To say Tony Smith is the only thing that has made Warrington great is quite short sited, and I don't mean to be a smart bum saying that.

He was at Huddersfield as well, and I remember players at the time saying they had never been taught how to play like he did.
BUT that only got them limited success as they didn't have the infrastructure to go with him.

Warrington have achieved a few things to build their club to where they are now.

Stadium, council help, wealthy backer and a good coach have all added to get them to where they are. And even then it has taken them a few years.

Huddersfield is a good example of easy it is to forget how much work and money has been invested to get them where they are.

If I remember rightly they were prett rubbish with poor crowds and being held up by the RFL until they were relegated in 2001 (more than 10 years ago) When they came back they were bounced up and down the middle band for at least 5 years, without ever looking like making a move on the big four (or 6).
In that time though they built a club that was constantly being billed as a well run club. They made good decisions about players and especially coach but they also took a long time and game each person a real grilling to find out who was best.
They also went and found and then developed the best young players available. because of the facilities and the way they looked after them they kept them.
It is 11 years on that they are now making a run on the title.

Without the money they coudn't have done it, but it looks like proving sustainable because they put the ground work in before just spending money on the big money team.

I know we all want success, and I loved watching the likes of mark Graham and Steve Ella, and of course Wally Lewis coming to play for us when we splashed some cash......and would love to see that again. But if it is an either or, I'd rather see slightly better each year and end up with a team of Wakefield/West Yorkshire youngsters that are the best available and are pushing the top clubs.

Sinfield, Burrow and McGuire and now Watkins and Hardaker could easily have gone elsewhere. They didn't go to Leeds because they were a successful club as when they joined they weren't really that successful. They joined because they thought or were shown a development plan for themselves that would make them better and a plan to make Leeds a top team again.
Bringing that youth team through was the best thing Leeds did in 20-30 years.

No reason why we can't do the same.

I do seem to be writing long posts today. I will try to be more succinct


I'm enjoying the conversation though. Some good points being made on both sides.

Maybe I was beigng a little too simplistic but, the point remains that success is achieveable with good management and vision.
It certainly isn't easy and we have to assume that while we make progress, the big boys wont stand still. I know that there is a plan for
Wakey being able to spend the full cap and this will certainly help but, going slightly o/t, I would like to see us with fewer imports and relying
more on British players, but suplimented with just 2 or 3 top quaklity imports.
In the longer term, this will help with the stability of the club and the squad and hopefully make the future on Wakefield Trinity much brighter.

Course you want your team to win things and be successful but IF that doesn't happen I'd rather have what we have than some hybrid pretend team that I'll have no passion for, might as well go support Leeds Rhino's if all you want is success.

Agreed

A merger is a non starter. It would take a minimum of a generation for it to show any signs of working and the lack of interest would mean it would die a death long before then. For me its Wakefield or nothing and that wouldn't change. The afinity to a hybrid club just wouldn't be there and i'd wager that would be the majority verdict for supporters of all three clubs.

Not sure this is as true as it used to be. Generally people are a lot more careful about what they spend their money on and how they spend their leisure time. If you could get a Super League side challenging for honours in a top quality stadium then you would rapidly eclipse the crowds that any of the three currently get or are likely to in the near future. I'm not saying that none of the clubs could achieve this over a longer period of time but a merger would be the shortest possible route to success and that is what the majority of people crave these days instant success/fame regardless of affinity/achieving something.

In all honesty, if all people wanted was to watch a team they have no affinity with who have a good chance of success, there is club just miles North they can go and support. In my opinion a merged team would not unite the Wakefield District any more than a loan Cas, Trinity or Featherstone would. Its far too parochial.

I crave success for Wakefield, nobody else, I wouldn't spend my money to watch a team that wasn't mine no matter how successful they are. Maybe thats just me but it would be me done should there be a merger. Actually maybe i should actually support the notion, i'd be quids in every year!!!

Wakefield Trinity or nothing for me, we're on the verge of a new stadium and a better future. There's only 3 big clubs in RL Wigan Leeds and hull FC & we have the potential playing in decent stadia to be in the saints Warrington hull kr Bradford bracket. Put it this way if we'd have had the success saints have had in recent times we'd be getting bigger crowds than them. Why will a merged team be a success why will it have loads of money I doubt the RFL would give it 3 clubs worth of money, where will the thousands come from to support it and where will it play the community stadium at NM it will be classed as a wakefield team which cas & fev wouldn't follow or vice versa playing at cas or fev & who'll build a stadium in normy? Probably with the fantasy millions the merged club would get.
We are an awakening sleeping giant on the verge of a new community stadium in the City of wakefield as it home we are the famous Wakefield Trinity and thats who I support and nobody else

I'm sure we all know of plenty of Wakefield based leeds fans I know I do. I know that those of us on here would not entertain a merger and the same with the hardcore from the other clubs but this only makes up a very small percentage of the overall possible support for a merged team. Those who point towards Sheffield/Huddersfield and Hull/Gateshead as evidence that mergers don't work don't take into account the fact that these were long distance mergers where the opposing fans really did have no connection to. I understand that there would be much opposition and also that it will probably never happen but I don't think it would be the dead duck that some folk are suggesting.

I think the general consensus is that the RFL want just one team from the Wakefield area. There is no reason why that shouldn't be us if we get Newmarket. We are averaging over 8K in a poor ground and with a team performing poorly. That is the best indicator of potential. I agree that a merged team would do no better, as I think Cas fans would be most resistant, and if there was a merged team at Newmarket I reckon another Cas club would spring up and attract the support.

With a new ground and the route to the top flight for all the local talent in a real heartland, there would be so much potential. There is certainly a groundswell building for reducing the number of teams in the league. It crops up on Sky frequently. We have to make sure that we are not ones for the chop next time. A completed Newmarket would help with that.

The only problem I have with the view that there are just a few clubs with a chance each year takes a very time-limited view, an unfair snapshot. You don't have to go back far to include Warrington and Huddersfield in the "no hope" section, and not far at all to find Salford and Hull KR in a different division altogether.

This.