To give Whitehead/ Donaldson a chance.

How about Platt on the wing, and keep Halley at Full Back? Why should our consistently best player be the one to have to move positions?

Good to see Crossley in the squad. He got the wraps on the Bulls website for leading the Reserve Grade to victory at HKR. Give him a real shot i.e more than four minutes....

Isn't this around the time of year when union-bound three-quarters traditionally depart?

I would expect Cook and one of Donaldson/Whitehead to miss out looking at that squad. Not what I would choose, just what I expect.

Good plan, lets drop one of the better performers.

With a view to next year, I think we should be giving Crossley, Donaldson and Whitehead decent game time for the remainder of the year. I'm fairly sure we won't be seeing Cook next year, so I'd be fairly certain of him missing out. I'd also like to see Deacon dropped.

Halley
Sheriffe
Menzies
Nero
Platt
Sykes
Jeffries
Lynch
Newton
Scruton
Langley
Whitehead
Burgess

Godwin
Crossley
Donaldson
Worrincy

I'd start one of Donaldson/Whitehead and put one on the bench, and interchange the two. But of course we all know Deacon will play!

Tbf Cook looked better last week and when we need to win every game to have a chance at the play-offs we need to pick on form each and every week.

Forget the play-offs. We're not going to make it.

If we win every match we can. So the players not making an effort need to start.

and one of the best ways mcnamara could do that is by dropping deacon, sending the message that no-one gets a free ride

won't happen. deacon will be picked despite his lack of form just because he's paul deacon. i know macca wants to show support for him but deacon has been getting picked just because he's fit for too long now. the only thing he's had going for him is his goal kicking (he doesn't seem to want to try anything different with his kicking from hand) and as we've other players in the squad who can kick goals i don't see what his automatic selection achieves.

i'm not wanting to knock deacon for his past accumplishments, he's been a good servant to the club. but in the words of janet jackson "what have you done for me lately?"

got to agree though.

I hope Halley isnt dropped to the wing.

PLAY COOK ?

Why is Tadulala not in the squad?


It's been a while since Semi hasn't made it in.

given squad its pretty much a choice between halley and platt for wing spot. sykes was absolutely shocking on wing in world cup. if we dropped deacon, would go with sykes SO, halley wing,menzies and platt FB ( have slightly more confidence in him there than on wing. If deacon plays would go sykes FB, menzies and halley wing.

think we need to do something to strengthen defence on sykes, sheriffe side. so wouldnt play sykes at no matter what. put menzies there and use sykes at either SO or FB or drop him entirely.

Thinking about it Platt might go allright alongside nero who would cover some of his defensive lapses.

Halley. Sykes. Menzies. Nero. Sheriffe. Jeffries. Deacon. Lynch. Newton. Burgess. Langley. Cook. Donaldson. Subs. Crossley. Donaldson. Scruton. Godwin.

Scruton doesn't deserve to be dropped to the bench and you've dropped Worrincy: Something you criticized me for earlier.


Platt
Sheriffe
Menzies
Nero
Halley
Sykes
Jeffries
Lynch
Newton
Scruton
Langley
Burgess
Donaldson

Godwin
Kopzcak
Crossley
Whitehead

I can't actually see Worrincy being dropped though, this is the realistic squad imo:

Halley
Platt
Nero
Sykes
Sheriffe
Jeffries
Deacon
Lynch
Newton
Scruton
Menzies
Burgess
Langley

Godwin
Kopzcak
Worrincy
Whitehead/Donaldson


As much as i'd like 2 props on bench and Crossley to get a shot it wont happen.

koppy isnt in the 19 so crossley can have his place for a start

Didn't remember that one. Swap Koppy for Kopzcak then. I wonder why Koppy isn't there though, I hope it's a 1 week injury, he's been going well and putting lots of effort in. When Macca said he'd drop underperformers I fear he may have just dropped Koppy for the sake of it.

that would be difficult wouldnt it



2nd point maybe he's dropped least experienced of our regular props in order to give crossley a shot at first team

Swap one of those for Crossley

. Got a bit mixed up there

Yeah I know Ive dropped Scruton to the bench, because I wanted to start with our best props and they are Lynch and Burgess, I also wanted 2 props on the bench, Scruton and Crossley. Ive also typed Donaldson when I meant to type Whitehead.

It wasn't me that criticised you for dropping Worrincy earlier, Ive only just turned PC on, however, you criticised me for it yesterday evening. I just think he's a bit flat latley, the tries gloss over a some poor things for some people.

Play and Worrincy to miss for me


Halley. Sykes. Menzies. Nero. Sheriffe. Jeffries. Deacon. Lynch. Newton. Burgess. Langley. Cook. Donaldson. Subs. Crossley. Whitehead. Scruton. Godwin.

That's a fair shout but Deacon deserves to be dropped. Deacon out, Platt in for me. Then either Platt at FB, Halley on wing or vice versa. then sykes at 6.

The team I'd like to see from that squad:

Halley
Sheriffe
Menzies
Nero
Platt
Donaldson
Jeffries
Scruton
Newton
Lynch
Worrincy
Burgess
Langley
SUBS
Godwin
Whitehead
Crossley
Cook

However I don't expect that will happen.


The bottom line for me is that McNamara said he would be looking to leave out a couple of under performers this week. In my opinion, you can't include Tadulala & Kopczak as under performers (certainly not in comparison to quite a few others), so perhaps they aren't in due to fitness/injury. If you include Cook as one (and I would), there really should be another "under performer" left out. Sadly, I will be very surprised if that's the case.