I'll be invested to see how Lisone goes following on from Brad's much-vaunted preseason beasting. The makings are there but he's definitely been keeping the spirit of Konrad alive up to now.

The whole pack will look completely different with a very different attitude/gameplan. The passive defence made all our forwards look soft. I don't know why people keep trying to deny it was a thing - the Leigh game, when the whole team was pumped, our defence was stood still in a line waiting for attackers the whole game through. It was also partly why when Arthur tried to change it up they couldn't sustain a more aggressive style for long, because they just weren't fit enough.

An off season focused on increased fitness and a completely different mindset among the forwards will show us which of the forwards are up to it and who isn't. I'm not entirely convinced on Oledzki, Holroyd or Lisone, but would be more than happy if they all take a big leap forward next year.

Given the look of our backline, we're also likely to have far more structure next year as well. Hall and Sivo could score a lot of tries if we can create openings, but that requires field position, as neither will score from a distance, and moves intended to create overlaps.

Mik's a genuinely lovely lad. Lives near me so bump into him a bit, and my brother-in-law was, according to Mik, one of his favourite teachers. And he has nothing but nice things to say about him. But that might have held him back a bit. Didn't McDermott say about him needing to realise that he's a prop and what that means? He seems to lack that aggression about his play. Not foul play, but the extra punch in his runs and tackles.

I think it could come down to a number of factors because he has all the physical attributes to dominate. But he came through at a time when our pack was getting weaker. And at a young age became our pack leader expected to do big minutes. Throwing yourself into collisions doesn't lend itself to doing big minutes.

It's also a really tight line to walk now disciplinary wise. Anything mistimed and you're looking at a ban. When he's carrying so much responsibility, I wonder how that affects his game.

And, as a club, we seem to have fallen so far off transitioning young players into the 1st team. It's hard to think back to the last academy player to come through and be top class. They all seem to plateau and never quite reach the heights we'd hoped they would.

Hopefully, with a better coaching team and more support up front, we'll see Mik kick on. He's still got age on his side. I think the reason he gets more of a free ride than others is because he's given so much to the team when we've been e. And we'd all love to see him be able to share some of that burden and start to go up through the levels.

Are there better props in SL than Mik? Yes.
Would our pack be improved if we had 3 other props of his calibre? Yes. For me, putting him first in line for criticism simply doesn't stack up.

Interesting comment by Arthur regarding Littlewood a player who he seems to rate highly."Ben is my sort of build for a back-rower.He his tall,rangy and once they start to fill out they are hard to tackle especially when they can off load the ball too.
"Bens nearly two metres tall and when he puts on some size he'll be better for it.Certainly he's a player with potential for the club going forward.
With Bentley off contract this year he isn't that tall and rangy type Arthur seems to like.