For the Hull game - assuming that its on. Ashurst and Kirke out. Wonder if the order is significant for starting line uop

Craig Hall

Chris Riley
Dean Collis
Reece Lyne
Richard Owen

Jacob Miller
Tim Smith

Nick Scruton
Paul McShane
Mickael Simon
Danny Kirmond
Danny Washbrook
Daniel Smith

Scott Anderson
Pita Godinet
Lopini Paea
Matt Ryan
Jarrod Sammut
Tom Johnstone
Ali Lauitiiti
Jon Molloy
Chris Annakin

I think we will be putting out a largely second string side. We have a few guys with knocks who won't be risked (exception may be Ellis since it's his game), and most of the first team have played twice already and may well be wrapped up in cotton wool.

Thanks that will encourage spectators.

Lost all interest in Gareth Ellis when he finally decided he wanted to play for Leeds instead of us, so I could not give a stuff what side they put out, When I see BLM I'll give him my entrance money for a worthy cause like Crigg all blacks new changing rooms.

When I say second string I don't mean that it will be the under 19s or anything, but Rankin, Watts and Ellis all have injuries and I reckon a few key players will be rested.

If I was to guess a team:

Shaul
Lancaster
Sa
Michaels
Talanoa
Abdull
Sneyd
Bowden
Cunningham
Green
Whiting
Hadley
Westerman

Then a bench of 7 or 8 fringe players.

You can hardly play Ellis for wanting to move to Leeds and looking how his career has gone, it looks like a very justified decision, I bit like Tom Briscoe leaving us for Leeds.

The question should be, did he give his all when he played in a Wakey shirt?

FWIW I think we will play a pretty strong squad barring injuries, it will be really disappointing if Ellis cannot play.

seems pretty harsh and you could hardly blame the lad

Nobody can blame anyone for wanting to "better" themselves but, once the rumour surfaced that he may be going to Leeds, it was like one of those 80's hairspray adverts.
Will he or wont he, in the end the situation was finally sorted in the off season and we lost one of our best prospects and club captain, which certainly damaged the club.

As I said, you cant blame the guy, but it didn't do Wakefield any good.

Ellis was superb for Wakey and led by example.
He was always going to move to bigger and better things as has been said.
And when Leeds weren't big enough, he went to the NRL and was superb there also.
I have nothing but praise for Ellis, he's been there and done it, whilst some other 'top' players have stopped in the comfort zone.
The biggest thing that hurt Wakey, was getting money for Ellis, instead of a couple of players from Leeds.
We had money but no one to spend it on until Julian O'Neill smelt the money from France and the rest is history.

Ditto
He gave everything while at Wakefield (and probably a few other people's share too).
He didn't do the dirty on us in anyway imho.

I don't blame Ellis for going to Leeds, or for going to Oz and fwiw coming back to Hull fc for that matter, we all know how short a career it can be in what is a brutal sport, where the rewards are better for some than others, having said that some more than others act in a dignified and professional manner when changing clubs', unfortunately imo Mr Ellis did not cover himself in too much glory with his I might or I might not attitude before finally deciding to leave the club which did not impress me too much. HTH
Fwiw he played around hundred or so games for us, so the answer to your question is that he must have given his all for the club as you would have expected him to as you would every other player to do so as well.

[,[i[u unfortunately imo Mr Ellis did not cover himself in too much glory with his I might or I might not attitude before finally deciding to leave the club [/u[/i

A young lad torn between a better job with better prospects or staying with his mates (and earning less), no wonder it took him some time to decide his future. He won't be the first in Rugby League or any other walk of life faced with that decision.

A good player and a decent bloke.

