Without wanting to upset anyone I do consider Wakefield to be punching above their weight. AFAIK they're some way off the salary cap, so to have had the seasons they've had recently is a good achievement. From this distance Michael Carter seems to have done a very good job in righting the ship and running them along sustainable lines.

That's impressive from Wakey, should make for a decent atmosphere and a good day. Looking forward to it.

A good test for the Broncos.

That is all true but that is not my definition of punching above your weight. If you want an example of that then just look at yourselves, now that's punching above your weight! In our case it's just good budgeting and good planning. Wakefield are actually quite a well supported club with a lot of good sponsors, we are only really held back by a poor stadium, which limits revenue and puts some potential fans off.

As for on the pitch then I don't think you've truly grasped RL geography and I don't mean that in an insulting way to yourself. We are smack bang in the middle of what IMO is THE RL hotbed. We have never had a shortage of players just a totally inability to develop them properly. Unlike yourselves we have no excuse for not producing top players, they are quite literally on every street corner, certainly when compared to yourselves.

And if we can't produce a certain player ourselves then we are surrounded by clubs who can and despite the ramshackle look of the club. attracting most most of them isn't all that difficult - again compared to yourselves and a few other clubs.

I know it's a cliche but Wakefield are a sleeping giant and have been since the 1970's and that is almost totally due to our own innate ability to shoot ourselves in the foot time and time again.

Sad thing is that we didn't actually need a genius or a sugar daddy to move us back up, just someone competent. MC is just such a man, not especially rich, no previous experience in the game, not even from Wakefield but in fact a football fan from Hull!

As far as I'm concerned we are still not punching to our weight, Wakefield is a positive garden of Eden where RL is concerned, with a large group of people not needing to be converted to the game but just needing to be tempted back.

If a few more kids make the grade and if we get to a final and above all if we sort BV once and for all then I reckon we'll go like the clappers. Its all there it just needs unlocking.

PS: Losing to you would from bitter experience be for my clubs typical response to my up-beat reply

PPS: I'd take the salary cap thing with a pinch of salt - there are a lot of players on some very long contracts at Wakefield and with that comes it's own rewards if you know what I mean

Vastman. You have it spot on! Reckon wakey are going about things the right way, slow build up rather than spending beyond what’s sensible. What is disappointing is as you say you have RL fans out there that are already RL fans but need tempting back! Sadly that’s where Sky tv games hurt clubs! We want more TV exposure but that can result in fans taking the easy and cheaper option of sitting on the sofa.
Stadium! Moving to a better purpose built facility does not always work, salford are testimony to that.
As for london! I certainly hope we can punch above our weight this season we need too, last season surprised me, but goes to show what a bit of confidence and a good team mentality can produce, were we punching above our weight? Actually don’t think so in the end.

London face a number of problems! We don’t have those community club embedded in the area that produce the number of players that you have. And tempting established players in is very very hard in comparison to a club close to home for most UK RL players, commute over the Pennines or move
Fans wise! The south IMO has thousands of ex pat northerners with RL ties, unlike you, where your stay at home fans are actually wakey fans, we are trying to convince, Leeds, wigan, Saints , wire fans living down here to come and watch what is actually a rival team, so even harder to get em in.
Getting people to convert to a new sport! Even harder.

Guardian have you down for 5th spot this year with us 12th, don’t think they will be far off, would like to see you top half of the table, but just hope first game cobwebs get to you more than us and we take the points.
If we start well, it should be a decent game and reckon we might take it.
If your lot score a couple early on we could get blown away.

We always take a good support first game of season.

I got some extra tickets last week (Tuesday 22nd) and the guy behind the counter told me my purchase was ticket 749. Would expect quite a few more since then, unless >49 have asked for their money back following Pauli Pauli's injury.

Who was your reliable source?

Sorry to disappoint you, but I won’t be naming anyone, I mentioned that a forum poster had mentioned 800 tickets sold, my reliable source just smiled and told me *just under 700*.
I am confident that number will rise before game day, and whatever the number of fans we take to away games we are always Loud and Proud.

I mentioned 800 as when I went to buy my ticket from the club shop, I asked the guy at the counter how many we had sold and he told me we had sold just under 800

Always disappointed when so called Wakefield fans use unnamed sources to quote negativity.

If it helps I bought 5 from London when first released I am sure othef Wakey fans will have done the same.

It's Trinity18 with another account.

No Morgan for whatever reason. Must be an injury.
And no Adebiyi either which is a bit of a surprise imo.

Welcome back to Super League. Not going well, 12-0 down after 10 minutes.

Keep saying it but we have not invested enough in the squad. Still time to get this back but having just shipped another try (6-16) its going to be tough. Cant see this making people want to return!!!

Seems that every time they get near our line they score.