The only squad I would swap with would be Saints.

Leeds & Hull better props without a doubt, but I think our spine and back row are far better. With Leeds Austin is very hot and cold and Sezer has had injury issues over the last couple of years.

Catalan is a close one, but I’d still favour Warrington - club bias no doubt having an impact. I think Catalan have a bit to prove to me still that they are the real deal.

Maloney is a really big loss for Catalans, a far bigger loss than coote will be for Saints. They have recruited well to replace Maloney but Maloney was bedded in and made that team tick, it may take a while for that to be replicated fully but they should be up to speed for the business end if not before.

If any of our players fall for his dummy they want dropping

Maloney leaving was the cause of my doubts as well.

Yep, one day Hull will gel and win the GF. On the other hand I’ve been thinking the same about us for over a decade.

If we are hypothetically going to swap squads then the first thing I’d look at is the spine of 1, 6, 7 and 9. If we think about our first choice props who will setting the platform, they’re both internationals (and with Currie and Holmes in the second row it’s not looking as shabby as we maybe think it is). So at Warrington we have in the spine:

1) Ratchford (international and Harry Sunderland winner)
6) Widdop (international and proven class in the NRL)
7) Williams (international and didn’t flop in the NRL)
9) Clark (international and Lance Todd trophy winner)

Are we really going to give that up because Leeds, Wigan, Cats and Hull have back up forwards that we perceive to be better? Leeds have signed a couple of NRL journeymen at half back. They’re good on their day, we know that, but they failed in the NRL. Suddenly they sign for Leeds and they’re world-class. Harry Smith, Sam Powell and Kade Kust? The Wigan forwards had better lay a decent platform because I haven’t seen anything to convince me that they’ll be tearing it up. Cats, yes they have some proven NRL experience there. It’s a closer one, but I’m not sure they’ll be the same without Maloney. Hull? Some big Polynesian forwards there. Not sure why Gale and Connor are seen as superior to what we have though.

The most interesting thing about that video of Powell’s first meeting the other day was his references to that famous Legacy book. One of the big things to take away from that book is the bit about picking a team on character, rather than just individual abilities. Maybe that has played a big part in Powell’s decision to let some of our bigger ‘stars’ go.

I think we don't have enough 'nastiness' in our squad.
Our pack is almost 'too nice'.

Which of our players do the opposition really dislike because they get under their skin?
McIllorum springs readily to mind. Truly horrible player and full of 'grubiness' BUT there is no doubt in my mind he brings a lot to Cats - even if that means he gets more attention from the opposition giving others more time.
Jake Connor is another one.
I think many opposition fans would put Benny Westwood in that category, but we don't have a player like him now I think.

Then again in this day and age, and the way the game is played does it matter that much?

Oli Holmes isn't a "Nice" player when he gets riled up and has Flattened a fair few people who have had a go at him He hits wellabove his weight and i'm happy as pie we have him.
But yeah i get what you mean about our forwards are too nice and not enough nastiness. But hopefully if we click and get Bullock and Butler firing right we'll be fine

I am not that bothered about getting 'grubs' like those guys. When we had guys like Morley, Carvell, Hill, Wood they weren't doing grubby underhand stuff or winding up the opposition but they were guys nobody took liberties with. It's the same with Leeds when they had Leuluai, Peacock, JJB. They imposed themselves on the game without being little poops.

But we’re talking about those players relative to their counterparts at our nearest rivals. How did Austin, Sezer, Smith, Cust, Connor, Gale, Walker et al get on last season? We finished clear in 3rd and 3 points off 1st didn’t we? So we can’t be that bad. We just need to improve in attack and not get rattled in important matches.

Quote: easyWire "We finished clear in 3rd and 3 points off 1st didn’t we? So we can’t be that bad. We just need to improve in attack and not get rattled in important matches.'" I think we were 7 points off 1st although Cats played 2 more games, 1 point behind Saints. https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre Although it felt like more we only lost 5 league games Castleford (a) Hudds (h) Leeds (h) Wakefield (a) Saints (h) We beat Catalans home and away, Wigan home and away, Saints away, Leeds away, The rest of the league below us lost 10 or more games.

Quote: easyWire "We finished clear in 3rd and 3 points off 1st didn’t we? So we can’t be that bad. We just need to improve in attack and not get rattled in important matches.'" I think we were 7 points off 1st although Cats played 2 more games, 1 point behind Saints. https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre Although it felt like more we only lost 5 league games Castleford (a) Hudds (h) Leeds (h) Wakefield (a) Saints (h) We beat Catalans home and away, Wigan home and away, Saints away, Leeds away, The rest of the league below us lost 10 or more games.

Spot on Sal, they left that to Ablett and Bailey.