long and sinfield anyone

Good point, replace L Briscoe.

The good thing about being so bad against kr is we can't be any worse with this one. Get Handley on the wing where he belongs. If myler is banned broadbent to fb. Sutcliffe to half back. If no available Handley to centre with briscoe outside him

On myler of what he said was bad enough for a2 match ban shouldn't it have been red?

You can only assume Myler is one of the players Agar spoke about after the loss last week. I hope Richie really regrets speaking to the ref like that. Though his performance was diabolical anyway, playing like that, we won't be missing much for the next two games.

We are not in amazing shape are we?

I don’t think Martin’s recent form deserves selection ahead of other back rowers, but I do think he’s out of sorts after his COVID experience - and I’m not sure he’s happy.

Let’s get Hurrell back on the right working with Eastmond and T Briscoe, and try to develop a settled unit there.

Maybe Alex Sutcliffe or Donno plays on that right edge to shore defence up.

I don’t even know whether I’d go with O’Connor in at 6 or 9 for this. He’s a decent defender with a good engine and from what I’ve seen he has some skill. I know Agar says he’s LF but I’m not sure hooker isn’t a good fit for him.

Problem with Dwyer at 9 for a whole game is that it could kill fluency before we get two passes out of the ruck.

Broadbent, T Briscoe, Hurrell, L Sutcliffe/A Sutcliffe, Handley, Eastmond, O’Connor, Mik, Leeming, Vuniyayawa, Mellor, Walters, Prior: Thompson, Donno, Tindall, Dwyer.

That’s my revised side.

O'Connor isnt a 9, his distribution will be poor but he would make 50 tackles in the middle of the park. Our current 2 hookers distribution is garbage and they dont make 50 tackles between them!

Nothing is going to change there tho. Leeming will start and Dwyer will come off the bench and it will be that way for this year and next.

Not sure on fitness of either Sutcliffe - but I’m sure you’re right that both will play of they are fit.

Tindall gives us cover for injury in back line; you could move Handley to centre or FB for example. You might also replace T Briscoe with him to bring something different if needed later game.

I don’t think they should be looking to carry cover in the back line they need to throw all their eggs in one basket and ‘front load’ the pack as many big bodies and play with the aim once more to dominate the middle of the field. I’d be all for Tindall taking Tom briscoes place after most of his performances but if you’re going to do it, do it from the off to give him a real message about the standard required that he’s not meeting. Don’t be changing 3/4s during a game.

I’m not convinced O’Connors passing isn’t better than Dwyer’s.. can kick a goal too, assume he could put in the odd dink behind the line on last plays. I cannot fathom why we cannot seem to find a single full-time professional rugby player who can’t put in a simple kick.

Anyway, I’d give the lad a go probably at 7 or 9 for this one, on the basis that we can’t be much worse offensively and he has a real engine in D.

Yeah but we don’t have any other big bodies as far as I’m aware - unless we play an academy lad like AJ Wallace.

Problem for me is that T Briscoe in particular will get picked no matter what his form is. I’ve been a supporter of his on this board but I don’t think he’s been great this year so far.

So A Sutcliffe ruled out with knee injury as per YEP but L Sutcliffe a good chance.

I know there’s a few out in that regard though at least put Walters and Gannon in over having a winger on the bench

Oledzski Dwyer Vuniyayawa
Martin Mellor (Walters if mellor at centre)
Prior

Thompson
Walters
Donaldson
Gannon

Pick a hooker and run with them for 80, the rotation isn’t going well. Or put them both on together and run an alternative game plan reflecting the lack of pivots. The absolute priority is a strong physical presence and response after last week with discipline and errors massively improved, only then can finer details be addressed.