Personally i would like to see us start with King and Atkins as the 2 centres, i would play King at right centre and play Ryan Atkins in his natural position of left centre. Thats a lot of power and pace in the centres.

Matt King has played on the right side at rep level albeit on the wing but he looked sound enough, we played him on the right wing last year and if i remember right he played well.

With a centre line up of Atkins and King i would say that we would have potentially the best starting centre pairing in the league, Matt Gidley is a class at saints but they are weak at left centre.

This current team would beat that 93/94 side.
93/94 side had 3 very good players (Davies, Bateman, Mackay) who carried the rest although the rest were hard workers and a good team unit.

The 93/94 pack was well off the pace of the current team.

I would rather have Penny on the wing then Hicks.The problem i have with Hicks he dosnt take the man on the outside.He seems to cut back in which 9 out of 10 results in being tackled.Penny seems more likely to go round the man.I know Penny has his knockers biut i think a couple of good early games from him we could really see something special this season.

Saints look weak to me in some areas, but I reckon they'll be alright at left centre. If Gary Wheeler stays fit, he could be a revelation in that position this season. They also have Sia Soliola who while better at second row would be a decent left centre in Super League.

Back to our squad, and I agree with other posters who say its the strongest they've seen since they started watching Wire. Only Leeds can boast similar strength in depth IMO.

That's providing that they perform if and when called upon, Neill, Blythe and Mitchell could well be in the last chance saloon.

The reason I put Atkins on the wing outside King is that his assist stats are dreadful, probably the worst of any centre in SL. However, he is big, strong and quick and a good finisher. I would start him on the wing and see how his centre skills develop through coveriing for the inevitable injuries as the season goes on. I like Riley and think he has improved immensely but with my logical hat on, I think Atkins makes us a more dangerous team aginst the top opposition. I think Bridge is streets ahead of Atkins as a centre at the moment but that could change if Atkins develops his skills under Smith.

I wouldnt be suprised to see us take 2nd. Like Hull after their cup win.
Lets hope we dont drop off the pace as miserably as they did

Have you changed your mind? I'm sure you though King was a terrible centre. Why not Bridge?

The first bit of that is a big call. I know what you mean re the cutting back in; he appears to look for the biggest opposition player and then just run at him - he never beats him. Presumably that is some tactic.

The second bit - how wonderful would it be to see Penny fulfil all that promise....

The only thing Atkins has is pace,his awareness is poor.He cant see the pass when its on.Put outside a world class ,who release him.I think we will have a very strong powerful runnning winger.You look at leeds Hall is monster who is fast as lighting saints have Gardner who is big and strong.We had Riley and Hicks who dont really put the fear of life into you,

Atkins would make a tremendous winger, international class imo
We haven't bought him for that. If he works hard he yet still could make a good centre

So your saying Smith will drop King, Bridge to accomadate him.I dont think so. Bridge for me was one of the best in SL last season.King well is Matt King we all saw how devastating how he can be, in the semis thats when he showed how much class he has.So for me thats what my would be come start of the season.

King will play at 5 imo to start the season

No, i havn`t changed my mind about anything. I just think Matt King is a stronger option than Chris Bridge at centre plus he`s quicker and harder to stop close to the line, he also gives you the advantage of height and with the short kicking games of Lee Briers and Richie Myler not many will out jump Matt King.

Having Ryan Atkins and Matt King in the centres gives us pace and power, Chris Bridge just gives you a fairly solid game without the X factor that Matt King is capable of as per the Wigan semi final, his height and strength close to the line is hard to stop.

My main point about Matt King previously is his lack of centre skills with ball in hand, he should beat more first tacklers than he has done previously and you don`t see him stepping past many players with nimble footwork, its his skills close to the line with his height and size that are a big plus which is why i would have him in ahead of Chris Bridhe especially now that we have 2 good kickers from hand.

Bridge is better beat the man sort of player than King.