I wonder if anyone on the forum can help me out ?
When Andy Ellis left us last season to play for Wakey, I was under the impression that he was going to play a major part in your team. I was genuinely sorry to see him go, as he was one of our better players.
This weekend whilst watching your game at Widnes, I noticed he was not included in your squad.
Is he injured or just out of favour with Agar ?
Got to say, your team certainly showed some promise for the rest of the season.

He's featured in all the friendlies - I'm guessing his chance will come soon enough. For some reason which paid off Agar went with Wood to spell Aiton, however I would think Ellis will eventually take that spot. At the end of the day there are only 17 places but he was in the original 19. Some agenda driven posters on here will have it down as an Ellis/Agar tiff but I doubt it.

think he was unlucky to miss out myself. that said, i've not watched all the pre-season games, and of course agar will have been watching them train day in day out for months so hard to question his judgement on this too firmly. think aiton will be a real star for us, and wood is promising. ellis will probably get ahead of wood before long, decent tactic to motivate wood i'd suggest.

Very difficult to unseat Aiton - he's class. Ellis has looked good in the pre-season games though, so I'd expect to see him feature more going forward.

Personally, I was glad to see Wood get a game on Friday and after an early error, he played really well - he backs himself and seems prepared to try unpredictable options, a bit like Broughy.

Thanks for the input, glad to see that he is still in contention for a place.

I think Woods inclusion in place of Ellis was more down to the friendlies i think Wood played better that Ellis in the Batley friendly and managed to just get on the bench infront of him because of that, that said he did very well and looks like he can be like Burrows with the squeezing through and out of tackles be interesting to see how him, Ellis along with Wildie and Davey all get game time with the very impressive Ailton to learn off.

I think when we signed Ellis he was going to be 1st choice hooker for us, however the opportunity arose to sign Aiton who is an experienced International hooker and he is now 1st choice for us (and rightly so I would say).

Ellis will have to fight it out with Wood for the interchange spot and for this week Wood won, but as others have said I expect Ellis will get the nod for some games and Wood for others depending on the opposition. I guess he just needs to grab the chance when it comes and prove he deserves the spot ahead of Wood.

you know best.....bless

Nope I don't know anything that goes on in the team - difference is I don't pretend I do - you on the other hand as far as I can tell are a fake me old sugar lump.

If friday nights team was divided, lacking moral and without leadership then great, long may it continue.

Wood edged it with his performances pre-season, simple as that. Ellis will get his chance as I think overall he is a better hooker, but Wood isn't far behind and offers good spark off the bench. On softer ground than Friday maybe Ellis will get the nod.

He does have a point wwildcat48?

3 into 2 won't go so someone has to miss out unfortunately. As Vastman says he was in the 19 so maybe will get the nod next time. Who knows what Agar has up his sleeve, it'll be fascinating watching him pick the side in relation to the opposition and of course healthy competition for places in the side can only be good for the team.

Like what, I'm willing to listen.

He has a dodgy leg at the moment.

Andy Ellis got a dead leg agains`t Batley and it did not respond to treatment .

Having watched game again, i think its fair to say that any hooker would have looked good against that tired widnes defence late on. My major worry with aiton will be his ultra aggressive tackling getting him suspensions, thus wood and ellis might both get alot of game time.

So long as he tackles below the head and neck, it won't be a problem.

I hope your right but chances are he will get done at some stage this season.

Both Aiton and Southern are very aggressive tacklers, but I didn't see anything untoward - what do you mean exactly?

Didn't see anything wrong with his technique on Friday. Nothing wrong with aggression in the tackle.

Heard he had dead leg. It's a squad game after all.

Aiton and Bluey were awsome, aggressive but within the rules.

Aiton hit one big lump, i think it was pickersgill, third man in, in the ribs and he was bent over for about five minutes afterwards.
Good solid stuff!!!!

As a Wigan Fan I am not sure why Ellis wasn't in the team. Last season he was one of the best hookers in the league up with Roby, Ian Henderson, Danny Houghton, Michael Monaghan and Mike Mcllorum.

He deserves first team rugby in my opinion. I was shocked to not see him in the team, but that Aiton is a good one he played really well.

I think Wakefield will do well this season with the signings they have made and new coach. Good luck to you guys.

Cheers - it was because he had a dead leg. Nice to finally have some creativity in our ranks and a bit of depth in key positions.

I was pointing out to ww that you had a point not him/her/it had one.