His age is no concern to me and never has been on any other player for that matter , lots of players don’t find their best form until they reach 30 + Daly Cherry-Evans (34) Cody Walker (33) playing for their respective teams in the last state of origin , who wouldn’t want one of these running our for our club ,plenty more 30+ players representing their respective states . My only reservation is the captaincy ,as I feel we need a far louder voice on the field ,Fifita being the ideal choice but unfortunately he has weeks not months or years left at our club . Give it a break with the age thing ,if there good enough get them on board ,beggars can’t be choosers. Obviously we need youth in the squad going forwards , but you still need those old heads who bring the young lads on and learn off

LOL ,Kettykat comparing, Ashurst to old state of origin players who were playing in last origin series, In the Origin series most of the teams were made up of players who were in there prime,with quite a lot of 22ish players in .You are right ,you do need a few old players to help the younger players ,problem is we have about 11 to 14 old players in the squad every week .At some point there as got to be a missive clear out of old players at the club ,as we are just going no were with the plan of old is good .

I agree we have an ageing squad but we have to phase out the older players not do it all on mass.

It’s probably a process that needs to take 2/3 seasons.

Our first attempt in this most recent offseason was an absolute disaster though hence having to bring in some more older heads to steady the ship.

I'm not sure about the 11-14 but we have older players in key positions

It's not good having Lyne and Langi in the centre but we have Pratt and Law coming through with Croft. Alas I think they'll need another year.
Props I'm OK with. Bowden and Battye are 31 but Whitbread and Eseh balance that.
Second row needs some young blood. Kelepi is the only one not on a pension.
Gale is there to be the old wise head so that works while he's with Dagger or Lino.

It does depend how well Eseh, Windrow, Pratt and Law develop.

Agree, know the Wigan win ,was our win of the season so far , but to me the best result was the Leeds match.The thing that pleased me most was the age of the team A team with youngsters all over the team who were up for the game ,with 4 old heads to move them in the right direction .We played most of the second half with 12 men and won .Would we have done it with a old team ,do not think so

Second row is the worry for me. From what I’ve seen of Windrow he’s quite far away from SL level. He may be one that needs more time but hasn’t he been full time 3 years now? We don’t have any young talent in the SR coming through that I know.

As for the halves Lino doesn’t really balance much with Lino who will be 30 before season kicks off. Lino has probably had his best years with the style he has more relying on quickness of foot and pace.
Dagger however does balance it out and I’d happily see Gale/Dagger for remainder of this season.

I see nothing in Lino though maybe he could be a half decent 6 playing second string to an organising half. But if we want to move away from the foot of super-league he’s I think we need better.

Recruitment will be so important for the next 2-5 years if we want to progress. We need players hitting their mid 20s with potential and quality. We have a couple but not enough.

If we do manage to stay up it will be in no part due to two players who if you had your way wouldn’t be anywhere near the club according to your reckoning , Gale and Fifita . No coincidence then that when these two old stagers took to the field we looked at last like a super league team and one that could possibly avoid the drop , because I haven’t seen any one else at the club capable or able of firing the players up like these two have ,unless of course you’d drop Fifita for Eseh and Gale for young Abrahams in our hr of need … no I didn’t think so. We need youth to come through , that is the lifeblood of any team ,but you still need those battle hardened old boys to bring these youngsters on , why would Wires bring a 32 year old marquee player Vaughan in if not

Go back to one of my post ,I got shot down for saying , the reason why we had seen more ball movement and forwards running in harder was because down to Gale and Fifita than the coach .So how you reach that conclusion I do not know .Good to know you are happy with 11 to 14 old players in the 17 every week ( apart from Leeds ,).Guess you are going to disagree with me that we have been a dumping ground for old injury prone players over the last 4 to 5 years ,including players this season from overseas . A 15 game loss speaks for it self At presents we are a championship club in S L all caused be bad signings We have had the money over the last years,just been wasted on old players .And this season we have just gone down the same path .Hope there is something there we can agree on hard been a Billy no mates lol

I agree with the principle of what you are saying, in that poor recruitment has caused the problem but I don't understand why you are so stuck on the old player thing.

There are, there is no doubt, some players this season who are past their sell by date, but it's not only the old ones who are a problem.
You say yourself, some of the old ones are our best players.

Big Bill was an outstanding player… but I would put Ellis and Solomona at the same level

Tash been granted a testimonial year in 2024.... https://wakefieldtrinity.com/ashurst-gr ... -for-2024/

Tash been granted a testimonial year in 2024.... https://wakefieldtrinity.com/ashurst-gr ... -for-2024/

Very difficult to compare guys from different eras but if forced I would say Bill Ashurst had a greater repertoire of skills than the other two, giving him just the edge. At their peak btw.

I would say Solomona was the same level but just in a modern era.
Ellis was immense but not comparable in skill. His kpi was physical power and effort.

I was thinking of Bill's kicking game as a major plus that neither of the others had.

Not in his time with us but I’d say at one point Ellis was probably the most skilful second row forward on the planet.