Ratchford with the 8 shirt then

Possibly the only position he hasn't played for us!

Joking apart and pardon the pun, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Mulhearn goes this year under Powell and without Hill. I think (probably hope is more accurate) he's got a chance of stepping up and taking on a bit more of a responsible leading role.

BTW J Clark 9/10 Roberts 7/10 Mulhearn 6/10 what was that all about

Starting shirts should be given on performances rather than potential. I thought Thewlis had a very good year last year on the wing and merited his selection as a starter even when Lineham returned.

I haven't seen from him yet that he deserves to start at full back ahead of Ratchford, although I hope he is given first opportunity if Ratchford is unavailable due to injury / moving to the halves to stake a claim.

Saddened!

He said in an interview months ago that he is solely responsible for hiring and firing. If the squad is weaker, that is on Powell. He had the chance to resign all except Inglis, but has hand picked from his current squad and has luxury of Williams starting the season having been in the group for 6 months with full pre season under his belt. No excuses, I expect improvement.

To be fair he has not been able to handpick the vast majority of the squad. He has inherited a lot of players I doubt he would have signed.

Yeah, he'd probably have got Danny Richardson in.

We are on thin ice mocking other clubs' signings. Those in glass houses ...

In Powell's defence, not that it is neccessary, Richardson was a dream team member in 2018, selected for England Knights, and got a grand final ring for 2019. His form then fell off a cliff for reasons unknown. So at least this signing was based on a reasonable record. Some signings just dont work out as we are well aware.

If Powell starts extending the contracts of prop forwards and playing them on the wing then we will know we are ed again.

We have a better all round squad than we had this year, a coach who has a habit of getting the best out of players, and a coach that builds teams....TEAM being the optimal word......that play for each other. Rather than a team with a few stars littered about that they rely on.
I'm happy with our squad for 2022 and know what the players we have can produce in the right enviroment.
I'm happy with the squad, happy with the coach and can't wait for next season the start.

Totally agree. I have optimism for 2022. Not that we will win all before us, but we will show we are taking the first steps on the right path. I think we will play nice rugby too. It's the same feeling I had in 2009 when we appointed Smith.

I’m not so fussy. I’d take any of them over any of them. If there’s any jealousy, they can join in and I’ll watch.

Not that excited about any signings in SL this year.
Hill and Mamo should do well, as should Hurrell.
Not sure how Agar is going to play the Austin/Sezer/Gale/Myler thing though.

I agree about the 'team' being more important than individuals and think Powell has a good record here.
Whether that's enough to win trophies remains to be seen.

The one thing going for the squad this year should be less pressure. Powell has talked about it personally, and the media should be off our backs a little bit as we aren't gambling on the likes of Inglis et al. If anything, it's Leeds and Agar who will really feel it this year. With Sezer and Austin, and the media love-in over their academy breakthroughs (who at this stage don't seem any better than ours to me) the fans will want results. They'll need Prior and Oledzki to maintain their form if that is going to happen.

Oh, and on the Atomic Kitten issue: I don't think you can honestly say that they're any better or worse than Little Mix. Atomic Kitten were part of the Cullen era and we all know what distractions were around to stop them reaching their potential. Sure, Little Mix have been more consistent and the change in culture of the Smith era certainly got the best out of them. Still didn't win them the big prize though, just a few Brit awards, which as we know are just Mickey Mouse trophies and a night in London for the fans.

Took my daughter years ago to see atomic kitten in Manchester..surprising how many dad's were there..as for our signing Billy magoulias never heard of him...let's hope he goes well for us..as for the season ahead top 4 would be a bonus.but can see us fighting it out around 6th spot