Williams' injury is a big blow, this is a really great opportunity for Hayes though. Outshine drinkwater for 4 weeks and hopefully retain his place when Williams comes back.

Great to see Holroyd, Hayes and Wood given a shot.
Last year we would have had Matautia in the halves and Darryl Clark playing at 13 if we had similar injuries regardless of players missing in the opposition.
That is exactly how you create true competition for places.
I understand the argument that we need to be careful about not over exposing the younger players but they will never be ready without the exposure at this level.
It is now up to the established players to step up and make sure that they lead the younger players.

Back of the ankle?

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That's going to be an interesting dynamic at half-back. We won't have an attacking half-back, but should control the game a little more if our forwards can get us up the field. I have a feeling the next few weeks will be like a Price team (out of necessity) making yards and putting the ball in the opposition corner for 80 minutes. I can't see us scoring many tries. Whether we can win will depend on whether we can get near enough to the line to pin the other team back.

No Dudson and youngsters in. Excellent. This would not have happened last year.

I don't think we have the pack to play the effective version of Price ball, what I'm anticipating is more of the attack to go through Walker and Dufty, expect to see Walker trying more 40/20s, offloads from King and Dufty and Ashton trying to get second phase in broken play.

I expect our defence to be solid without being overly aggressive.

Although I do worry about the amount of changes on our defence, player rotation hits the defence more than anything and the younger players will be targeted like Lindop was last week.

However I've been pleasantly surprised with the selections and I think this may not have immediate success I think it will bear fruit in the longer term.

It's going to be a long process but I'm just looking forward to seeing a change in mentality this season and then quite excited for next season with a new culture hopefully bearing fruit. We need to make sure we commit to this for the foreseeable.

Philbin and Currie have been playing in their comfort zones for a LONG time now - hopefully this will give them a long overdue kick up the arris.

What annoys me about Philbin is the way he often spins round when he hits the defensive line, pretty much guaranteeing that he's not going to break it. I wish he'd just run hard, straight and facing forwards!

You'd think Burgess would be trying to iron this out of his game.

Good to see Hayes in there & not Ratchford, well done Sam!

Do we have anyone else who could provide an impact as a running half? I don't think Dufty is suitable as he'll be targeted in defence, but I'm trying to think if we have anyone else who could fit the bill?

I've mentioned (too many times) that I'd like to see Thewlis tried at Half Back. There must be some reason otherwise it would have been done.