Good to hear his comments about Conor Wrench playing centre too.

Hopefully he will give Wrench a decent chance to secure that position, it depends I suppose if Tai settles in Warrington, or whether the lure of the NRL is too great.

Drinkwater often looked impressive for Catalans and Hull KR though, to be fair, and the reaction on here was largely positive when we signed him. I hoped that he was going to finally provide us with an excellent attacking kick option. Instead, he just became Mr Anonymous for most of 2023, unfortunately.

Oh hell is Drinkwater going to become the next Mata'utia on the forum? BTW I'd love it if Hayes stepped up and played every game.

I'd rather have Wrench at centre than Mata'utia and Ratchford.

Drinkwater's best attribute has always been his kicking game, which has been awful for too long in the P&B. Players should earn the shirt, Smiffy, but there's been too many poor performance by too many players over a number of years. If SB promotes a system of meritocracy, then we'll have laid the first stone of a good foundation for the future.

Totally agree. Let the young guns prove their worth at training and on the pitch & step up & we'll all be happy.
But let us show respect to our older lads too. Seems fair doesn't it.

Yes, but only if they walk the walk and set the standard and an example to our younger squad members and our academy.

Nice to see a new pair of eyes looking at the situation. It should be seen as an opportunity for all to show their worth.
It makes the early season selections great fun.

There was the perceived (rightly or wrongly) correlation of Drinkwater's decline in form/attitude around the time of McGuiregate. I think when we were 8/8 no-one was complaining. Then we got a taste of reality from Saints and Wigan and it all went downhill.

The leadership group for 2023 was ...

George Williams,
Josh McGuire
Stefan Ratchford
Peter Mata’utia

And thereby hangs a tale

Doesn't it just

I still don’t understand how Maguire was seen as a leader and Vaughan wasn’t. I was surprised at the time and gobsmacked as the season progressed!

I do remember a poster on here arguing that Maguire ought to be made Captain prior to his first game. He was just what we needed!!!

He might not want to be captain or part of the leadership team. He might just want to crack on doing his job, although like Morley, sometimes a captains actions speak louder than words.
I'm not sure who should be captain but Williams or Vaughan wouldn't be a bad choice at all. I think Williams would suit it well