Reyt, eight days to go till the season starts at The Mount. We've had two solid blow outs against SL sides that should put us in good stead and we have got a cracker of a game to start off with. It's allus a good day out at Batley and usually a real tough game. If we can get the two points over there we will be off to a great start to what could turn out to be a great season. It will be interesting to see our starting line up and I can't wait to get over to the game. We allus take a big following over so let's hope everyone gets over and we get the two points. Up The Fax! Rat and Ratchet shuddersfield. White Rat 4.0% Mmm!

Really looking forward to this encounter and I see it has a perfect benchmark of where we’re at , Batley away will be tough really tough but if we progress from the Salford game we have a chance, it’ll be interesting to see what the 17 will be and Grix as some interesting decisions for me I’m gonna stick my neck on the line and pick my 17 before any injuries are announced

FB Martin
Wg salty
C McComb
C arundal
Wg walmsley
So aston
Sh Keyes
Pr Morris
Hk Moore
Pr tangata
Sr Kavanagh
Sr garside
Lf knowles

Bench
Wood
Gwaze
Barber
Murray

Tbh there’s nothing between aston and jouffret so wouldn’t be bothered either way , Keyes is a must , I think you need a balance between power and agility in the props so would rotate Morris/ Murray and tangata/gwaze and if gee was fit I’d put him in over garside/ barber. If Moore isn’t fit I’d use jouffret has the bench hooker and start with wood . McComb earns is slot over worthington as he’s played well in the 2 friendlies and last season. Knowles starts at 13 because Fairbanks out but we’ll need is physical presence against a team like Batley.

With the “if fit proviso.”
Worthington and Arundel will be certain starters in the centres regardless.
My choice for fullback wouldn’t be Martin at this stage of the season it would be from Walmsley with McComb moving out to the wing.
And or. Keyes is a certain starter in the halves with Jouffret / Aston taking the other half and fullback slots.
The above combo’s have trained together far more in pre season than JM and give more during the game options for switching things round.
If Brandon isn’t fit then either Wood / Joufrett to start and interchange at 9 with an extra forward from Laroyer / Calcott coming onto the bench again providing plenty of live game opinions at 1,6,7,9 and in the pack.

I’d be happy with that , just that walmsley looked a little wobbly at fb against wakey but it’s early days , I’d have thought if he was going to do that he wouldn’t have brought Martin in with it being 1 game to the first game of the season but we’ll see . I have no problem with worthington but based on the friendlies and last season I’d be frustrated if I was McComb has he can’t do much more , like you say one way to solve the puzzle would be to play McComb on the wing and walmsley at fb . Whatever forwards play they will all be capable, certain players like barber who I wouldn’t have originally considered have certainly earned food for thought and the competition for these positions seems to be paying dividends as no one as played poorly .

Another way of looking at it is asking the question.
“Would SG play JM who has just arrived on trial and is an out and out fullback which reduces his in game options if it meant leaving either Worthington, Jouffret, Aston or an in form McComb out?”

Be interesting to hear his comments on the Salford game and the build up to the Batley game.

Yes grixs’ review will throw more insight into his thought process, with Batley being a quality championship side Grix won’t be taking risks . It’s certainly interesting watching games live to watching the video after , I left the Salford game a little disappointed at our inability to put points on the board but having watched it back and read Salford’s fans forum to have long spells in the ascendancy bodes well . Wood makes a massive difference in terms of ruck speed and has the ability to go left or right in a split second the number of times we made it from our 20 to there’s was a massive positive . Some of our passes were a bit awry which disrupted our flow so hopefully they will be ironed out but we did offload a lot more than the wakey game . I must admit when all the new signings were made I was internally dismissive of some of the existing squad , barber , Kavanagh, calcott , garside are all quality players , which leads me to another question, barber played centre, second row and hooker in the Salford game and has good hands decent size and mobility, seems like a ball playing loose forward to me but never seems to play there , has he ever played there ?

Barber had played in a number of positions including LF who rarely has a bad game and when at his best is up there with the better performers.
As you know at 13 you can have either a ball playing or running LF and Ed has both in his locker.
He would probably have played there more but for a couple of reasons in us having Bob Fairbanks and his own utility value.

We could of done with a extra friendly before this but if are wanting to challenge for top 2 then a wins a must at batley. Keyes and Ashton in the halfs for this one we know it will be a forwards game though up the slope

Looked like Worthington got injured very early on and tried to run it off so you would imagine a dead leg type injury but Grix will be desparate to have him on the field for Batley. Having Walmsley, Jouffrett, and Saltonstall who can all play fullback I would be very surprised if Grix started Martin at fullback despite him having a decent game on Friday.

I watched part of the Fev V Wakey game yesterday and Ive got to say they look like been the benchmark once again this year and they look like giants in their forwards compared to ours and although I think we should end up 3rd I think top 2 may be a little out of reach unless we can get some reinforcements in from Huddersfield to beef us up a bit.

It appears worthington and Moore carrying knocks , worthington is a toe injury so McComb may get his opportunity, he didn’t say much about Moore but both barber and jouffret deputised for wood in the Salford game so that could be telling in terms of team selection https://youtu.be/CxvwhP8PCjc

It appears worthington and Moore carrying knocks , worthington is a toe injury so McComb may get his opportunity, he didn’t say much about Moore but both barber and jouffret deputised for wood in the Salford game so that could be telling in terms of team selection https://youtu.be/CxvwhP8PCjc

I will hold off with the team selection until we see the squad on Friday. It will be interesting to see if both moore and worthington are fit to play. I went to the fev game yesterday and i know you cant read to much into friendlies but they looked very strong across the park with and without the ball for me they are the team to beat and will take some beating. They also look like they could be signing another halfback riley jacks from Australia to had to there already strong squad.

I always like a trip to batley because you are so close to the pitch. Going with confidence but always wary on that slope. You can be 20 points up at HT and lose . Try play uphill first half if you win the toss. That's batleys tactic.

With the depth and quality of squad we've got this year I hope, especially at this stage of the season we play players who are fully fit rather than risking injured ones as we had to do last year, especially with Brandon. While not much between them I'd start with Aston in the halves with Keyes, with Jouffret on the bench as he offers good cover at half,fullback and hooker. Listening to Simon I'd be surprised if he didn't start with Martin at fullback - while they'd miss Worthington defensively I'd be happy to see Mccomb in the centre as I think he offers a bit more in attack.

https://twitter.com/freesports_tv/statu ... 14754?s=21 For anyone that’s interested there’s a Betfred championship preview show on freesports tonight at 930pm.

https://twitter.com/freesports_tv/statu ... 14754?s=21 For anyone that’s interested there’s a Betfred championship preview show on freesports tonight at 930pm.