Tbh, im at a point where its either jack Hughes at 13, or not at all.

As nice a guy as he us, and as effective he is tackling, he's almost a non force going forward, he offers zero threat in attack, that doesn't help austin, thst doesn't help whoever at right centre or charnley.

Remember our purple patches from when gleeson joined and onwards, whoever was playing down the right was a threat, 2nd row centre or wing, swann, Westwood, gleeson Bridge whoever was on the wing, defences couldn't slack off on any of them as they were all dangerous.

Now, stand black, watch Hughes get the ball and shuffle to a stop and then slowly step inside.

As has been mentioned before we can't have 2 of Hughes and clark in the pack at the same time, its too passive. Robson might be a bit better running directly, but I get thr impression he's going to be used as a middle rather than a wide runner.

Great comms from the club, I received my "Members Exclusive" email about this at 5 am this morning.

Yeah i think Hughes attack is near non existant, he's had a few random games where he seems to realise he's a big lad and hits the accelerator and does really well. But those games are rare, put him at 13 and defensively in the middle we look a hell of alot more solid, and put someone else at second row......not J.Clark....i thought gelling would make an exciting second rower but ahh well not to be.

The next piece of the puzzle is Widdop. If Widdop stays, which I think is unlikely, or if we do a deal with another Aussie halfback heading this way then we have the conundrum of how you fit Ratchford and Ashton into the side together. One way is to move King to SR, Ratchford to Centre and Ashton at FB with Hughes at 13. If we need to find a halfback from within our ranks then Ratchford is the obvious answer leaving us with J Clark at 13. The first option sounds a lot more exciting to me.

mailman moaning about the mail

I'd be surprised if Rathcford was anywhere else other than full back or half.

Had Gelling stayed there would be the option to move King to SR and run with Inglis and Gelling as centre, now he has gone centres have to be King & Inglis, King is a good SR, but he is a better centre I think.

If Widdop stays (and hopefully by March the UK will be a different place and his family will be happier to come over) the question will what do we do with Ashton, wing or waiting to step up to cover injury / suspension.

If Widdop goes, keep it simple. Ratch in to the halves, Ashton Full back, consider whether we need a backup half or if Dean is enough to cover.

Either way I'd still like us to add an attacking backrower to the squad, whether that is through Sita / Latu going or Widdop leaving.

Personally I would not want to see Ratchford shoe horned into centre.

Me either i think that would be an absolute waste of him, Halfback or fullback with king at centre all day long with Inglis, i would say put Sita at second row as it would slightly decrease his work load and may improve. But i think we played him there once and he looked clueless.
He did much improve his fitness early in the year and looked to have sorted himself out, so i hope that continues and now we have the young lads coming in to take his place he might kick in to overdrive to get back on the field.
Latu.......can just leave.

Signing two props is a step in the right direction, how big this step is remains to be seen. I'm just worried that SP will use the newbies in small portions of 10 minutes a game, like he did with Akouala. This may happen to start with until they hold their own when replacing Hill or Cooper, but the template of how our bench props have been used may be a difficult habit for him to break.

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