The 'heavy additions' i name dropped in my original post? I think Sangare is about a stone heavier than the next biggest, and I welcome their addition. They bring bulk and skill to our roster.

Saints tried to bully us in the middle, we were getting knocked back a lot against Hull FC. But we have recruited size, as I noted, as well as played a game plan which keeps the ball away from the middle of the park.

Take out Lisone, Sangare, Oledzki, and Walters, and you are left with 15 or 16 stone forwards in reserves.

We have some class players, and some strong guys, I just like to be the team that is bigger than the rest and intimidate the opposition through size. I'm also aware that Rohan gets paid to sit on the coaches bench, whilst I have to pay to stand on the terrace.

We were absolutely dire for 50 minutes and were lucky that Wakefield are awful. We would have been a few scores behind against any other side (not seen Cas play).

I personally thought we reverted back to the one up stuff yesterday rather than throw it around like at Saints (likely due to the weather). We never do well when we go one up.

I still hate this sitting back defence. It gifts the opposition 60m each set and pretty much always gives the opposition at least one attacking play at our line. Yes, the goal line defence was ok but I would prefer it if we didn't allow teams to get into that position to test our goal line defence out.

With a fit Newman and McDonald plus Fuzzy and Handley when he returns, we finally have a back line that once again that will threaten our opposition and make them worry.

Plus with Bentley and Newman our team have two very effervescent players that will wind up other teams and hopefully inspire ours.

I was at the game, saints didn’t in my opinion bully us, I would say that physically we matched them fairly easily. Taking out lisone, sangare, oledzki and Walters is like saying taking out walmsley, Lees, Paasi and LMS and wondering what happens.
Or take out Vaughan, Harrison, Kasiano and Bullock and see what happens. Of course the pack looks smaller if you do that? We can’t run a squad with 8 huge props, no squad can.
I would say the difference with Leeds and maybe saints would be the size of the back row but that comes down to how you want to play.

'Take out 4 of your 6 props' Well yeah, no sh it! Holroyds not a small thing though either with bags of improvement.

Myler
Fusitua
Newman
Macdonald
Olpherts

Austin
Sezer

Holroyd
O’Connor
Tetevano
Bentley
Martin
Smith

Walters
Lisone
Sangare
McDonnell

Pretty much picks itself

I think youll find the average of the 6 props is over 17st (110kg). What's the relevance of kasiano being compared to Smith Martin Bentley and Donaldson?

Sure. Take Sangare out and it drops to 16.5 stone. But do notice I said front row and not prop.



Just making a point that our 15 and 16 stone forwards might struggle against those that are well over 19 stone. We have one player anywhere near that weight.

I'm not really sure why my opinion is being scrutinised so much. Stats show we have a lightweight pack compared to others, Smith has recruited two heavier props for a reason, and I have a fetish for heavy forwards. I'm not criticising Smith, or by extension the club, for going for a more mobile pack and I've even stated that I'm not under the pretense that I know more than Rohan. It's just my musings and my opinion. YMMV, and that's what makes life interesting.

So you now want 2 17+ Stone hookers? (what you do in your personal life...). Think you need to go back to the drawing board on your RL education (and your maths).

It's being scrutinised as you put it because it's simply nonsense. Tetevano is the lightest at 16.5 and Holroyd is over 17 so I'm not sure how you're getting an average of 16.5 (unless youre including the wingers of course).

You don't get many 18 St 2nd rows (ah for another Lauititi).

Of cause it would.This season we have addressed the front row.There is only Tet who would say is lightweight but he does make up for that with work rate.

I'm not sure where the idea came from that we're lightweight now? Last year we had Prior (16 stone) and Mustapha (15 stone) in our rotation and didn't have Holroyd available. This year five of our six props are over 17 stone and Tetevano is just under. If we get outgunned upfront its not pure size that's the issue.

I don't think we should pick both Bentley and Donaldson in the 17, as that does make us undersized. I don't see that happening a lot this year as Donaldson will fall back in the pecking order when everyone's fit.

Austin looked like he was struggling with a leg injury late on in the Wakey game. Pretty sure they brought him off. Might be in doubt for Thursday.

We were definitely lightweight last year with Thompson, Donaldson and Muizz playing in the front row.
But the addition of Sangare and Lisone, as well as the return of Holroyd and the emergence of Walters has addressed that.
If we can get Sangare and Lisone match fit, and Holroyd can stay fit, we have a front row rotation of 6 that will match most other teams.
Oledski and Tetevano will also benefit from some rotation.