Took a video of the Hakas pre match youtu.be/aX9-lj5_9AY

Took a video of the Hakas pre match youtu.be/aX9-lj5_9AY

Masoe looks awesome. I agree with the thoughts of having him work hard to lose a few pounds to improve his fitness levels, but look at the Warrington bench over the past two seasons...impact players who come on for shorter stints to inject power and boost the team. Morley, Carvell, Monaghan, Harrison (to some extent) but of course Masoe has a HUGE advantage over ALL these players....age.

And, okay, Warrington didn't collect any silverware this season (still licking my wounds), but the impact of players as mentioned..aged as they are...helped get the team in with a fighting chance.

I'm almost secretly tipping Saints for the GF next season!

I was at the game last night as well and the whole show and atmosphere were brilliant.

I was talking to Scully and asked him if he knew why Robes came off in the England game with no hooker to replace him - he didn't know.
I also asked him if knew would be playing S/O for us next year and he said anyone but Wilkin.

In fairness he also said playing there was neutering Wilkins game and he rated him as an excellent second rower.

I also heard a strong rumour that Hock had clouted Robes last weekend.

I can see Walmsley raising his game if he comes on the pitch the same time as Masoe, the Samoan will raise the bar in superleague in terms of impact and I think Walmsley will rise to it.
Its an awesome pack next season really looking forward to see us winning the momentum battles for a change.

That would be a major mistake IMO.
One lost ball or penalty and you're in trouble. Masoe last night and in the Knights game was struggling to get back to the ptb after 5 minutes on the pitch. Walmsley also seems more of impact player
I would be very surprised if Brown has them both on the field at the same time.

I agree, I'd probably go like this:

8. Anthony Laffranchi
9. James Roby
10. Alex Walmsley
11. Jon Wilkin
12. Willie Manu
13. LMS

14. Sia Solioa
15. Mose Masoe
16. Kyle Amor
17. A N Other

Or Sia starts at second row, Wilkin at loose and LMS on the bench.

With the amount of props we have signed for next season, I can see us playing a few props in the 17.

Yep, also got the likes of Richards, Walker, Thompson, Beaumont, Clough, Flangan, Greenwood, Savelio etc to be pushing for places.

Just realised I've completely forgot about Josh Jones too, but we may see him at centre.

Walmsley has increased his fitness level, ball retention greatly before he struggled with a rib injury in the play offs. He has no problem with his line speed and quite often puts in 2 consecutive tackles, next season I think he will do longer minutes.
Masoe will tire obviously , but if the option is there to change a game in 10 mins then I think Brown will use it, both players will draw in extra defenders freeing up Manu and Soliola to do further damage.
Don,t forget the opposition defence will need a great deal of effort to contain such big impact props so the defence will tire as well and will need recovery time from the damage.

Having watched the Eng vs Aus game in central London, in fact just off Trafalgar Sq, the drinkers @ the pub I was in where loving the match. Some / most cheering on England who were all southern and a few sporting Australia. The guys supporting the Aussie where in fact Aussies lol. As I looked around the pub no one could take their eyes off the action on the screen. Then a unified 'ooooffff' when S.Burgess placed that high shot in. Also I saw most of the guys in the pub all getting excited when they saw the blood pouring out of Westwood and where amazed he was in making a tackle about 5 seconds after he got patched up. In all from what I saw in the pub they were loving it. We just need to get those people to attend a match, that’s the battle.

Working with the team posted above
8. Anthony Laffranchi
9. James Roby
10. Alex Walmsley
11. Jon Wilkin
12. Willie Manu
13. LMS

14. Sia Solioa
15. Mose Masoe
16. Kyle Amor
17. A N Other

The following prop rotation template would work well I think
@15m - Soliola for Walmsley (switch LMS to Prop and Wilkin to LF)
@20m - Amor for Laffranchi
@25m - Masoe for LMS
@50m Walmsley for Masoe
@60m Laffranchi for Amor
@65m - LMS for Walmsley
@70m Masoe for Lafrranchi
You could switch Laffranchi and Amor around and tweak the timings about as required but that would give the following minutes on the field at prop
Lafranchi - 30 mins
Walmsley - 30 mins
LMS - 25mins (another 15 at LF)
Masoe - 35 mins
Amor - 40 mins

Working with 5 props you keep them as fresh as possible whilst keeping your bigger better units on the field for the most amount of time. The downside is that 7 interchanges are used.

I think Amor is the perfect starting prop. If laffranchi is still with us, I think he'd also be best starting.

I do think there is something about live sport, certainly in the regular rounds that requires some effort. I remember going to watch my first Liverpool match live. After years of watching them on TV reaching finals etc. I went to watch I think it was Liverpool v QPR or maybe Crystal Palace. I was bored silly. I think the score was 3 - 1 or something.

But there was not the passion and excitement I had got from the TV coverage.

There are some dower RL games too and I'm not sure the current format supports competitive RL as too many players, coaches and fans use it as a lead into the end of the season.

I would like to see LMS and Amor as starting props with Second rows Manu working the left hand side and Soliola working the right hand side.
This means Wilkin at loose forward providing a pivotal triangle with Walsh and Roby similar to our successful combination of Scully/Long/Cunningham.
Masoe, laffranchi, Walmsley to come off the bench against a tiring defence.