3 of our current props used to be wingers. Also one who was a loose forward.

The fate of 19 year old props may change and improve from next year as they will play in the reserves. This could do younger promising props more good than any other position.
Overall I think the reserves will improve SL massively given time.

Brian McTigue was a centre at first .

I think it's a good question. I don't think there's a team that produces top quality props on a regular basis (i.e. every 2 or 3 years). At most clubs their best props are signed rather than homegrown.

Sutton is quality and probably the best prop we've produced in a long time. Mossop was also nowhere near as bad as he was made out to be. He was one of the best young props around but unfortunately injuries really took their toll. He's not a bad prop these days, although a little short of the standard he probably could have achieved.

I always thought Paul Prescott was the unluckiest of our homegrown props in the last couple of decades. He had so many injuries throughout his career but actually had the ability to reach a very high level. He had outstanding defence, could make strong carries, had a good offload and he was one of the best at putting in short passes to put players through gaps. The problem was all of those good qualities appeared bit by bit in between frequent injury layoffs. When he finally started putting all of those qualities together (and reached the age where he should have hit his prime) he had to retire.

One of the issues in recent years could be the way that Wane liked the props to play. A low number of carries during a game was presumably the trade off for much quicker line speed in defence. He also liked players going to ground as soon as possible to enable a quick play the ball. That suits some props but not all. Defence was always the most important aspect for any prop forward under Wane. That's why Scott Taylor was frequently left out early on, as was Romain Navarrete. If Wane was still here I don't think Joe Bullock would have played so many games and certainly wouldn't be considered the key player that he currently seems to be. Not a lot of our props were able to stand out statistically, or have their names mentioned frequently during televised games so they don't get noticed as much.

In terms of developing props, looking at other clubs (academy produced players in bold)Massey, Clark
CatalansCasty, Bousquet, Simon, Kasiano
HuddersfieldEnglish, Ikahihifo, Walne
HullBowden, Green, Matongo, Paea
RoversSingleton, Crosby, Peteru, Oledzki, Albert, Seumanufagai
LondonKrasniqi
SalfordThompson, Douglas, Lees, Amor, LMS
WakefieldCooper, Tasi, Akauola, Clark
WiganPartington, Byrne

There isn't really any club that relies heavily on academy produced players in their front row except for Hull FC. Looking at that the conclusion I'd draw is that when it comes to props recruitment is the most important thing.

I'd guess that the reason for so few top class home grown props at many clubs is the fact that they don't develop properly until mid to late 20's and sometimes they just don't see the point in keeping hold of a player who isn't good enough until that happens. If you've got a prop who is 21 and decent but hasn't quite developed is it worth keeping hold of them for another 4 years until they develop into a top player, or is it best to let them go and sign someone who might offer more immediately?

I think over the last 6 or 7 years we've signed props who mostly fit Shaun Wane's style, along with some duds (Lauaki, Andy-Bloody-Powell!). Signed props to play the Shaun Wane way was probably a little easier. They need to be tenacious defenders and to some extent their attacking ability and strong carries was almost a minor concern. If we're going to be playing a more traditional style of rugby and make greater use of the front row I think we need to start signing the best props from other clubs. I'm not sure the 'projects' that we used to sign will be as effective. In my opinion it's easier to coach a player to defend better and improve their line speed than it is to get them to run hard and effectively enough to be considered one of the best props in the competition.

Great response!

I'd completely forgotten about Powell and Lauaki, both definitely fall into the category of 'what were we thinking'. When you look at some of the prop signings other teams have made since 2010 it doesn't look good on the club when we signed guys like this.

It is really interesting how many props move onto to other sides and then a couple of years they'd probably be starters for the team they left. Does this happen in the NRL as much or does their feeder system negate the need to move clubs?

Maybe I'm old school, but I love seeing a top class prop. If I could pick any SL player from the last 10 years that I wished we had signed then it would be Peacock. It seems like decades since I've seen prop in a Wigan shirt that was that dominant.

Wasn't Ian Lucas playing for GB in his early twenties when his career was ended in 1992 playing for GB v Aus?

Whoever is in charge of recruitment at Melbourne Storm knows how to scout props, over the past few years they’ve turned out some world class props. Sam Kasiano, Jesse Bromwich, Jordan McLean, Nelson Asafa-Solomona, Christian Welch etc.

Not at the same level, but I've always thought that Hull KR have a decent eye for a prop too. Watts & Taylor are both Hull lads and they also signed Vella and Paea were both quality signings.

Not sure how much of a hand Chris Chester had in that? He seems to have done the same at Wakey - he even got TT playing well

and green

Your correct there Dave. IIRC it was Paul Harragon who did for Lucas. A dirty tackle and swinging arm. In ozzie speyk they call them a grub.

Kelvin Skerrett got some payback in that match.

to be fair, no one ever got the better of Harrigan, the law was changed in games due to that tackle. They never called him a grub as they called him the chief and rightly so

Well I've just copied this from the Independent newspaper.............

[i"Two regular Australian props bid for a Test place at Castleford tonight. Paul Harragon, whose tackle on Ian Lucas two years ago was, ironically, responsible for a change in the rules to allow players to be cited after internationals, plays his first tour match after completing a suspension he brought with him from Australia, ..."[/i.

So I'll stick with the 'grub' name.

ah ok...wasnt dirty he was hard. went one on one, hit hard nothing niggly would just smash people. Skerrett was a grub also......

We should have a go at getting Mitch Garbutt. Had a big season at KR

Kasiano started at the Bulldogs in 2010 and played NRL there from 2011-2017 playing almost 150 matches before last year going to Melbourne and playing mainly off the bench for about a dozen games.Don't think Melbourne turned him out- more turfed him out!