looking forward to the new season two weeks to go my concern is this year we will struggle again . Its very hard to start with a total new team and compete with teams with hardcore off class players who being together for a a lot off seasons .Were very similar to a team who have just being promoted and had to sign a virtually new team together when all the best players have all ready signed . this off cause is no fault of the present owners and coach and they should not be judged on this years league position . It could be two to three years before we come a top eight team again i think we need to be patient and ride this season out again. any thought s any body on this ?

I can see where you are coming from, And i totally agree it will take a couple of seasons for the squad to gel and grow to there full potential and hopefully start getting some consistancy in there results however i do think this new outfit should be alot more competetive against most sides this season than we were last season. Dont forget most of that squad was thrown together early last season when a few of our players were sold on to other teams by the administrator.You are right in what you say though, hopefully the team can start playing as a unit and get the ball rolling this season. Only time will tell

Like it or not most of the team from last season needed scraping, I think we kept the right players and discarded the ones that just aren't up to the job. I can't see how we could have recruited much better, if we had kept the likes of T.Lee, J.Smith, J.Vievers etc I feel we would be battling with Cas for the wooden spoon
This team has the chance to get into 8th position with some luck and hard work, bring on the 1st game !!!

Sometimes a team can shine in that kind of situation. They work harder on team work because they started well behind everyone else.
The trip to France must help.

It will be hard and I hope the fans stick it out when we are going through the tough patches but my hopes are the same as last year: Give us something to hope for and try your best. I think we will get some entertainment thrown in as well and I'm starting to se a few leaders in that team too. Surprisingly I think Wildie is a good leader. He may have always been that way but I didn't see it. Just picking up on what they are saying on Twitter and how they deal with each other.

I myself belive we will suprise a few this year ! we have recruited well like TrinityTF Said i would of been alot more dissapointed if we would have kept most of them below average players like J. Smith and Tommy Lee. Lets let our rugby do the talking !

Just hope people will give Agar a little time and not judge him too early on in the season if results do not quite go our way.
As I posted on another thread Morro talks highly of him.

Getting away from Humberside could prove to be the best move Agar has made.

I'm expecting/hoping a typical Wakefield season with some highs and some lows, although this year hopefully less lows and more highs!! I dont think there has been a better phrase for Wakefield than "Anything could happen in the next minuites!" never been a more apt statement for our time in super league..

Think back to 2004 when we kicked off with virtually a new side including new signings Solo,Semi Korki,JD, BJ, Col H, Domic et al. Approaching the end of the season that side had gelled to become the best Wakey team of the SL era playing some fantastic rugby.

Whilst we may not yet reach those levels it certainly provides some optimism for the season ahead.

This was my point to a different poster on another thread, we're is the precedent for for a new team taking a full or even two seasons to gel?

I think that's nonsense, of course there will be a period of time for familiarity to grow and combinations to become slick but we're talking 8-10 games including friendlies. During that time it's highly likely that the enthusiasm of being part of a new team will mask any lack of cohesion between the players.

In answer to the original question, i would be more concerned, following last season, if we had too few signings.
I take my hat off to every one of them that donned a red, white and blue shirt last season, knowing they were behind the blackball every game, but due to circumstances we were left in tatters, and i can only watch grit and determination on its own for so long.
Bring on a bit of skill i say!!!

Agree

I don't think we have too many new players. IMHO we don't have enough, especially PROPS....

Good pros will gel and unite quickly.

I'm very optimistic and quite looking forward to the season starting now.

Onwards & upwards.

That's not all true though - some of those, Korki, BJ and Semi amongst them, had been here the year before.

The big news in 2004 was the addition of Solo and Domic - a planned aim to bring in 2 top quality players to add to the squad which paid massive dividends for a year but ultimately made life hard for the club as we probably weren't ready to deal with the success!

If the club weren't ready to deal with the success of finishing sixth we must have been in serious trouble!

We were all part of it!

The consequence was that our players ratings went through the roof, other clubs came hunting them and we weren't generating enough income to deal with it.

In essence, we were better at the rugby side than we were at the business side.

The season before we had most of that squad bar Solo and Sid and we had a lousy season its going to take time and like it or not we are too light in the pack Catalan will be a real test today

I will be happy with 10th this season

Nice understatement there !

Best thing thats happened to us too

I worry for wakey tbh and i like wakefield as a club, but he is not a head coach

Doesnt assoicate himself with the young kids coming through, we was the only club in super league last year not to hand a debut to an academy player, his subs are to say the least baffling at times and the amount of times he leaves a player on the bench for 80 mins beggars belief,has no real pan b so think your going to be in for a tough season

Hi,

Don't take this the wrong way will you but we have heard all this 'splurge' a million times from various Hull fans over the last few months, its monotonous and boring.

Just sayin'.

Let us wait and see how the season pans out. We will judge at the end of the season how we feel he performed.

Disagree strongly my friend. The quality of signings is huge in my opinion. top6 finish is the minimum requirement from this group otherwise the coaching needs to be examined closely.

Must be a big stone they are all crawling out from YAWN