Always amuse me these threads

I don't see Paul Wood playing 2nd row! For me our pack was too light v. Widnes and they won the collision and out wrestled us for a fair chunk of the game. So I can't see Currie replacing Ratch at loose forward, as he's too light. Harrison is the obvious choice to play loose, and a prop off the bench to step up to the starting line up - which would be England for me after some good runs last week. Asotasi won't be dropped as he did nothing wrong, so the 2nd bench spot for a prop will go to either Wood or Evans. Evans may edge it as Wood let himself down v. Wigan and will need to work hard to get back in. So my prediction:

Stefan Ratchford
Rhys Evans
Ryan Atkins
Chris Bridge
Joel Monaghan
Gareth O’Brien
Richie Myler
Chris Hill
Micky Higham
Anthony England
Trent Waterhouse
James Laithwaite
Ben Harrison

Michael Monaghan
Roy Asotasi
Ben Evans
Ben Currie

Gene Ormsby
Paul Wood

Edit: Higham might start again with Michael Monaghan off the bench, it hardly matters though as they're both class players.

I don't know what's so amusing CM it's all about opinions after all and FWIW here's mine in response. I don't know whether we were out muscled by Widnes because our pack was too light, more of a question of stupid unforced errors early on coughing up possession and perhaps more importantly field position, we put ourselves on the back foot. Currie too lightweight for loose may be but in comparison to Ratchford?

I agree about England, Evans if fit should be in, which leaves a toss up between Wood and Asotasi and that should have been a no brainer apart from one player being below his usual standards and the other getting by on slightly improved, but, still unsatisfactory standards week on week.

Also, whilst they are both class players I think we have operated better this year, certainly latterly, with Monaghan starting and Higham off the bench so although marginal Monaghan to start all things being equal fitness wise.

When I try and I pick the team I try and guess what Tony Smith will do, maybe I'm doing it wrong.



I certainly felt we were lacking some go forward from our pack. Silly errors cost us yes, but taking the ball up I thought only Hill was making decent metres, Harrison & Laithwaite tried their best but Trent seemed a bit lazy. Our dummy half scoots weren't working either because they wrestled us down for too long. Anyway now with Russell being unavailable meaning Ratchford goes to full back is in a weird way a blessing in disguise as it means we can select a bigger forward (than both Ratch & Currie) to play 13 and share the workload. I'm not sure about where Currie fits in this team but I'd say his slender size makes him better placed on the edges either in the second row or centres.

Hey you're not doing it wrong at all and as I said it's all about opinions whether your opinion is based on what you think TS's opinion is or disagree with TS and formulate your own, both are valid if you get my drift?

Russell's headache has certainly eased a TS's selection headache as far as FB and halves are concerned for tomorrow at least

NTW.

Stupid errors, knock ons and penalties killed us in the 1st half along with Brown having time to kick us to death.
Awfully slow ptb and very litttle ball.
Not sure how / why it turned round but England first drive in the second half and look of determination / agression set the tone

Pretty much picks itself, for me. Bridge is obviously not going to be fully-fit so we need to find a place for Currie, who I'd slot into centre once Bridge starts to flag or, heaven forbid, has a relapse. England was very impressive off the bench and we now need to give Ben Evans a run-out.

I'd expect Cas to start strongly and we can'tafford to give them a lead like we did Widnes. If we can keep them within 10 points after 20 minutes I'll be fairly happy, because they're forwards are shot. That said, you can just see the headlines about Clarke destroying his new employers so he remains the key threat.

Ratchford
Evans
Atkins
Bridge
Monas
GOB
Myler
Hill
Higham
Harrison
Laithwaite
Waterhouse
Currie

Asotasi
Evans
Monas
England

We have to match the fire, fight and bite that Castlefords forwards will express otherwise we might as well not go. We can match them else where but our soft underbelly is a real worry. Dont get me wrong, i want us to pummel Castleford and march forward.