Most likely, we've broken the rules and approached Johnson without Wakefield's permission. They have to give permission in writing, so they're hardly going to kick up a fuss about it if we can just show the documentation.
There have been rumours on here since march/april time saying that we wanted him for next year, so it's not exactly been a secret.

However, is it really a big deal? No. Everyone has known that this has gone on for a long time - so much so that the deadline is being brought forwards next year as it's fairly redundant at the moment. In addition, contracts have rarely meant much in recent seasons. If a player wants to leave badly enough, they're going to leave. We've seen this ourselves on plenty of occasions - McKinnon, Carvell, etc. If Johnson thought that he could get to a better club and get gametime, he's going to go for it.

I stand corrected, every time mcrae has spoken about signings he has always said talking to agents is fine. Maybe its a loophole that clubs have invented to benefit themselves. Im sure we arent the first and wont be the last club to do this though

Talking to agents [iis[/i fine as long as it's kept to generalities and not specifics. This is almost certainly what McRae is referring to.

Cheers.

And the HDM reckoned Amor was 3rd choice behind Paea and Elima, so that would make Johnson 4th?

Thank god Rule and Plummer have left you.

Must be true if the hull daily fail said so



I heard we was after johnson well before rumoured links to amor and elima .

Hope for Hulls sake all these signings pay dividends next season. You seem to be doing a Bradford in signing every Tom, Dick and Harry that becomes available and it seems a tad desperate. Gareth Ellis is a superb signing for you and will prove as good as Morley coming back to Warrington a few years ago.

Tom, Dick and Harry?

We needed a right centre, we signed one.
We needed a right winger, we signed one.
We needed two backrowers, we signed two.
We needed a half back, we signed one.
We need a half, prop and maybe a full back, I bet we sign them.

Clearly no strategy to our recruitment.

Shouldn't this thread be re-titled: "Wildcats [is[/ihit out"?

Why?

The attitude towards this illegal approach to Johnson is in stark contrast to the wailing and gnashing of teeth that took place on here when Briscoe jr was spirited away.

Just a thought.

You might have a point if your Chairman and Head Coach had colluded with us to facilitate his departure. Otherwise not so much.

That's a bold allegation; the fact remains, there are rules about when an approach can be made - you can't very well condemn one but defend another, unless you're particularly brazen in your use of double-standards.

I haven't made an allegation. Neither have I defended anything. I've yet to see any evidence of anything that needs to be defended for a start.

Quote ="Mild Rover"This is the rule, and the bits in red indicate to me that you should not be speaking with agents. Technically/in theory. APPROACHES TO/BY PLAYERS C1:3:2 (a) A Club or Licensed Agent or other person acting on a Club's behalf shall not approach any Contract Player or Conditional Contract Player directly =#FF0000or indirectly (which shall include statements made to the media) until 1st September prior to the date upon which the Player's contract is due to expire without receiving the prior written consent of the Club to whom the Player is contracted and such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Where such consent is withheld the Club wishing to make the approach may appeal to the RFL who shall be the final arbitrator. Both clubs shall have the opportunity to make submissions to the RFL in the timescale set by the RFL. From 1st September prior to the expiry of his current contract any Club shall be entitled to enter into a contract with such Player subject to the compensation rules set out in these Operational Rules. (b) A Contract Player or a Conditional Contract Player =#FF0000or anyone acting on his behalf shall not be entitled to approach another Club (the "Contacted Club"icon_wink.gif until 1st September prior to the expiry of his current contract but the Contacted Club shall not respond in any way whether directly or indirectly (which shall include statements made to the media) without first receiving the consent of such Player's Club and such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Where such consent is withheld the Club wishing to make the approach may appeal to the RFL who shall be the final arbitrator. Both clubs shall have the opportunity to make submissions to the RFL in the timescale set by the RFL. From 1st September prior to the expiry of his current contract a Player shall be entitled to enter into a contract with a Club subject to the compensation rules set out in these Operational Rules. www.therfl.co.uk/~rflmedia/docs/ ... on%20C.pdf edit: prior to the deadline, without permission, etc, etc.'" Rules are rules and you appear to have broken them & there should be repercussions whatever they may be . Long term the rules (amongst other things) help prevent the bigger clubs poaching players & squeezing the smaller clubs completely out of the SL game & it'll affect the quality of the competition long term if you're allowed to get away with it. Abuse from Hullites does not add to the discussion on the forum either.

