Bateman looks like he can step into the OLoughlin role although Wane has generally played a 3rd prop there when Lockers is missing. Sutcliffe at Leeds looks like a natural loose forward but may finish up at stand off.

Carvell has the last laugh on Tony Smith.

Just out of interest ? Are we forgetting Simon grix.


Who would've been playing loose forward for most of this season had he not been injured

This is spot on.

We don't have the third pivot that Hodgson brought to us in Russell, but Ratchford can give us that. We were laughing after beating Leeds at home saying how great we looked with Bridge and Myler as the half back pairing with Ratchford seemingly coming in like a "Scrum Off".

I think Ratchford is ready made for the old style of loose (rather than the new 'third prop' as the position has now become). He has open field skills, he can sniff out broken play and exploit it.

Do you know what, I actually did forget about Grix when I listed my other post.

When fit, he's one of our most important and high quality players!

I'm a bit underwhelmed by Russell's contribution at FB if I'm honest, sure Hodgson's were big boots to fill but last season Ratchford seemed to have filled them.

Granted Russell is only young and still learning the game at this level and Lord knows we have been hit a miss this term all over the park, so I'm not scapegoating based on erratic form away at Widnes and the idiotic obstruction yesterday. I hope that he fulfils his obvious potential, but, he could do with something more than a busy looking running style on kick returns

I wonder whether Rhys Evans could do a job at FB? I think that Rhys's defence is good, he is safe under the high ball and I think that he might chime into the line more consistently than Russell, who doesn't seem to have that in his game ATM All in all I think he was a bit fortunate to get picked yesterday despite the fact he has 1 on his shirt.

We as a Forum at least seem to have more questions than answers I hope that the reverse is true for TS

Wasn't the half back combination v Leeds (SL)Ratchford & Bridge, not Myler.

I've REALLY wanted Russell to be a success.... But you have to be honest, he looks a bit ropey. Lets hope its just taking him time to mature into the role.

I will wait until the end of next season before judging him properly.

Waney already said Russell had problems positionally on Radio Manc prior to our mauling at home by them. He was his coach then as a junior.

Russell looks bests scooting from dummy half. playing him at wing will mean he is up with play early on so we can utilise that skill.

So many of the mistakes of early season are still there. Do the coaches do anything about it? Russell never links up and rarely passes the ball. Myler will never be a playmaker. Bridge is now increasingly getting caught with the ball. The players were so flat that we had the knock ons and forward passes.
The helter kelter style looked so amateurish against a solid but not brilliant Leeds. We no longer have Briers and Hodgson to organise the play. We were like headless chickens in the first half.

And as for Asotasi and his 25-minute contribution. is this what we brought him across the world for?

Sinfield hasn't played loose forward with any regularity since 2011, one of McDermott's first moves was to shift him to stand off, have him defend out wide rather than up the middle and drop Burrow to the bench as an impact sub.

We've had a lot of players cycle through loose since then. Brett Delaney's playing there now but Ryan Bailey got a good run there before last season.

Carl Ablett has played there but having gone very well in the centres, and having much better hands than Delaney, Mac has put him back in the second row so he can run at defences out wide (as he did very effectively at Briers in the 2012 GF).

Liam Sutcliffe looks like an old-fashioned loose, 6'3'' & 14 stone, good hands, good pace, can hit a gap as well as carry the ball like a forward. Hopefully he'll get a chance to make the position his own.

SOL was the whipping boy during Wigan's fall from grace. The fact that he is Wigan through and through and never gave up made people say some ridiculous things about him. Instead of letting his critics destroy his confidence Lockers carried on his development into a world class LF. If he is anywhere near fully fit in the play offs it will be a massive boost to Wigan.

Back on topic, Wire have a difficult transition period. Is TS the right man to see you through this? Mind you, they may have won the other day but Leeds have bigger problems IMO. The next couple of years will be hard for the Rhinos.