Kearney
Raynor
Ah van
Walker
Ainscough
Briggs
Herbert
Hargreaves
Diskin
Lynch
Elima
Whitehead
Langley

Scruton (impact prop) Kopczack, Le Estrange, Royston (utility back)

With: Donaldson, Platt, Halley, Sibbit, Burgess for initial cover.

Nobody has forgot about him, theyve just realised how consistently average he is. People are now starting to think, WTF was Macca and Phil Clarke on about with this guy. Not a patch on Addy or Whitehead.

consistantly average?? the guy was doing exceptionally well for an 18yr old in a v poor team until the injury. i thought he was out performing whitehead at the time and it is accepted that whitehead was poorer towards the end of the year.

Yes, consistently average. Exceptionally well is a massive overstatement of Donaldsons form before he was injured. Take exceptionally well and apply it to Elliot and then I would agree. He's a good lil tackler, I will give him that, but that is about it and until he shows us something more then he remains just an averagely talented kid despite what Macca, Medley, and Phil Clarke have convinced many of yous otherwise.

I hadn't really thought about starting with Hargreaves and using Scruton as an impact prop, but have to admit that does sound like a good combo all round. Which ever of; Platt / Ah Van / Walker get the 2 Centre births, I'll feel for the third as think all could do a VERY good job for us. FWIW, I'd go Ah Van & Platty, but this is only based on the fact that I have seen them two most. Tough call I think.................what a choice of riches we have this year vs last. Come on Milenium weekend

Thinking about it id have either raynor or ainscough to start till halley is back then id go

kearney
halley
walker
platt
ah van
briggs
herbert
hargreaves
diskin
lynch
elima
whitehead
langley

royston
lestrange
scruton
kopczak

langley/walker can go second row for subbing and royston can go to either wing with ah van moving to centre or loose with langers moving to second row.

If briggs/herbert gets injured kearney can slot in there and royston can go fb a player with such versality is massively important to have on bench.

your probably right, the guys who see him day in day out in comparison with whitehead have got in wrong. obv you have had the benefit of time since his injury and have spotted what most people didnt at the time- well done.

TBH I'd pick Raynor ahead of halley and maybe ainscough too if he can tighten his defence up. Much as I like royston dont think wing is one of his positions. more likely he'd go into the and either ah van stayed on wing or platt shifted their (as it was mentioned last week he was training there).

Whilst I think both Donno and Addy are potentially excellent players I would start with

Kearney
Ah Van
Platt
Walker
Raynor
Briggs
Herbert
Lynch
Diskin
Hargreaves
Elima
Sibbitt
Langley

Scruton
Kopczak
L'Estrange
Whitehead

I've gone for size and work rate in the starting pack. I've gone for Sibbitt as he's a big lad who tackles well and it's key we don't get bullied early on.
For the first time in years that would give us size and strike power from the bench and the opportunity to actually change the pattern of a game rather than just resting our best players. Would love see Elliot coming on after 20 and running in that left channel.
I'd have been happy to put Ainscough on either wing but opted for a defensively safer option to start with.

I would go with this too, its got more of a feel of the Bulls style about it, bash them up first then mix it up a bit more. fourth place on the bench is the difficult one to decide

IMO it would be very useful to take advantage of this link we appear have with Dewsbury and send him out on loan.

After his injury, he'll be in need of some game time to get him back upto pace which as Odsal he might not get straight away.

If you remember Jamie Langley and JP (I belive) both had a smell out on loan and it seemed to really help them establish themselves.

like look of that team too. Think we've got a real opportunity to mix things up each week and tailor team to suit opposition. obviously we keep the core of team the same but we've got options to tweak both pack and the ouside backs to suit the opposition.
eg pack like above to go up against teams with a big pack or bring in likes of addy,donaldson,royston etc to give us a lighter more mobile pack against teams with smaller packs. Likewise we can go for power in outside backs with raynor,walker,ah van and platt or all out speed with likes of ainscough,platt,sykes and finnigan/halley. Or a pemutation thats somewhere in between. Theres a much better balance to squad this year which should allow us to rest players with niggles without significantly weakening the team which can only help too.

That's what I would go with also.

The strength that we have in depth this season is truly amazing.

yes, sensible way to get him back into it without being too far away. JP spent time in Australia and did a month at Featherstone