I assume that the 'tackle breaking' second row next year will be Soliola, especially if Wheeler can keep himself fit.

If we sign another prop, Puletua may also spend more time in the back row.

Puletua is by far a better prop than he is a backrow, he makes big yards and is massive, i would like to see tony p used off the bench to spell perry and graham.

I have watched alot of the NRL over past years and sia ain't really a tackle breaker to be honest, he's more of a good hard runner and big in defence.

When i say we need a tackle breaker in backrow, i mean a player like hock, joel tomkins, ali or just someone that can make things happen in attack.

With perry, graham, tony p and maybe LMS as props, roby, moore as hookers the front row is top class, but our backrows are all grafters, nothing wrong with grafters as they very important but i feel we just need some class to work along the hard work of clough, wilkin, flannery.

Fair Point. I doubt we will be getting one under the salary cap though, just have to hope the likes of McGennis turn into quality players.

Same here, i would much prefer the likes of magennis to come thru rather than bring in 3 NRL players

I realise there's mitigating circumstances, I myself have been keen to see his emergence when hearing about his exploits for Saints and England at junior level, it just a shame injuries have stifled his progress. Hopefully we'll see a bit more of him this year.

Will Wilkin's role change? We have lamented the way he's turned into a grafter to play a certain role for the coach, but now we have Clough to do that job, will he be able to turn his attentions to his attacking game.
The tries from the wakefield game show his ability to run smart angles. If you go back a couple of seasons when he was in top form, this ability was very apparent then.

Also, will roby be used at all in the back row, or will he always be directly rotated with Moore? When he's played loose for us this year, his lines of run have been excellent.

Another backrow option would be Wellens to SR/LF
with either Lomax or the recruitment of a pacey FB.

Wellens was keen to move into the the forwards when Potter
arrived but there was no replacment at FB.

I'm not too worried about him at the moment, having long term injuries at a young age didn't hinder Paul Anderson too much. It is a shame though, he looked promising when he's played.

I think it'd be a mistake to put Wellens in the backrow. It may seem like a good idea on the face of it because he busts a few tackles now and again and defensively he's solid. But when push comes to shove and you need good hard yards to get get of your own 20 I don't think Wello's the man to provide it.

Having said that I'd love to see a backrow of Flannery, Wellens and Wilkin go up against Joel Tomkins, Hoffman and O'Loughlin next year.

I don't think wilkin can change back to that type, his handling is ok but he ain't a attacking backrow anymore, he's a grafter.

I agree with that. A couple of years he could probably have made the step up but I don't think he carries enough weight with or without the ball and would not be an upgrade on what we already have in those positions. Don't get me wrong he has the attitude to make a reasonable go of it, however I see more potential in our youngsters in our back row slots than I do Wello.

Agreed. There's no point in turning a very good fullback (with matching wage) into a very average back row, especially when we've got Flanders, Wilkin, Clough, Soliola, McGennis, Ashurst & Dixon knocking about, not to mention Hargreaves and Puletua who can fill in there.