I think you should try everything you can to keep him and I think he wants to play for Trin, he could easily have angled for a move over the years imo, but he hasn't. TJ has been a box office player for a number of years. His injuries haven't held him back. I think right now your squad / pack hold him back. He scores some class individual tries and is a go to player. Just needs more territory. Injuries are part and parcel of the game right now.

I'm staggered any trinity fan would wanna or even be content with him leaving.

We aren’t but it’s not our choice and I guess we believe he deserves a chance for silverware because he currently won’t get it here.

Not 'we' ..... 'you'.
Plenty agree with Towns88.

I think it isn't a bad thing for both parties if he moves on......he can go to a team that competes for trophy's or even the NRL (I am hearing the new team the Dolphins are looking to super league for outside backs ) and wakey can spend his money on a playmaker and some front rowers - a winger isnt going to win you games more regularly than those 2 positions.

but i jsut dont know who would come to wakey at this point in time

Spend what money, he goes for nothing at the end of the season

,
I'm afraid that point hasn't sunk in for some. OK we'll save his wage bill, whatever that is, but it's for a world class player who you simply will not replace for less money.
If he's willing I say keep him!

Yep I didn’t say I didn’t know him I said I’m not him there is a staggering difference there. Seriously?

At the moment Wakefield do not need world class wingers.

There are far bigger issues with the squad.

If Tom goes we still have 4 SL standard wingers at the club next year in Murphy, Lineham, Kay and Kershaw.

The money that we could save could (and should in my opinion) be used to strengthen elsewhere.

You can have teams competing at the top end of the table without having top class wingers. You can’t compete without a decent forward pack.

It’s a decision which is tough to make and the emotion could distract people from the bigger issue.

If we could get Tom on reduced terms reflecting the issues he has had during this contract then fantastic, sign him up, if not it’s all the best and good luck in my opinion.

All the above however depends on who else we can bring in, in the pack particularly. If there is no quality we can attract we may as well throw the kitchen sink at Tom and enjoy him
In 2023 as he will be leaving in 2024 as we will be relegated without significant investment in the pack.

You're making a huge assumption here.

You're assuming that plans are not already in place to strengthen the squad AND keep TJ.

This is clearly a transitional year.

By next season more funds will hopefully be online whilst other players will be OOC, most notably Bill and Fifita who are both huge earners. Freeing up Bill alone will give us a quality overseas place free.

There are many players who I'd let go before TJ.

I think Tom has proved that a world class winger isn't just a finisher. Everyone needs good wingers.
It is proved by the amount of grief Senior got when he couldn't get us off our line. In the clear he is faster than all but the daftest in super league. But that's not his only job.
And two of the 4 wingers you name have long term injuries, and the other is needed as hooker. So we have all the pressure on a kid in his debut season.
Let's keep Tom and Murphy as our strike weapons and work out a different way to get another prop.

The issues lay in my opinion run much deeper than just the props.

We need 2/3 props a 9 and 2 second row forwards.

It’s a bit ironic talking about long term injuries to wingers on a thread about TJ.

If there is the need to bring in another winger (I don’t think there is) then we can go to the market.

It all depends on what TJ’s salary expectations are though ultimately. We don’t know what he is on or what he is expecting and if we can make the signings we clearly need and retain him fantastic. If it’s a case of him or any of the above then in my opinion we sacrifice him.

I certainly would not upgrade his contact on what he is currently on.

I don’t like the tag “world class” because I don’t think he or any other players in SL at the moment are worthy of that tag.

He is a very good SL player and would we be weaker on the edges if he were to go? Yes.

IF that cap space can be used to improve out pack though it’s a no brainier in my opinion.

We also need to consider it isn’t just TJ that is out of contract so some big decisions to be made by the club as well as TJ himself on his and others futures.

I genuinely think we can survive this year by not being the worst team in the comp. Unless we improve in the areas above I don’t think we will be able to rely on others being worse than us in 2023, even with TJ in a Trinity shirt.

I can think of many players over the years who have awful bad luck with injuries like Tom but in the mid and later stages of there careers being pretty injury free

If that happened with Tom it would be immense for him and us
I don’t know Tom but he strikes me as a guy who really wears the shirt with real pride, I think it would take a lot to get him to leave

V much hope we can keep him, on his day and with the right ball he can beat teams on his own

I do think our main issue is purely lack of prop go forward and offload from our props and to a lesser degree movement from hooker

I think our backs are as good as we’ve ever had in sl but just get very little room to work

I'm sure you know what you mean, but for the benefit of those that aren't so sure, could you explain in simple terms.

Absolutely agree.
If we have to sell or, cant afford to keep our better players, we really are screwed, not least because of the message it sends to other SL clubs.
Every time we get a half decent player, other clubs (usually Leeds) would be sniffing round at the first opportunity..

TJ and Fifita are rare commodities in SL, they are box office and that is something we desperately need plus if they stay it may encourage others to join the squad (money permitting).