: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:34 am  

Fred Gee wrote:

It then shows a true reflection of how poorly run our junior set up has been run over the last few years. I have known and posted on here before junior players from the Wakefield area who have chosen other clubs ahead of their hometown team because of how unproffessional the junior set up was.

I hope and believe that Kear has sorted things out and has put into place procedures that will show fruition well after he has gone. We all would like a team full of home grown talent with a sprinkling of top drawer overseas players not A teamers.

End of the day we all want what is best for Trinity, and Kear has a knack of getting the best out of second rate, cast offs, A teamers and I believ he will do the same with this guy.

What i'm trying to say rather poorly is we should not have to rely on this calibre of overseas player and the coaching prowess of Kear to make things right.

No it doesn't. Frank is a South Sea Islander and they tend to produce his kind of player which we don't. They bring a certain style and athleticism to the game that others don't. Neither do the Aussies which is why the NRL is choca block with them. I think your creating a them and us where there isn't one. Why the negative on just our Academy, I said no ones Academy had this sort of player coming through.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:39 am  

Marsdengiant wrote:

Loving the thread

Just thought I would show how muddled this post is and leave you to it.

1.It is very faulty thinking to say that if you do not challenge every example of a failure then a single challenge is invalidated. Normally this thinking is only found in u12s.

2. there is no doubt that FW has talent. The question is whether established SL teams should be signing reserve graders. On that i appear to differ with many wakefield fans.

3. For info the following Giants players are 22 or under and in the Giants 1st team squad: Cudjoe, Lawrence, Moore, McGilvray, Walsh, Lunt, Lawson, Hemingway, Lopag, Griffin, Carlile, McNally and Patrick. I suspect that we can get so many young Brits in because we have a small number of overseas players. Also thought Atkins was 23 and Ferguson was missed - pesky facts!

Thanks for your contribution, pointless though it was.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:45 am  

Trinity Till Death wrote:

Whilst it's nice to see Huddersfield buying in younger players. How many of those 6 are getting a regular spot in the 17?

3 mate, Cudjoe, Lawrence, Hemmingway, though i expect it will be 4 next year when Jermaine comes back from Batley though you could argue Leroy wont play as much this year now Brett Hodgson is here

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:48 am  

Trinity Till Death wrote:

Walsh is from the Leeds academy
Lunt is a product of Workington i believe (maybe wrong)
Griffin is a product of Wakefield academy
McNally is a product of Whitehaven
Patrick is an ex Bradford academy
Carlile is an ex Bradford academy

The rest i believe are Hudds

You missed Moore (St Helens)

Sorry for being pedantic

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:05 pm  

Gahan wrote:

3 mate, Cudjoe, Lawrence, Hemmingway, though i expect it will be 4 next year when Jermaine comes back from Batley though you could argue Leroy wont play as much this year now Brett Hodgson is here

Well that's good to see. Do you think that Hemmingway will get his chance to become a starting player for you at some point? I'd hate to see the lad slowly wither away like Handforth did for us.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:10 pm  

Trinity Till Death wrote:

Well that's good to see. Do you think that Hemmingway will get his chance to become a starting player for you at some point? I'd hate to see the lad slowly wither away like Handforth did for us.

He's on the mend from shoulder surgery i believe so im not sure when he'll be back.

Having seen the pre season friendlies(1st team) and the Catalan game, the one thing i'll say about NB is that he aint afraid to throw the young un's in.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:24 pm  

i just can't be bothered to read 21 pages of blinkered rubbish

fwiw needs must and he fits what we need in the team, much better than signing a 32 year old guy who has played first grade.

we have a tradition of bringing in players that have something to prove and giving them a chance, whether British, NZ or whatever - rather than the "safe" option of a guy who has played SOO and passed his sell-by-date in the NRL.

i really am not sure why other fans have so much of an issue with it. Let's be honest the majority of clubs have absolutely no moral high ground on this issue yet continue with the hypocrisy.

i guess hitting the headlines last weekend for x% of GB players in a winning team really got the Huddersfield fans excited.

The signing of overseas (and substandard ones at that) is certainly not a Wakey problem it is a problem we have in British sport.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:31 pm  

TRB wrote:

Nope - just blind faith!

I admire your optimism...... Lets hope you are right. Can't help but think that, reading through most of the thread on the VT, that they are actually making a fair and valid point - although the anti-Wakefield message of a couple of posters kind of makes it loose some credability.

In general, they are probably correct in my opinion - we do have too many middle of the road imports - hard to argue against this. I do understand the signing and the reasons behind it, and hopefully he will turn out to be another Willie Manu type player - but I think we probably could do more to help ourselfes when the current round of contracts runs out. In 2 or so years time:

Henderson Certain
Martin Certain
Drew Certain
Demetriou Probable
Obst Possible ?
Latu Possible ?

That would leave the likes of Winterstein (if he comes good) Peterson, Blanch, Stosic and leave us room for another International import. That would be a fair mix maybe? I dont think its too much to ask of the club to try and replace these outgoing imports with lads from our own academy, the lower leagues or even RU.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:52 pm  

We have got too many imports, but are still within RFL regulations, and there in lies the problem.

This does need reducing and I have hope that as these players drop of the roster they will be replaced either by academy players or through home qualified talent being brought in.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:10 pm  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

We have got too many imports, but are still within RFL regulations, and there in lies the problem.

This does need reducing and I have hope that as these players drop of the roster they will be replaced either by academy players or through home qualified talent being brought in.

Agreed - as long as you do it over a pre-agreed / planned period of time that allows for clubs to fill the void with suitable quality. The starting point should be, say, 10 years hence. By that time it would be reasonable to say that 'established' SL clubs should have a max of, say, 3 overseas players - end of / no exceptions. That still allows for over 40 players in the comp, but at 3 per club, each club will target the players for positions / skills that they cannot cover elsewhere. It would also leave plenty of room for GB players to play / develop.

So, take what we have now, divide it across the 10 year period and there you have a formula for all clubs to follow and time for them to do it in.

This is a prime example of planning as opposed to the constant knee-jerk / back-track that we see in our game.

In the meantime, my blind faith is based firmly on the well-proven ability we have to 'spot' talent, particularly overseas - and especially when Robbo's involved - after all, that's what he's he for!