Given our interest in SOL, I have hopes Merrin has been signed at 13. Will be great for Cam Smith and take pressure off Ward and Ferres. We’re rumoured to be looking for another prop which also fits this version.

I always preferred him as a ball playing prop forward. Obviously he can play lock too. Positional situation should crystallize once your signings are completed.

Coolies

Hopefully we still have cap space for a big forward, if we let Garbutt go in order to sign another loose forward and resign JJB and Ablett then it is a huge mistake and we will get bullied by every team with a big pack

In the YEP article the other day he’s described as a “prop” and the “front rower” so perhaps that suggests where he will play?

Cuthbertson will be the loose forward prop, if he is still here, not sure why people are thinking different.

I think Ablett will go well next season, to be honest. I would've only given him a 1 year deal see how it goes beyond that, but a back row of:

Ward
Ablett/Ferres/JJB/Smith
Merrin/Cuthbertson

Isn't too bad in the short term at least. Plus JJB and Ferres will probably be leaving at the end of the season anyway, so keeping for another season gives us plenty of time to plan ahead.

It confuses me why people want to see him at loose and not Prop. They are basically the same position these days

It’s mandatory for a prop to make the hard yards up the middle. A loose can be more choosy, run wider, later on in the set etc. That’s not really the same

Absolutely this - whilst the modern 13 is very much still a 'middle', you expect your props to be taking the hard yards every set and in those situations where the defence is set and waiting for them - the suicide runs where at best you're going to make 8-10 meters and find your front with zero chance of anything else happening. Your 13 can do a bit of that work, but you'd prefer them playing on the back of one of those drives. So prop takes that hard run, tries to get a quick ptb, 13 then hits the guts on the back of that momentum.
There's a more varies role at 13. Just playing your 13 as another out and out prop reduces the variety in your play, as they just end up knackered. It's only a subtle difference, but makes a huge difference. A good example of this is Jason Taumalolo - he's an absolute beast, but is far more effective playing on the back of a Matt Scott hard yards type drive where the defence line has at least been bent than he is taking that hard yard drive himself. JT looks great when Matt Scott doesn't play, JT looks almost unstoppable when Matt Scott does play.

Always grated on me, why we never use Stevie Ward as a ball handling 13, instead of a crash, bang, wallop second rower. I remember watching him play 6 in the academy, thinking he'd be a great wide running loose. One thing I do blame Mac for is ruining a classy player, using him as nothing more than a tackling machine.

Totally agree. Ward does seem to be one of those players that is more injury prone but playing him as a crash and bash type just makes this worse and stops him being involved where he can be more effective.

This is where the Merrin conversation gets interesting. For me he is a 13 but some disagree, fine. But with ward and cuthbo as well we potentially have an abundance of 13 options.

I think ward will play 2nd row, Merrin 13 and cuthbo bench to cover 13 and prop as needed.

Will be interesting to see what Furner does.

I think the answer is down to his build. To be an effective, ball-handling back rower he needs to get his nose through the line. For all the crash bang wallop, he's too small to do this on a regular basis. Similar to Bateman in some respects.

Ward should model his game on Boyd Cordiner. He's a similar size.

Cordner runs at gaps. He doesn't always get through them, but he very definitely doesn't aim at big forwards. He also stays out wide, and often targets the area where the opposing halfback defends. Smaller players like that still have a valuable role, but they have to use their head.

I'm not convinced we'll see Furner look for a 'ball handler' at loose forward - more likely Merrin will play the third prop role that's the mainstay in the NRL. Of our existing forwards Cuthbertson's more suited than Ward to do something similar if Merrin plays as a standrad prop.