Quote ="Mild Rover"This is the rule, and the bits in red indicate to me that you should not be speaking with agents. Technically/in theory. APPROACHES TO/BY PLAYERS C1:3:2 (a) A Club or Licensed Agent or other person acting on a Club's behalf shall not approach any Contract Player or Conditional Contract Player directly =#FF0000or indirectly (which shall include statements made to the media) until 1st September prior to the date upon which the Player's contract is due to expire without receiving the prior written consent of the Club to whom the Player is contracted and such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Where such consent is withheld the Club wishing to make the approach may appeal to the RFL who shall be the final arbitrator. Both clubs shall have the opportunity to make submissions to the RFL in the timescale set by the RFL. From 1st September prior to the expiry of his current contract any Club shall be entitled to enter into a contract with such Player subject to the compensation rules set out in these Operational Rules. (b) A Contract Player or a Conditional Contract Player =#FF0000or anyone acting on his behalf shall not be entitled to approach another Club (the "Contacted Club"icon_wink.gif until 1st September prior to the expiry of his current contract but the Contacted Club shall not respond in any way whether directly or indirectly (which shall include statements made to the media) without first receiving the consent of such Player's Club and such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Where such consent is withheld the Club wishing to make the approach may appeal to the RFL who shall be the final arbitrator. Both clubs shall have the opportunity to make submissions to the RFL in the timescale set by the RFL. From 1st September prior to the expiry of his current contract a Player shall be entitled to enter into a contract with a Club subject to the compensation rules set out in these Operational Rules. www.therfl.co.uk/~rflmedia/docs/ ... on%20C.pdf edit: prior to the deadline, without permission, etc, etc.'" Rules are rules and you appear to have broken them & there should be repercussions whatever they may be . Long term the rules (amongst other things) help prevent the bigger clubs poaching players & squeezing the smaller clubs completely out of the SL game & it'll affect the quality of the competition long term if you're allowed to get away with it. Abuse from Hullites does not add to the discussion on the forum either.

So far absolutely no evidence whatsoever has been presented to back up the accusations in the paper. None. And McRae tonight flatly denied that the paper story was true.

Good luck to the lad hes not a bad player but wont break any records and think he knew he was down the list as far as a starting spot at Wakey.I aint going to stamp and jump up and down because he has gone like Briscoe nor mention the Gateshead merger...............damn and blast there I go getting on my high horse again.

Don't worry pal even when you're on your high horse we're still looking down on you.

Briscoe wasn't about when he was approached, though, that's where you're going wrong. In fact it was the back end of September when he signed for Leeds. The major problem was with the previous administration making an offer of less than his existing contract which triggers the right for under 22 year olds to leave without a fee, and allegedly making the Leeds hierarchy all too aware of the situation.

Evidence presented to who? You!

Do you really think Wakefield Trinity are going to come on RLFans and put their case to you!

Well McRae would wouldn't he, he's not going to flat out admit it, he's going to go to the RFL and plead innocence, ignorance or some other mitigating factor in order to lessen the penalty.

Evidence presented anywhere. All there's been at the moment is someone mouthing off to the local rag, which Wakey fans have swallowed whole. You won't have heard McRae on the radio tonight but he didn't sound like someone spinning a tale - in fact he sounded pretty angry about the accusation.

I don't know if anything untoward has gone on and neither do you. The difference is that one of us has made up their mind before finding out.

How do you know?

So you beleive Wakefields Chief Executive would just flat out make this up and then, knowing he'd fabricated the whole thing and had no evidence to back up his accusation, he would go to the media with it?

McRaes posturing, nothing more nothing less.

Well....you have a habit of lieing dont you.