Ellis is the best all round player we have produced flowed by Westwood. We’ve actually produced a fair number of forwards but nearly all were utility and that’s fine.

We have only produced IMHO two specialist players of genuine world class potential. They are Danny Brough and Tom Johnstone.

I’m with you it baffles me, it was obvious with Brough from the start, ditto TJ.

We still have fans who don’t seem to realise what we had with Brough and what we still have (hopefully) in TJ.

We will not see a winger like TJ for another 20 years at least maybe never, just look at his try highlights video. Forget the injuries and stop looking for minor faults the kid is a genius at times, able to regularity score tries that virtually no other player on the planet can!

I don’t think we will ever have another Brough.

I’m afraid that if you didn’t play in the sixties or you’re older than Nigel Bell you just don’t register. Or at least not until you’ve been retired for 30 years.

It’s been a privilege to watch them both develop from youngsters.

Note, I’d prefer TJ as a son in law

Vastman you had to be there to see how great it was The 60 and 70 years were class .20+ thousands crowds at a lot of grounds .Brilliant player's at a lot of clubs .90+ thousands for the Challenge Cup final and seen 95 thousand at Bradford when Wigan bet Wakefield and also against Huddersfield.Grounds full to the brim when the Australia rugby team came on tour What a night it was when Wakefield bet the Ozzy team .T J is turning in to one of the best wingers I have seen at Wakefield ,But when you have watch such as K Slater , G Coitzer and a few more, he is not there yet .Same with Brough , Both are the best i have seen in S L at Wakefield by far ,but think that T J like Brough will have to move to a bigger club to show how good he is

But that's the point, I wasn't there and neither were most people these days, it's half a century ago. We can't keep comparing the player of today to that team, especially as many of those who do it weren't even there.

We have to create current hero's, true it's slim pickings these days but Brough and TJ are two and need to be far more appreciated.

I'll be bold now and sorry if it offends but TJ would have got into that sixties team had he been around as would Brough. True ability transcends generations. It's not the fault of either of these players that they are at or were at the club when we were not a club at the top of the sport. We need to acknowledge the difference between team brilliance and the brilliance of an individual.

Neil Fox was a brilliant player in a brilliant team. I'm not suggesting Brough was ever as good a player as Fox as to me Fox's record looks astonishing but the main difference is that Broughy was a brilliant player in a not so brilliant team.

Hope that makes sense.

Totally agree (not going to make a habit of this btw) don’t like it when they compare people from the 50/60s as the game is a lot different now and human evolution has moved on over a hundred fold. 11 stone props would be run over by wingers these days. Don’t get me wrong I have watched a lot of footage and could see a lot of skill in the games but judging games and players from way back doesn’t compare to the game now and needs to be kept separate.

Really, was that needed?

But yes it's a pointless comparison both in terms of players and probably even more so as clubs.

I suppose where players are concerned it's subjective to a degree but the way teams are run and managed these days it's a million miles away.

I mean I don't even think Ken Trail was full time was he? Let alone anyone else either in the coaching or admin.

It's so much harder these days where money doesn't just buy players it buys a full support system.

I wasn't there but I'd venture to say it was a more even playing filed in those days.

It was even in the sense that if Featherstone suddenly had a generation of big lads then their team would be good because people didn't travel and move like they used to, but money still talked if the big clubs wanted a player.

True but you at least got those one-season wonder teams before they got picked dry, not these days.

Vastman you got a good point about T J been good enough to play in the 60 ,70 ,But a lot of backs would have been good enough to play now. Agree you can not compare ,but the game then was built on skill ,now it's built on fittnes

Totally agree on the last bit. Clearly you have to be fit but full time should allow both fitness and skill, certainly at SL level. Something is wrong with the system imho.

Any type of news or rumours regarding our off contract players.
Will Chester be involved in recruitment and retaining. Most clubs seem to be expressing an interest in players available

Clubs have until 31st May to inform out of contract players if they intend to offer them a new one or not. I guess the decisions are currently being gone through one by one.

Thanks for that sacred.
So clubs can show an interest in players once the list comes out.
Wire Leeds Saints HKR Wigan Cas Shuds all seem to be active. We have only shown interest in one to date.
SALFORD Leigh and Hull seem to be playing a waiting game.
So very good players not retained at present.