[,:zj2lzcrm[i:zj2lzcrm[u:zj2lzcrm unfortunately imo Mr Ellis did not cover himself in too much glory with his I might or I might not attitude before finally deciding to leave the club [/u:zj2lzcrm[/i:zj2lzcrm:zj2lzcrm

:zj2lzcrm[u:zj2lzcrmA young lad torn between a better job with better prospects or staying with his mates (and earning less), no wonder it took him some time to decide his future. He won't be the first in Rugby League or any other walk of life faced with that decision.[/u:zj2lzcrm

That's another way of putting it, however I'm glad you agree, and I agree with you about him being a good player.

www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news ... -wakefield?

www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news ... -wakefield?

I think I'm led to believe he went to Leeds on less money,I'm sure somebody will clarify this

It is what I have always believed, mainly due to the fact that the offer was often described as the best ever made to a Wakefield player. I am glad in a way that he went to leeds, the club could not afford that size of contract and we would have sunk much earlier IMO

Can't fault GE for his performance, commitment or attitude while wearing a Trinity Jersey.

I think you will find it was more to do with his agent using his contract to his client's advantage. He had one year left and he wanted to go to Leeds therefore the club faced the option of either accepting their offer or he stayed for the final year and then leave with the club getting nothing. We could not afford the latter so to Leeds he went.

This does not detract from the great servant he was for the club and he deserved the success the move to Leeds allowed him but let's not mistake manoeuvring with loyalty to his mates etc.

I was heavily involved at that club at this point and even though it's along time ago it went like this as far as I recall.

Gareth was hot property and despite us having a great season speculation was rife he would leave us.

The club made Gareth the biggest offer to a player we had ever made. He didn't refuse it he decided to wait till he was a free agent (smart boy). He did however clearly state he would honour his contract to the end at which point he would consider all offers including ours.

Now the dilemma!

Do we keep him an extra 6 month at which point he has no value or do we sell whilst we still can. As Gareth wouldn't commit which I think is the bit that annoys Chissitt (not bothered myself) we were forced to make a choice. Do we fight it out in the open market for a VERY wanted player or do we cut and run - probably wisely we did the latter, just because our offer was bigger than what Leeds allegedly/eventually paid him does not mean it would have stayed that way or been trumped by someone else.

The two clubs really in the running were Leeds and Bradford. We preferred Bradford because it was cash and players, Leeds if I recall was purely cash which was topped up after negotiations with Christmas friendlies. Jaimie Langely famously wouldn't demean his magnificent self to play for us and wouldn't be part of the swap so Leeds won.

Don't think Gareth put a foot wrong and played it fair but tough.

FWIW much as I liked Ted if we had had a more dynamic CEO at the time we may have just kept him by signing him before his contract ended but Ted was a wheeler dealer and he just couldn't resist sadly.

The only thing that bothered me about it was the timing. IIRC it didn't go through until the very end of december which given the deal was cash only left us nowhere to go player wise, Julian O'Neill effectively becoming his replacement which was a bit of a disaster. Off the back of a successful season in 2004 we ended up with a disappointing campaign and all the momentum was lost.

I enjoyed watching him play as much as the next fan, a talented player who always did his best for us,I don't know the man personally but I am more than happy to accept what people say that he's a decent bloke as well, neither do I have a problem with anybody leaving the club to further their career whether that be for financial gain alone or to win trophies' as well, disappointed yes bitter not at all lets face it at our club better players did it before and after him and sadly I can't see the trend reversing.
Admittedly it did not sit right with me at the time but it's water under the bridge really for me, last year I gave generously to the Andy Raleigh testimonial, why! because he was a Wakey player Ellis isn't and has not been for a number of years, he played more games for Leeds than us and if I was cynical I could ask why his testimonial isn't against them. As far as I'm concerned once players', coaches have gone they've gone, I don't normally go to friendlies unless it benefits the club which in this case it doesn't it goes to the player and rightly or wrongly I would sooner give my bit to something more worth while which in this case is helping out an amateur rugby club struggling to raise funds which fwiw is where the likes of Ellis and co come from maybe I could have worded it better as it was not mean't to offend anybody.