Man of the match in his last game.

Just signed a 3 year deal with them, shows how highly they rate him and how rare controlling halves are to come by at the moment.

I find comments like this very strange.

If we had Sezer I would think we would have 2 or possibly more wins in SL this year.

Sezer is a top class half by SL standards and still a very good one in NRL terms which will probably see him back there next year.

I would have Hampshire at 9 , Miller at 6 Lino at 7 ,Westerman at 13 ,Jowitt at 1 Should have been tried out, nothing to lose .But no chance now, as injuries have played there parts Reason why. They have all got a kicking game,not the best in S L but better than depending on one man all the time .They are all fast enough to go through gaps,better than letting one man do it .They can put other players through gaps.better than depending on one man .Other teams know if you watch Lino you have won the math We have no plan B

I agree I have always liked him but like Fin people can’t seem to see past his body shape and lack of speed.

Andy Gregory was a stubby dwarf, Lewis looked like a double glazing salesman and many other great HB’s have lacked speed and athleticism but they all had a brain.

A RL brain will overcome any other shortcomings if combined with a desire to win.

That’s why you have to laugh at NGB4CAS and his midget props, if size or speed made players Chris Green or MCB would be legends.

TJ isn’t a star because he’s reasonably fast and amazingly athletic, he’s a star because he’s had the intelligence to learn how to get the best from them.

Give me brain over brawn any day though brawn has its place.

Scored all the tries and all the goals and a drop goal.
But he's not pulling up trees!

He's one of the best in the league and will easily slot back in to NRL when he chooses.

Andy Gregory was a little general.tough and skill full imop the best srcum English rugby league

Only problem with Greg was he couldn’t pass off one hand.

He had to turn his back to pass rather than use his weak hand.

Amazing brain though as Vasty has said, also good speed off the mark.

The lack of British qualified midfield generals these days is baffling given it is something we were once famed for.

Easy to explain for me.

Our coaches are obsessed with Aussies, with size and speed, having players who don’t cause trouble and are safe.

Above all they simply don’t give British players the chance to grow.

Danny Brough was bother from day one but he was one of the few who got a second chance. Even then he had a few years in the wilderness and then he had to pretend to be a 9 even though he was an obvious HB. Even now he doesn’t get the plaudits he deserves, an absolute talent.

No way would he get through now, he’d be screened out. Yet in Australia he’d be welcomed as yet another bad boy HB, flawed genius and much loved and hated by fans.

Until we start looking for RL players rather than athletes we will get nowhere. Surely for every ten athletes there has to be room for the diminutive skinny youth with a brain as sharp as a razor, even if he’s a bit of a gobs•ite

Still can’t believe how many Wakey fans failed to pick Brough in their SL dream team when we did that thread on here (think there was one on Wakey FB page too). Unfathomable

Ellis is the best all round player we have produced flowed by Westwood. We’ve actually produced a fair number of forwards but nearly all were utility and that’s fine.

We have only produced IMHO two specialist players of genuine world class potential. They are Danny Brough and Tom Johnstone.

I’m with you it baffles me, it was obvious with Brough from the start, ditto TJ.

We still have fans who don’t seem to realise what we had with Brough and what we still have (hopefully) in TJ.

We will not see a winger like TJ for another 20 years at least maybe never, just look at his try highlights video. Forget the injuries and stop looking for minor faults the kid is a genius at times, able to regularity score tries that virtually no other player on the planet can!

I don’t think we will ever have another Brough.

I’m afraid that if you didn’t play in the sixties or you’re older than Nigel Bell you just don’t register. Or at least not until you’ve been retired for 30 years.

It’s been a privilege to watch them both develop from youngsters.

