At the time Briscoe was a marginal upgrade on BJB and, in my mind, was an unnecessary expense and money that could have been put to better use.

He was in poor form for all of last season and has carried that form through to this year but it would seem that if you've had 'former glory' at Leeds that's enough to guarantee you a shirt these days.

I thought he was way better when bought, and has proved his worth since.
who wasn't poor last year?
and the fact he still gets picked is more due to the lack of alternatives than former glories

Exactly this & although i rate TJ very highly lets see him perform over a number of years first & whatever any Wakey fan says if/when the money is right he'll be off elsewhere providing he maintains his quality.

and lets hope its a few miles away. i'd have him in a heartbeat

An in form Briscoe still brings more to the than BJB, or Johnstone at the moment. If we had BJB or Johnstone in the team at the moment, that would only really mean we had one decent kick returner in the back 3. The ability to do the hard yards in the early part of the set is probably more important than scoring trys for the modern winger and they're aren't many better at that than an in form Briscoe.

He is still a great player. We just use our wingers as extra props at Leeds. We give them nothing other than speculative passes.

He would be on 10 tries plus at Cas.

Agree with this. I think Briscoe is a significant step up from BJB. As you say the beginnings of sets are so important in the modern game and having 3 good kick returners back in 2015 was a significant factor in our success in my opinion.

I agree with you Briscoe is out of form and has been playing outside an out of form Watkins. Watkins last night looked sharper on attack so Briscoe can look forward to increase opportunities which he will help he regain his form. Handley has serious defensive weaknesses that he has to correct before he becomes anything more than a reserve.

As I remember BJB left before we signed Briscoe as he wanted to play FB, but he was never going to claim jersey off Zak....mind if he had stayed who knows...He hoped to be playing FB at Salford only got few games in that position and again at Wakey....I read somewhere he was considering a move to France.

On Briscoe yes confidence not good at moment ,his defence his also suspect at moment...but hopefully he can recapture his past form...I always look at that CC final..ok Hull KR but you play what is in front of you...within those 5 tries he scored..3 of them were scored in 5 mins...I always use that as a benchmark that a result can change.

On Ash Handley ..yes had shocker in last match making errors but so did rest of squad.....Also not easy coming into squad at short notice when playing under different coaching system as Keinhorst has frequently stated in past....remember both the Saints matches.

We have just offloaded a decent winger ( pardon pun) to Wire) in Ryan Jones would have rather had him back ..

We are starting to get our creativity back....IF Briscoe doesn't gain his confidence back..then maybe consider but in big matches he normally delivers.

If dawdling back to retrieve that kick only to be pushed back in goal is him working hard, I'd hate to see him when he's idling. I can live with a player being short on confidence, it happens, but lack of focus or desire I find much harder to stomach.

If Johnstone truly has the ambition to match his apparent burgeoning talent then he will have to leave Wakefield. A pity for them but inevitable. A move to Cas may beckon but I'd like to see him at Leeds. Or will he be tempted to seek his fortune down under?

Wigan showed some interest in him. Not certain if trinity told them absolutely not, or the price tag was too much.

Union perhaps, especially if Clarke's brother's involved. Was Phil talking him up last night?

Interesting given the recent berating of Watkins that nobody is suggesting at least part of Briscoes woes are related to Watkins struggles.

To a certain degree a winger is only as good as their centre (yes I'm sure there are exceptions but you know what i mean).

Watkins in turn has struggled from a lack of decent ball and being somewhat knackered from diving the ball in.

If we can get better early ball to Watkins who in turn can draw a man and get good ball to Briscoe his confidence will return.

I understand the call for Handley but in truth I'm not sure what he could have done different to Briscoe over the last few weeks.

I was one who was quite pleased when Handley was selected ahead of Briscoe vs Cas but sadly I thought he let himself down (he wasn't the only one!).