Like I said against Wigan we are pretty much back to where we were last season player wise.
Walker a downgrade on Myler and Austin a slight upgrade on Leeming at HB.
Sezer/Gale pretty much on a par.
If Smith and Handley are out we are scraping the barrel.

Yet the shoulder to the head high tackle that caused the Fusitu’a concussion injury from Currie didn’t even warrant a yellow card or a ban apparently. Absolutely no justice.

I doubt he will have had much chance to train fully with the 10 days protocol.

Can we please stop putting Briscoe at centre cannot undertand the logic on any level. If handley is out Broadbent to centre. Constantly caught defensing in the wrong position and offers nothing to the winger outside him. You dont suddenly become a centre after 12 years as a winger.

Probably the fact that he started as a centre and was moved to the wing and has stated in pre season he wants to be in the centres. However I’d have him on the wing in this one.

Walker
Briscoe Broadbent Sutcliffe Tindall
Austin Sezer
Prior Leeming Tetevano
Gannon Mellor
O’Connor

Dwyer Donaldson Oledzki Thompson

Simpson Smith Handley Johnson

I hope I'm wrong on this, but with all the backline players out, and the bans we've been copping already, it is starting to look worryingly like the beginning of last season.

At least we're playing at home.

I don't think we need another luxury player who does low minutes.

People are obsessed with forwards on this forum. Let's not forget it was a player with lightning pace and an eye for a gap that undid us against Wigan. No-one really rated their pack before the game but here we are.

I'm still concerned about the lack of capacity to strike from deep when the opportunity arises. We used to kill teams in the past because we had pace to burn across the backline and any defensive lapses were punished. Not sure who we have who is capable of doing this now. Handley has the pace but not much evasion; Tindall looks fast but not sure he'll make it. No one else has the pace to go 80-90m against most SL opposition IMO.

Think we could do with one more hard hitting senior prop, but you are dead right, the three quarters we are selecting at present are pretty pedestrian. On the bright side Fusitua, Newman and Broadbent would go along way to rectifying that. Would love to see us making a play for a Dufty style full back from the NRL, but given the retention of Myler and with Walker still under contract I doubt that is on the cards.

You need both. Props give the platform for the speedsters to do their work but you need quick players to finish and strike from distance too. Wigan beat us in the middle and it gave Field so much room

Exactly. Look at Fields third try.
Mago brushes Thompson and Donaldson aside and offloads to Field to run the length and score.
Field doesn't get that space if we match them up front.

Its rubbish defence whichever way you look at it. Nice offload but he should have been put on his arris regardless of which forwards were tackling. The offload for the last (?) try with three tacklers was just as bad.

Having said that I agree entirely that we need both more speed out wide and more size up front. Too many plodders in our squad, both backs and forwards.

Mango’s a huge bloke. Think it was a pretty powerful and skill full play…..

It`s not harmed Saints and Cats having those sort of players though.
Wigan and Hull the same.
One more player like that and our backline would flourish.
Now if we could offload Bodene and take French off Wigans hands that would help.

Dream on!

I disagree regarding Kasiano / Paasi. They are exactly the sort of player we want, a high impact player coming off the bench to give breathers to our front line who are of slightly different mould. Currently when Oledzki, Prior, Tetevano get replaced the pack is substantially weakened whereas with Kasiano / Paasi it would strengthen us when our front line require a rest. Replacing Oledzki for Thompson or Donaldson substantially weakens us.

Regarding backs, I am hoping having a fit Handley, Newman, Fusitua and Myler with Broadbent possibly taking our other centre spot could improve us a lot. Fusitua has looked very impressive from the little I have seen so far.