I don't believe him. Mind games, just like the Godinet stunt the last time we played them.

Kevin Locke is back in NZ according to the Wakey board.

Thats a decent lineup you've listed there but still not quite good enough to win.

This just a bit more than an injury stunt.

If he's not in the country then fair enough, but leaving key players out of one of the most important fixtures your club has played in recent years, all for an internal investigation? It seems a bit much imo. You play the game, secure the club's future, and then sort out the issues afterwards.

I've heard Kevin Locke is coming back from New Zealand for this match. Tim Smiths picking him up from the airport in Brian Smiths car

Tim Smith is a little more serious than just for an internal investigation apparently it's court Wednesday for him.

Having heard what happened with Tim Smith he is needing a bit of help with issues and I sincerely hope he gets the help needed

Well, yes and I gave solid reasons why that might have been the case, like sitting on their collective 'arrisses, with no reserve grade to occupy their thoughts, for most of the season. The bottom line is that it's part of Lowesy's remit to manage his troops and that includes their mental fitness to take part in games. This isn't a tirade against Jimmy Lowes, as I said earlier, he's done [iexactly[/i what he was tasked to do - get us into the 'big one' next weekend, but it's obvious that some of those squad members who took part against Fax, apart from not being 'match fit', looked 'disaffected' and that sort of attitude comes from the top.

It's not his fault that there is no 'reserve grade' and we certainly couldn't loan out the lot of them but they could have been used intermittently through the season and not just left out. They could have been used to give a break to the regulars a bit more often and made to feel wanted, and whatever the truth is don't know, but some of them didn't look as if they cared over much.
.

There's only one area where I believe the balance between resting and nurturing was wrong this year and that's hooker. AOB deserved a break and Halafihi deserved to be eased in.

But what if Lowes felt that weakening his team by rotating with some of these was too much of a risk to take? As appears to be the case? I should imagine he was picking squads to finish as near top and be ready for the playoffs. And I don't buy this "disaffected" thing. if youare not happy then leave. If your agent can't get you a gig then when you get your chance, why would you play like a disinterested twot, surely you would be putting yourself in the shop window?

But don't ask my why they played like that. I don't understand it, any more than I do when our first team gives up and ships another 50

If that was Lowesy's opinion then it's his right, in fact his duty, to do that. He's the boss and he's hired and fired on that basis. I though, don't have to agree it was the best policy. That's the beauty of being a fan - my team selections never get put to the test, so were always correct!!

As for the disaffected thing, well, yeah you'd think so but I don't have any other explanation as to why so many seemed unbothered by being drubbed.

It could well be that they knew they weren't going to be involved this weekend no matter how they played even if they had a blinder.

As a man being paid a full-time wage for playing, that'd be a bit like committing job suicide wouldn't it?

If it was me, then the way to test that theory is to bust a gut and have a blinder. If after that you still don't make the squad - THEN complain. i reckon not many have played so well that many times, that at least a place in the squad or two wasn't up for grabs for anyone who played a blinder.

But as it is, Lowes doesn't have that problem!

Well there are many incidences of mangers and coaches leaving out players for the game before a big final and saying something along the lines of, "it gives players a chance to play their way into the side", but if you're one of those brought in, you[i know[/i full well that it's largely disingenuous claptrap.

The puzzle is, as FA points out, it makes little sense for the future prospects of those players for them [inot[/i to give their all, since they are clearly on the outer and must realise they won't get another club by looking as though they couldn't care less. I know what I saw last Saturday, and Jimmy Lowes summed it up pretty well, but it still doesn't make any sense.