Potential to be best forward in superleague? i know its very early days and hes only young... but the size of the lad and the impact he makes when hes on is impressive. He can only get better with more game time and more training. Scary thought he could actually get bigger..... the way he flattened feka last week was a great site and not many people can do that! its going to be very tough who to drop when scruton returns thats for sure out of the forwards.

It's not going to be tough at all. Scruton will be back, and Burgess will drop down to the U20s to continue his development.

Look, Burgess has done well. He came in during a crisis and had stood up well. But he's raw and makes quite a lot of mistakes. He needs work, and he needs to work on his conditioning, but he has undoubtedly got potential. Best forward in SL? Far too early to even begin to think about that.

That said, knowing our luck, we'll have an injury or suspension to one of our first choice props and Burgess will be back in soon enough

But paul it comes to that point again.... why drop a player that is growing with confidence every game and getting better? he shouldnt be dropped if he continues to improve. Scruton will have to fight for his place

best player in super league. i think youre mixing him up with donaldson

He hasn't exactly set the world on fire. He's done well, but not a patch on Scruton at the moment.

Didn't Tom resist going to the NRL so he could play more 1st team rugby?

I agree he's a work in progress, but I can't see any problem using him as an impact prop.

I'd be happy to give him more 1st team games

Hopefully one day we'll have Tom, George and Sam at the Bulls...Maybe even Luke...

They are all young enough to form what would be an awesome quartet of front rowers in years to come..

Front rowers mature later for a reason.

Throw a prop in too much too early, and (amongst other things) he can suffer serious long-term damage.

In a discussion Mission and I had with a couple of the coaching staff last year this question (of props making an impact at a very early age) cropped up. As did the issue of big hits and especially effective use of the shoulder. They pointed out that one particular young prop prodigy had sure been making a name for himself in that department. They also pointed out that the same lad had already had to have significant shoulder surgery, and they expressed concern for the effect on the length of his playing career if he continued in (crowd-pleasing) like vein.

ATEOTD the team should be picked on form. And one way to heighten form and minimise injuries is to rotate your props week on week. This I would expect Potter to do, if and when he finally has enough props to do that effectively with. So I would be confident of Tom getting a fair share of game time. But, at his age, no more than is safe for him - and for us.

Why bring Donno into it?
Despite what you said before it seems very personal, you [iabsolutely[/i certain he didn't get your sister pregnant??

Because he was described potentially as the best player in the world, which in turn would make him the best forward in SL. Just thought the OP might be confusing the two. Seems like you want him to get you pregnant. Oh well.

I saw you sneak some "reasonable " words in after your initial post!

Quite. At 18 you aren't physiqally mature enough to withstand the demands of contact sport at such a high level. Give him a taste in short spells and bring him through slowly. Should be another couple of years before he is a regular first 17 pick.

You only have to look at the likes of Civoniceva and Menzies to see how long forwards can play if they are taken care of.

JP is 33, past his best & still captaining England.

Not sure what point you are making, but JP was a late-developer and made his SL debut at 22 (and started anyway in the second row), and which sort of helps prove the point?

TBH I'm not sure myself. But the point stands.