Speaking with a Trinity fan at the pub last night.

He told me this is the best Wakfield squad and preparation the club has ever had in the SL era. Coach, Director of Rugby, new signings and squad depth he says he can't remember ever being so confident going into a season.

How right was he?

Well I sincerely hope he's right - not like belly to be that positive

I agree that in terms of behind the scenes the club is being run as well as I can remember (not a difficult task to be fair) we seem to be cutting our cloth and putting out a decent side. Mr Carter deserves a massive pat on the back and a few pints at least.

Backroom staff? Well, Chester has still got a bit to prove for me, we had a great run last year but petered out quite tamely in the end. Partly injuries, but also a sense of taking our foot off the gas once we had secured top 8 finish.

I reckon Kear will be a great addition, very experienced, knows the club, worked miracles with Batley last year and a good eye for a signing.

As for the playing staff - Our backline looks as strong has it has since 2006 imo. If Johnstone and Jowitt can build on their impressive seasons last year and Caton-Brown and BJB can deliver, we look formidable in that area.

Halves - now we have 3! and arguably a significant improvement with Sam Williams coming in. The competition won't hurt either as Miller drifted in and out of form and good to have options to mix it up.

Pack - This is potentially our achilles heel unfortunately. We have got Fifita back, and England who we know can do the business. But Keegan Hirst is untested at this level, Kirmo is another year older and we have Sio and Wood to cover Hooker. Would really like to see another quality prop added if possible, having lost Scruton and Simon.

All in all I'm quite optimistic, but as usual with Wakey, we are gonna need to hit our potential fairly regularly to make any inroads in the league!

As a whole team, I'd say it is certainly the best team we've put out in a long time. Added to that an improvement in coaching staff and we could be on to a winner. There's a good mixture between youth and experience, as well as home grown and imported talent. The biggest thing for me though is the optimism coming from the club, hopefully this will improve their mental strength which I think has been the biggest failing in recent years

Touch unfair on the pack which clearly isn't complete. Clearly Allgood is on his way unless something really unexpected happens and he is a big unit also Arona and Ashurst are fine players. I'd say the pack is already bigger and stronger than last year though Simon needs replacing.

For me the only real loss is Moore who I can't see us replacing with anyone near as good. I also thing both Wood and Finn are halfbacks who can play as hookers which is ok but not ideal.

What really matter is that the final line up develops a team spirit and a understanding and a bit of ticker and we won't know that until we are three or four games into the season. This is why I tend to take expert pre season predictions with a pinch of salt.

Responding to the initial post I always thought that Shane Mcnally's squad that reached the play offs was the best Trin team I'd seen in the last 30 years, but always felt that JK's team which lost Tronc, Brough & Newton all in the early part of the season could've gone onto big things!

Yes potentially we are looking good and am quietly optimistic about 2017.

Hard to say for definate as we still have a couple of players to come in.

Hopefully with a bit of depth in the backs, halves and pack there could be times in 2017 where we could rotate the squad to avoid fatigue. Another reason why I would prefer to bring in a specialist hooker rather than Finn, Sio and Wood filling in.

When was the last time we could say that about our squad.

Off the field things appear to be going quite well for us.

We are just lacking one thing, stability home wise

Hard to beat the 2004 Squad, complete Joy to watch and incredibly difficult to beat at BV (went from early June to Oct unbeaten at home)

The Domic/Solomona combo was a dream to watch.

Easily my fave SL season.

Agree. We don't have anyone to touch Solomona or Domic individually, but I would say our back line has great potential to be a lethal attacking force.
We do need at least two props in my opinion - there must surely be a good reason why they are not in place already.

Although I totally agree that the 2004 team was the best SL team (imo the best I've seen in 30 years of supporting) I don't however agree about Domic and Solomona who show more than any other signings we've ever made what a gamble it can be. I have no reason to not believe that for example Fifita wont find his inner Andrew or that Johnstone won't move on to being the most lethal winger in the game which IMHO would make them just as special as Domic and even Solomona all be it in different ways.

Solomona was a rising star 18 month previous to joining us then his form dipped dramatically and he was playing reserve grade by late 2003. The main reason we got him was because everyone else had forgotten about him. Though it raised eyebrows most considered him a maverick and a big risk.

Domic was considered a bit of a sick note when he left Warrington and was considered an OK signing at best.

Along with a virtualy unknown JD these signings tranformed what was mainly the 2003 team who were basically a poor (2nd from bottom) outfit into a machine. Added to this we had a one season wonder coach as opposed to a one season wonder team which IMO is why we never kicked on.

The 2004 team wasn't just great to watch it gives you hope as to just how quickly things can change for the better and the worse which isn't so good. Wakefield are like a number of SL teams, it wouldn't take much to turn it around. Despite Belly's Cas obsession they are exactly the same only difference is that they risk going the other way now. Good teams at clubs like ours are very short lived and soon get picked over if the momentumn starts to fade even momentarily.

Sam Williams, Catton-Brown, Hirst, Woods etc may all turn out to be inspired but they may not and the 2004 team proves that. Anyone who was around in 2004 and states that they knew that would be a great team is a liar, we all expected another relegation battle. So now we do the only thing as fans we can do, support and encourage the lads and cross our fingers.

I think that on Paper the squad at the start of the 2010 season was the best we have had, I really do think that team could have gone places. It was such a shame that arguably the 3 best players left before we even got to May for a variety of reasons.

That 2004 squad really gave us some good stuff to watch. If there's one game I enjoy repeatedly watching its the play off win at Hull. Was it three of our guys Kirkpatrick sin-binned early doors? Even young Mark Field and Rob Spicer looked the part and pulled their weight.
Then so near in the next game at Wigan.

Wonder how Field compares with Jowitt? McNally flogged him to death in a much weaker side the following season.

Big difference is that Jowitt is a F/B and wants to play there. Field was a Centre and was always uncomfortable in the F/B roll. What happened to Field was really sad, should of had a much long career were it not for one mans pig headed attitude.

Maybe a little unfair on the pack, but we were well beaten there a few times last year. I remain to be convinced by Allgood myself, but obviously hoping to be wrong.

None of the pack are bad players,but I just think it's a weak spot compared to the rest of the team. Fifita has a lot on his shoulders at the moment.

Squad coming together well 1 to 5 strong pack in general looking ok lets hope Danny has more luck on the injury front
The big problem for me is 1/ Hooker if we lose Moore and 2/ half back Finn for me has a rugby brain and is an excellent kicker but lacks the pace to play in SL Powell saw that and let him go
Miller up to now is far too inconsistent Wood will provide excellent cover at 7 or 9 I see miller and Williams starting but ideally we are lacking a quality half back problem being not many about