For me this is the most important season in a very long time for Trinity.

Off the field the progression of the stadium is massive. Money is there, contractor in place who has been working on the pre construction phase of the stadium on and off for a few years which gives the build phase a very good opportunity to go well. Stadia are notorious for being problematic for contractors and loss makers. Hopefully the club will have procured the contractor on a basis that puts the bulk of the risk on them, so financial wranglings don’t delay or halt the development mid build. The club have appointed a very good project management team so I would assume this will have been dealt with.

The financial impact of the new facility is more often than not a massive shot in the arm for the clubs involved.

On the field I have to admit to being a little nervous.

There are so many unknowns throughout SL for 2022 in relation to new players, coaches, the ongoing impact of Covid etc.

Toulouse don’t appear to be doing a Leigh ie having a punt at SL survival and I think most other teams have also on paper improved from last year. Games are not won on paper I know and again that adds to the unknowns of how they settle in to their new clubs and different environment/coaching ethos.

I think we are less reliant on keeping key players on the field, in that I think we have a bit more depth of quality and versatility.

If the Boxing Day game is anything to go by we will be playing some expansive eyes up rugby and hopefully we can pick up that early win to ease the nerves of everyone at the club. The more confidence the players have the more the passes tend to stick.

If we do play to that high risk expansive style I think we will pick up some entertaining wins, but on days the passes don’t stick, which they won’t every week I think we may take a few big losses, I just hope it they come we all get behind the team and hold are nerve.

As others have said it’s very much for me a transitional year and much will friend on getting an early win to settle nerves and get the players and us fans to fully buy into WP and the rest of his coaching teams coaching philosophy.

I personally would be satisfied with survival again this year with a view to finally getting the foundations in place with the new facilities to start to see the club move to be mid table regulars from 2023 onwards in the short/middle term. Long term we’ve a great youth set up and with shrewd recruitment/retentions we could certainly step up to regular play off contenders.

There is a lot going right at the club and as I said this year I’d personally be satisfied with survival, 9th/10th I’d be pretty happy with.

I'm optomistic every season, and tend to end up disappointed.
This coming season I'm hoping for a good season and a good cup run.
I'm expecting great things from Lino and hopefully a good half back partnership will see us through to many a good result.

Interesting post.

I can’t honestly see any huge issues with the build to be honest.

The East stand offers no issues as far as I can see, it’s a flat surface with brilliant access. It’s a relatively small stand of a type that’s been built elsewhere umpteen times. It’s as close to off the shelf as you can find.

The North stand is more likely to throw up issue. We think we know what’s under there but you can’t be sure until you start. We know some of it is potentially toxic but you’d assume that’s been taken into account and is probably the reason it wasn’t flattened and replaced. All the same in it’s way the North stand will be transformed, it’s already the most popular part of the ground and now it will be more than fit for the purpose. I’ll no longer be embarrassed to take people on it.

This year on the pitch?

Let’s hope WP is a lucky coach. He has a potentially good team there but not much depth. By depth I don’t mean quality I mean resilience. If we lose a lot of experienced players we could be in bother but I suppose that applies to most teams. What Poching needs is for players like Fifita, TJ and Mason or a few others to hit real form and stay fit. That happens and the rest will follow.

That’s where it all went wrong for CC, for three seasons he got total value from his players then for a million reasons he didn’t. Poching avoids that this season we will do fine.

One final plea. Can we please take the CCup seriously for once. I know it’s a risk if you’re in the bottom part of the table but if by quarter final time we are reasonably safe then let’s go for it. This is by far the easiest route back into the hearts and minds of the Wakefield public and thus fresh supporters. I may be wrong but since 2008 we have been lacklustre to say the least as I think 2016 was a bit of a freak.

Anyway who knows, I’ll just be there shouting support.

So with two sec

At least unlike last season if either Lino or Miller get injured there is some cover. Gaskell looked very capable to me to cover either whilst Walker is no slouch if needed.

In truth HB’s are incredibly thin on the ground and most clubs have very few options. Keep those three relatively fit and we will do ok and I do hope I haven’t just jinxed it.

We could play Fifita there as he does seem to fancy a run out in almost every position, I’m joking but Dave probably isn’t.

Would be good if this could be included in the squad list thread, is it possible Poptart?

Isn’t this just unofficial guesswork and not from a club source but a media source? I don’t see Pat O’donnovan in there for example. It’s probably not far off right though.

He’s a squad player so should be. Doesn’t help that the squad page on the club website has been down for weeks.

I'm not sure, seemed to cover off the majority but the rest can be covered prior to posting I'm sure. Echo on what Vasty has said, club website should cover this stuff.

Still no squads listed on official Trinity website.

Been like that for weeks I’m afraid.

It is a relatively simple build so hopefully it goes with out issue and the club will have a design and build contract in place.

Generally a lot of main contractors won’t touch stadia as they are viewed as high risk schemes and do have a history of haemorrhaging money.

I’m a little surprised the contractor who is doing it has taken it on as a lot of the directors have had bad experiences with stadia in the past all be it at another company and we’re adamant they wouldn’t touch one again.

Hopefully the risk has been factored out and it goes smoothly.

I’m a bit of a stadium nerd as you know. However it’s all about factors.

1. The stand is as I say relatively small, so none of the steelwork will be specially made, should all be stock. The bigger you go the more difficult it gets as you probably know and this stand I’d really quite modest.

2. It’s stand alone so no nasty joints to other structures, often a killer problem.

3. Demolition of previous structure should be easy as it’s a hugely primitive structure, wouldn’t be surprised if it had no foundations.

4. Access is superb and site is flat.

5. I’d suggest they took it on because 12 million is a top mark price with plenty of wiggle room. I’d suggest it’s 20% above standard cost and double what it would have cost 5 years ago.

Can’t see any fear of an overspend or any serious delays. Helps that essentially it has council backing all be it on a third party level. I reckon most developers would see it as a fair bet.

As with every season if we survive its a successful season.

is it top 5 again for semis?

That’s true. These are little things Wakefield trinity never do particularly well with.

Quote: Trojan Horse "Isn’t this just unofficial guesswork and not from a club source but a media source? I don’t see Pat O’donnovan in there for example. It’s probably not far off right though.'" Yep, just from here https://www.totalrl.com/wakefield-trini ... -runs-out/ As discussed, with lack of official listings, this was the best I could find.

Quote: Trojan Horse "Isn’t this just unofficial guesswork and not from a club source but a media source? I don’t see Pat O’donnovan in there for example. It’s probably not far off right though.'" Yep, just from here https://www.totalrl.com/wakefield-trini ... -runs-out/ As discussed, with lack of official listings, this was the best I could find.