Seconded.

Thought strikes me that sometimes the fans should be the scapegoats! someone behind me on saturday was not only slagging off anyone basically that didnt go in his local, but letrs see, xmas generally, the state of the world, think even tiger woods got a going over, however he felt sorry for the pope!

I however didnt but thought the dear that tackled him looked a useful prospect as cover at loose forward.

I can say one thing for certain about BJ he will look a totally different player when he shaves off his beard.

Not only that, but the removal of face fluff will make his chin more aerodynamic, and could be a crucial factor in exploiting those elusive gaps. Think about it, Ben!

I didn't go to the game, and wasn't convinced about re-signing BJ either. However, I'd like to think I'm not yet daft enough to criticise a player on the basis of his first game back in the festive friendly Boxing Day booze-up challenge. Wait for the real stuff to begin and see how he goes then.

Havent read all this thread but Snitchy and Stosic didnt play well against Cas in friendlies but they were two of our best forwards in 2009...

you believe correctly mate. there was never no mention of going home. bj and the club parted very amicably. the club wanted to make room for drew. bradford were after bj. everything worked well for both parties. as far as saturday is concerned thought everything we tried went through bj, seemed to work hard and was very busy. think he will go great this year which will disappoint some i suppose.

There is a balance between being supportive and critical of a player, I would hope that I have that balance right to some degree as most on here seem to do, I wouldn't be unconditionally supportive to a player, as I said in an earlier post I would give them time to show they couldn't hack it before criticising, however writing a player off on the basis of a performance in a pre season trial game where it was the first time the team had played together shows to me either a lack of knowledge of the game or an unwillingness to give a player a fair shout.
As for you not seeing anything that suggests scapegoating, you have been posting on here too long and are too intelligent to not know what is coming from certain posters, you just choose to ignore it for the purpose of your argument.

Actually the original poster and most of the subsequent ones were pointing out that the fans at the game used him as the scapegoat, which they did, I apologise for getting involved but was merely trying to point out why this might be, I accept the "quotes" may not have been real, therefore the reasoning was wrong. quite how we always seem to descend in to the same people arguing whatever the point, is for you to sort out, im bored.

Oh yes.

Did not go to the game but i'm not too concerned after 1 run out.

Although I am staggered that there is this debate over a meaningless friendly (didn't we win last year but Leeds went on to win the Grand Final?), I am biting.

Although not a BJ fan last time, I always thought that one of the problems was that he was too similar to Rooney in temperament, in that he is not naturally aggressive. The thinking with him coming back is that he might be a good foil for Brough, who will run the game, with BJ exploiting the spaces. I wasn't at the game, but the consensus is that Brough was invisible. If that's the case, why is anyone criticising BJ? Isn't it like having a go because he didn't do Brough's job? It's like criticising whichever winger is outside Atkins for not scoring tries.

This season, we will have a natural stand-off, something we lacked last year. If Brough does his job, I'm sure BJ will do his.

Yep.

Seems a touch strange and thats why the scapegoat tags been mentioned, rightly or wrongly.

If they both get it together we'll go well, but will it happen.

Edited some of these posts, but here is a start.