Neil was never left out of a Wembley team. He didn't play on 68 because he was injured after the board made him play a midweek league game with a smaller injury when he wanted to pull out to make Wembley. How life could have been different.

The Fev thing I was meaning was as his first club.

Wasn't that why his brother ended up taking the ill-fated kick?

Yes, Neil says so on an interview that he would have taken the kick which would have spared Don, he doesn't say whether he would have got it though. He also states Don had a fragile side to his personality and that it wouldn't have affected him as much had he missed it, or words to that effect.

Seem to remember the injury in ‘68 also denied Neil the captaincy of the touring ‘Lions’.

I thought that was expectedly classy from him.
He clearly would have kicked that goal but he didn't say that so that it didn't reflect badly on Don (who was an accomplished kicker in his own right). He concentrated on the mental health side and how he'd have like to have spared his brother.

Quite a few years back I remember either a statement or an interview with Neil where he said that as a promising and highly regarded young player, he went home one day and was told a pro club had come knocking.When told it was Wakey he was decidedly underwhelmed and said he didn't particularly like Trinity.He DID sign up and the rest is history. Thank god!

Correct, a groin injury, they said if he didn’t play in the midweek game he wouldn’t play in the final. Played, aggravated it more no final. I bet he felt like knocking their heads together.

I must admit, when I heard it my first thought was that it was a weak bluff. Who would actually leave Neil out of any team. Poor form on their part. Changed the club's history in a big way.
I'd give him a game now if he fancied it.

Although it was the year we won the Championship, so was it a vital game?

Just checked details with Trinity Heritage.

It was actually the GB selectors that made him play a friendly for GB against Halifax to prove his fitness for the tour.
Friday 3rd May 1968

On Saturday (the day after) we played Hull KR in the Championship Final which we won. Playing both games aggrevated his injury so he actually missed the tour and Wembley which was Saturday 11th May.

That schedule is ridiculous. Cost him and Wakefield a lot.

Although if Neil had played, the game would have unfolded differently, just because everything during a game affects the outcome, and we'll never know whether we would have won or lost. It's likely the kick would never have been taken at the end. For instance, wasn't it Don's kick off that sent the ball into the water that caught the Leeds players off-guard, which allowed us to score the try that needed converting? All ifs buts and maybe's, but what we do know is that if Neil had been playing, Don could have retired after that game, as he was going to do anyway, without that miss hanging round his neck for the rest of his life.

I’m to young to remember midweek games and fixture congestion. It’s never been more than one game a week other than Easter. Some of the older fans say that although they don’t want it back especially (cost as much as anything) it did create some unbelievably exciting weeks of RL.

Kind of puts the complaints about the Easter fixture into perspective. Yeah it’s a different game now but not that different. If a bunch of part timers can manage three games in a week (just) then surely the pros can manage it for one week a year. Probably controversial on my part but for me Easter is the best week of the first half of the season, purely because it’s so unpredictable. You can go in well off the pace and come out front runners if things go your way. Slightly OT but there is a point.

Neil did say he would have kicked the goal in front of the post . But then said he might have not kicked the other goals that Don kicked . That was the game where Leeds got the tag lucky Leeds