Note, I’d prefer TJ as a son in law

Vastman you had to be there to see how great it was The 60 and 70 years were class .20+ thousands crowds at a lot of grounds .Brilliant player's at a lot of clubs .90+ thousands for the Challenge Cup final and seen 95 thousand at Bradford when Wigan bet Wakefield and also against Huddersfield.Grounds full to the brim when the Australia rugby team came on tour What a night it was when Wakefield bet the Ozzy team .T J is turning in to one of the best wingers I have seen at Wakefield ,But when you have watch such as K Slater , G Coitzer and a few more, he is not there yet .Same with Brough , Both are the best i have seen in S L at Wakefield by far ,but think that T J like Brough will have to move to a bigger club to show how good he is

But that's the point, I wasn't there and neither were most people these days, it's half a century ago. We can't keep comparing the player of today to that team, especially as many of those who do it weren't even there.

We have to create current hero's, true it's slim pickings these days but Brough and TJ are two and need to be far more appreciated.

I'll be bold now and sorry if it offends but TJ would have got into that sixties team had he been around as would Brough. True ability transcends generations. It's not the fault of either of these players that they are at or were at the club when we were not a club at the top of the sport. We need to acknowledge the difference between team brilliance and the brilliance of an individual.

Neil Fox was a brilliant player in a brilliant team. I'm not suggesting Brough was ever as good a player as Fox as to me Fox's record looks astonishing but the main difference is that Broughy was a brilliant player in a not so brilliant team.

Hope that makes sense.

Totally agree (not going to make a habit of this btw) don’t like it when they compare people from the 50/60s as the game is a lot different now and human evolution has moved on over a hundred fold. 11 stone props would be run over by wingers these days. Don’t get me wrong I have watched a lot of footage and could see a lot of skill in the games but judging games and players from way back doesn’t compare to the game now and needs to be kept separate.

Really, was that needed?

But yes it's a pointless comparison both in terms of players and probably even more so as clubs.

I suppose where players are concerned it's subjective to a degree but the way teams are run and managed these days it's a million miles away.

I mean I don't even think Ken Trail was full time was he? Let alone anyone else either in the coaching or admin.

It's so much harder these days where money doesn't just buy players it buys a full support system.

I wasn't there but I'd venture to say it was a more even playing filed in those days.

It was even in the sense that if Featherstone suddenly had a generation of big lads then their team would be good because people didn't travel and move like they used to, but money still talked if the big clubs wanted a player.

True but you at least got those one-season wonder teams before they got picked dry, not these days.

Vastman you got a good point about T J been good enough to play in the 60 ,70 ,But a lot of backs would have been good enough to play now. Agree you can not compare ,but the game then was built on skill ,now it's built on fittnes

Totally agree on the last bit. Clearly you have to be fit but full time should allow both fitness and skill, certainly at SL level. Something is wrong with the system imho.

Any type of news or rumours regarding our off contract players.
Will Chester be involved in recruitment and retaining. Most clubs seem to be expressing an interest in players available

Clubs have until 31st May to inform out of contract players if they intend to offer them a new one or not. I guess the decisions are currently being gone through one by one.

Thanks for that sacred.
So clubs can show an interest in players once the list comes out.
Wire Leeds Saints HKR Wigan Cas Shuds all seem to be active. We have only shown interest in one to date.
SALFORD Leigh and Hull seem to be playing a waiting game.
So very good players not retained at present.

It’s a bit weird this year. OOC players have been able to speak to other clubs since 1st May but the retain list is a month later at all the clubs request this year due to the later start of the season so they have enough time to make a judgement. The two are both usually the earlier date.

In addition to Milner i’ve also seen us linked to Lawler & Minikin but it seems they are both going to Cas. I listened to an interesting facebook live thing about clubs transfer activities by journalists Matt Shaw & Aaron Bower, two of the better ones around. They stated have ourselves and Leigh were finding extremely difficult to recruit our targets because of our perceived perilous position. Players will more likely take to a deal with a club more likely to be guaranteed to be in superleague next year. It’s pretty obvious that it would be the case but it shows just how much this poor start to the season and to some extent the previous season or two’s failures are hurting us.

Correct SC - it was always a struggle to recruit quality in the past....apart from when we've had a good year or a good few years.

It's a very valid point.

You pay them and they will come.