Reynolds???
Seems to have goods wraps pre-season.

Expect us to stick with Ridyard TBH, hopefully he learned a lot from Friday - kicking the ball dead in goal is not a good option with the new 7 tackle rule - lacked composure generally as a team against Cas, the Half Backs are the pairing to help control the game better

Agreed Col, but if Riddy is not quite fit(which he didn't look it on Friday), Then I would be tempted to play Reynolds there. We need more power, and more work from the pack as well, and i have to say a couple of changes there wouldn't surprise me. It will be interesting to see what back line we go with.

Well with the injuries now stacking up (Hood broken ankle apparently) we will be lucky to have 17 fit in a few games time. Its all started to go t*ts up

Don't want to speak out of turn here, but I watched your halfbacks with interest on Friday and I would stick with that partnership. Ridyard wasn't fit, admitted, but the only way to get match fit is to play. Drinkwater will come out of his shell a little and then it should be a decent partnership as he can provide the bit of flair and Ridyard can direct a team. Ridyard made some mistakes with his kicking, but mainly due to the new laws and how to play them to the best advantage. You need an experienced head sometimes, and he could provide that calm and stability when needed. Look at Finn last year at Wakey, not the most dynamic of halfs, but his thinking and experience steadied them when they needed it. On the subject of Rocky Hampshire, I wouldn't be putting him in the halfs. 2 sets of coaching staff in SL cannot be wrong. Neither Wane or Powell see him as a half back, and we put a prop there instead of him, even though Rocky was fit. His best positions that we found were wing, then fullback. I can't comment too much on Reynolds as I didn't see enough of him when with us to form an opinion as to his best position/s. Good luck against Leeds, I'll be watching that with interest, I think it's gonna be a tight one.

Good honest assessment. I also watched our halves very closely as well, calling on many years of experience and came to the same conclusions.

A) on Ridyard, he will be taken out of the firing line short term. He will not play on Friday. Ben Reynolds will partner Josh Drinkwater at 6 & 7.

B)Ryan Hampshire's positional play at full back was poor, he made defensive errors and is also far from reliable when peppered with the high ball. He is a young lad and he will learn but I suspect he also may be taken out of the firing line Friday. Mitch Brown will move to full back.

Good luck to you 'Caslad75' for the season. You have an impressive structure there.

Without watching the whole game back again, I thought the majority of the kicks that went dead, were from Drinkwater, and not Ridyard? That said, Riddy looked 'off the pace' of the game - although the only way to get match fit for SL, is by playing SL.

Riddy missed the last 4 or 5 weeks of pre season, big gamble to throw him in unfit. I would flog him as if it was preseason and have him back v Saints, if Ben plays well then I fancy him to move to FB. Tonga/Crooks at centre it seems to be, the wild card is Stewart to 6 and go with the extra forward but that would mean Reynolds at FB imo

In that case, he should not have played then imo.

The pass from Drinkwater to Hampshire to put him in, shows cohesion between them.Thats fact,are we to just ignore that fact because Cas and Wigans coaching staff say he's not a half?

Should have gone to Sheffield.

Is that not more to do with him linking up from FB though - no idea whether Hampshire can or can't succeed at halves, 2 top coaches indicate not but he is still young so who knows.

At the end of he day let's hope we don't have a knee jerk reaction because of Friday- so long as we learn the lessons we'll hold our own in a lot of games, gave up a lot of field possession and any team would get punished at this level.

I could be wrong and situations can change at any point leading up to kick off, but I do believe Hampshire has been dropped.