Littler is the captain & is highly rated by Rowls so IMHO I doubt he'll be dropped. Personally I think Kaye, Higson or even Gov would be better as right centre with Pownall & Brown on either wing.

I think everyone is surprised about Alex Brown not being chosen , and we all have our choices from 2-5 , LG mentioned Gov , he was invisible last night , my wingers would be Higson and Brown , Armstrong should give his winger more ball , its been said about Littler being Captain , but for me his place would be in Question , again we all have our opinions , whatever happens Alex will return .

He's been a great signing over the past couple of years but I do just wonder if we have better options this year. There are not many 35 year old centre's currently in the game are there?

It's all about keeping quality in your team & Kaye & Gov are quality players but with Beswick & Penky on form where does that leave them? AJ is nailed on in the starting 13 whether that's on't wing or centre IMO with Littler passed his best he'd be better as a rotational back rower for me. Another option would be putting Sarsy at 3 & Kurt to starting back row with Thornley on't bench. I'm not sure if it was Salford lad sugested Kaye in't centre but thinking about it that would be better than the ever ageing Littler or AJ brought inside.

Harold im not knocking Littler , hes been a good servant to our club , all im saying is just because hes Captain doesn't mean his place is Nailed on , games against the weaker teams like the Hairnets , could be used to try different permutations in the team line-up .But again that is Rowls choice .Rowls knows .

Iain , I know what you are saying , and I agree about Penky and Bob B , it leaves Gov as 3 rd choice , im a Haggy fan , and also think Sarsfield could be tried at centre , I would always find room somewhere for Kay , as his strength and speed , and versatility are very valuable , trouble is we can only involve 17 players , and all have our best line-ups in mind , I know I have mine .

Aye Charlie with our current squad there's always going to be quality players not making the 17 weekly. Littler's still strong with the ball but defence wise is a liability & if Brown has been out of favour due to his defencive frailties the question why has Littler still got his centre spot. Another issue is AJ gets a lot of the ball through Kes & McNally rather than his centre.

Picking the strongest 17 week in week out is a recipe for disaster. Fringe players will get frustrated at lack of game time and you run the risk of fatigue and injury for those 17 constantly selected.

Get to the back end of the year and those who have languished on the fringes or out on loan will be looking for other clubs.

A big squad needs constant rotation in my humble opinion, only 1 or 2 players per game, will have those given a chance playing out of their skin to keep a place and those rested the chance to recover.

Simples really.

The first rule of a 'big squad' is keeping them all happy - especially if they can see or feel players in front of them aren't playing as well as they should.
Its a good move for Alex but a strange one for Leigh as I thought he'd be back this week.

Agreed Davo. I suppose it's early days yet, but the past two seasons our squad has been burned out by the play-offs, through playing week in, week out. With every respect to the teams we have been playing, (a couple of whom have given us nasty shocks) I'd have thought rotation would help to keep the squad 'happy' and avoid over-playing injured (or ill) players.

Well I don't watch our lads train and PR does so I think it is best to leave team selection to him.

Regarding his comments about last week and some players being out of sorts due to a virus why would he lie ?

I have posted before judging by team selection for last night's under 20's Acton will replace Aspinwall and the others will be same as last week.

Re Alex Brown the loan period will do him good. It's early days yet.

Probably something in that but this season when there's so much riding on finishing 1st or 2nd you just have to do everything to win every single game by as much as possible, that's all that matters; if a few fringe players you would have quite liked to keep ask to be transferred at the end of the season, ah well so be it, so long as we get that top spot nothing else matters this year.

Just had a look at the League table. We are still top and unbeaten...........

Despite Alex playing in the first two games!

LS you are right , finishing in the Top 2 is so important this season , nowt else matters , if we DONT finish in the Top 2 our money for finishing 3rd or Lower would be substantially lower than our Rivals , we must play our strongest 17 every game as long as they are Fit of course ,no room for sentiment now , agreed we have a big squad now , but the players who cant make the 17 , must take their chance when it arrives , and make sure Rowls notices them .