Fact!

Smith isnt in the 19man squad after all that.

Love it ! I await "He's not that good any way..."

I'd go:

Wello
Foster
Gidley
Meli
Gardner
Lomax
Moore
Graham
Cunningham
Hargreaves
Wilkin
Flannery
Roby

Soliola
Puletua
Fa'asavalu
Clough

If Lomax is unfit, Smith will play.

Correctermundo sir

I'd swap Fa'asavalau for Emmitt, having two players on the bench that aren't match fit is a bit of a risk IMO.

Agree it's a risk, but it's not sudden death and they both need minutes if we're to win the GF.

I'm over the moon!!

Hopefully he proves everybody (but me!) wrong, leads us to a Grand Final victory and walks away leaving us red faced at letting him go.

Excellent news.

I'm not sure we do need Fa'asavalau, though obviously he'd be a benefit. After this match it is sudden death, would part of one match be enough for him to gain match fitness?

I'm looking at it as we could have Maurie with 2/3 games under his belt by the GF (touch wood), and Soliola with 3/4.

From memory, Maurie has played some very good rugby 2 or 3 games after returning from injury - fresh and free of niggles - he'd be a big plus for us if we can get him up to speed quickly enough.

I agree it's a pretty tough judgement call though, but I'd be tempted to go with it and assume that Maurie with a couple of games would offer more than Emmitt can.

Matty may not be in the 19 man squad but that doesn't mean he won't play. Soliola wasn't in the squad announced last week but made an unexpected appearance. At the very least I would be surprised if he wasn't on the bench!