good for us. I think his link up play with T.Smith and Sykes in attack was great. 2009 was statistically our best defensive season and it was Blaymire at the back then. I always felt most confident defensively when Blaymire was at the back. I’ve been watching some old games recently and you forget how good that 2009 team were.

I'm happy to concede that. It was my memory of Mathers but I didn't check the stars
I liked Blaymire.
I think I need to go watch some old games to validate like you.

In fairness though the forwards were more defensively sound in 2009 which probably helped Blaymire. Mathers was a good talker though and in his defence he might have been making the right calls. It could have been his mates letting him down.

Such a shame 2009 ended like it did with that poor performance in the play off game. I think we had a really balanced team that year and I felt confident of a win almost every week other than Saints/Leeds/Wigan. I think 2009 gets forgotten a fair bit but looking at the table that year it’s up there with 2017.

Although we’ve never really had any superstar FBs we have had pretty consistent FBs. I’m hoping Jowitt can really breakout this year as I think the potential is there.

Here’s to a good 2021! Hopefully some of the current squad lay claim to their place in the all time 13!

I can't remember who half the other teams' half backs even were, but I just remember feeling at the time like we had one of, if not the best scrum half in the league when we had Brough.