19 Man Squad.

Matty Ashurst
Rangi Chase
Andrew Dixon
Theo Fages
Martin Gleeson
Harrison Hansen
Greg Johnson
Tommy Lee
Shannon McPherson
Francis Meli
Adrian Morley
Jake Mullaney
Tony Puletua
S Rapira
Junior Sa’u
Tim Smith
Lama Tasi
Adam Walne
Jordan Walne

I think we can assume Ashurst will drop out, as well as A.Walne to make way for Rapira. That will line us up as followed;

Mullaney
Meli, Sa’u, Gleeson, Johnson
Smith, Chase
Tasi, Lee, Morley
Dixon, Hansen
Rapira

Puletua, J.Walne, McPherson and Fages.

Hock, Griffin and Walton still absent.

What a side.... starting to come into place now i reckon were probably only 2-3 players from having a top top side a winger, hooker n maybe an extra quality prop!

Gaz Hock said on Twitter he will be ready for the Cup game at Hull.

I'd feel sorry for either Walne brother if they were dropped for this Friday, Rapira hasn't looked anything special and neither Adam or Jordan let anyone down on Sunday.

I would agree with that, I would have said a centre too but M.Gleeson’s performance on Sunday was top drawer.

Meli will do a job for us on the wing, but he isn’t the ideal candidate there for me. As he’s only on a one year deal I imagine he will be replaced next season.

I like what Tommy Lee brings to the team at hooker, although we need a decent interchange. You could see what were missing when Theo came into the game on Sunday and attacked the Cas defence from dummy half.

Prop wise I can’t see Morley continuing past next season and so we’ll naturally replace him, hopefully with someone of a similar (but younger) stature. Griffin still has 2 years left and McPherson signed a 3 year deal in 2011 but I remember recently he extended this (could be wrong).

Rapira is the big unknown for us so far. He came with a torrid injury record and hasn’t done much to improve upon that since arriving, he’s another who will need around 6 weeks or so to gain match fitness. I just hope he can stay fit. It seemed a needless risk to take at the time when players like Danny Tickle, Chris Tuson etc were available but the lad deserves a chance.

Hull squad hullfc.com/article/33626/miller- ... hull-squad still no carvell or paea

Hull squad hullfc.com/article/33626/miller- ... hull-squad still no carvell or paea

Adam Walne was only on the field for about 10 minutes, so I'm not sure how we can judge one way or the other. Maybe he's injured.

McPherson has a quota exemption because of Celtic Crusaders going belly up. As far as I'm aware, that exemption only lasts for the duration of his contract and doesn't carry on into any extension. Therefore, he may become a quota player at the end of this season. Be a shame if he has to make way.

I was going to say something similar. I dont remember him being on the pitch for longer than 5 minutes. He must have only taken one or two carries?

Either way, any game time either those get this season is a massive bonus considering the talent infront of them. I was very impressed with Jordan though.

I like the Tommy Lee/Theo combination at hooker.Lee is very strong defensively with a reasonable distribution.Doesnt do a lot of runs from dummy half but when you have to play 80 minutes i guess you need to conserve the gas.When Theo comes on he has crisp distribution and a good running game from dummy half.
Think in time they will make a great combo.
Rapira is still an unknown quantity but i have to trust in Nobby and the coaching staff that they see something about this guy.Could be a world beater for all we know at this stage.

I haven't seen enough of Rapira to make any kind of judgement on his capabilities, the biggest question is of course can he stay fit.

However! I was looking at our player stats the other day & Rapira's are actually pretty impressive for his limited gametime...They don't tell the whole story of course but gave me a bit of hope for what he could bring to the team if he stays fit.

Sounds like you've had similar injury crisis to us. We've only got Hock, Griffin, Walton and Manfredi injured now (I think).

Every team will get injuries at some point, just unfortunate that we have 5 of out 7 first props and Ellis (who played prop last week) out.

But no excuses if we ambitions to better last season we still need to be winning this game at home and still have a decent side out.

Think both will be good tight games, wouldn't be surprised to see each win a game.

Looking forward to seeing the new slimmed down Feka.
Always thought if he slimmed down in a prop appropriate way ( ie maintained muscle mass but lost fat ) then you could see a very effective prop.
Top bloke too !
just hope he's not too effective in the next two games !