I have never seen a player get away with being offside as much as Austin was onThurs. The ref and touch judge ignored it for most of the second half.

Pay closer attention to Maggie Philbin when they play saints he was 2 yards offside all the time he was on the pitch

His crying and waving of arms after the alleged ‘gauge’ was quite embarrassing for a Rugby League player.

For the Cas game, I think it would be good to play Mitch Clarke. He’s done well in the last couple of games and he’s got a point to prove. So I’d put him in instead of George Burgess.

1 - French
2 - Marshall
3 - Hardaker
4 - Bibby
5 - Burgess
6 - Shorrocks
7 - Hastings
8 - Partington
9 - Leuluai
10 - Byrne
11 - Farrell
12 - Isa
13 - O’Loughlin

14 - Clarke
15 - Havard
16 - Smithies
17 - Clubb

Wouldn’t have Shorrocks and Clark in front of Bullock and Smith, unless Clubb is dropped for Clark

Shorrocks hasn’t done enough for me to warrant a place in the team. I’d keep leuluai at six and this might be a bit outside the box but I’d try Isa at hooker. He has a good engine on him and although we won’t see many scoots I think he could do an 80 min job.

Even though Shorrocks isn’t the worlds best defender, I think he’s a lot better than Smith and that’s one area I’d like to see Smith work on, his defence, otherwise someone’s going to run all over the top of Smith and that’ll ruin him. ITS Alright making comparisons with George Williams coming through, Williams was a very good tackler so could hold his own.

I do think Bullock has been better than Clarke but with the way he was treated last year by Powell, he will be motivated to have a good game. But if I’m honest, I’d probably rather play Kilner over both Clarke and Bullock, but I’d be inclined to swap him in the squad with Havard to avoid burnout.

You would hope that Clark would want to prove a point to cas, he could be used to unsettle their players.

Clubb is very much a Lam favourite but he needs to do far more if he wants a place IMO. He took 3 carries in for 15 metres and missed nearly as many tackles as he made. I like Clubb when he’s on form (he was excellent for a spell last year when we were down to the bare bones in the prop department) but with so much competition for places, he couldn’t have any qualms if he lost his place at Cas.

I would run with smith at 6, however i think they may start lockers in the halves and put smith on the bench, bringing him on the field after 25 - 30 minutes with lockers going for a rest. I then think lockers would return in the 2nd half to give tommy a rest for 15 minutes at 9.

This would allow smithies to start at 13.

I think the team will be:

French
Marshall
Zak
Bibby
Budgy
Lockers
Hastings
Partington
Tommy
Clubb
Isa
Faz
Smithies

Byrne
Clarke
Bullock
Smith

I would also spell havard for this game as he is young and put him back in for the Tornoto game the week after.

This would allow Clarke to have a bash against his former club who threw their toys out the pram when he turned down their offer of a 3 year deal to join Wigan.

Just on this 80 min hooker thing, is it not the case that Joe Shorrocks has played a bit of interchange hooker at Academy level? Which might gives us an option if he gets a bench spot at some point this season, which seems likely.


I agree with those who say, keep French at full-back. i also agree that Cas away is a tough place and not the best spot to blood a lot of inexperienced youngsters.

Looks like both Powell and Burgess could be playing on Friday, don’t want Burgess playing because he’s simply not fit but Powell would be good to have, I’d still spell him with Tommy at 9 and have Smith at 6 however

George Burgess 50/50 according to Lam but he’d need to be 100/0 IMO to get a game. It’s a long season and there’s no point in playing people who are anything like 50/50.

Powell has passed the head tests apparently, so he would be handy to have in the team. I’m really looking forward to seeing Harry Smith yet a start at some point but Toronto at home would be a wiser move than Cas away. I’d carry him on the bench for Cas and start him against Toronto.

If Powell needs a week off it would be a great opportunity to see Harry Smith alongside Hastings. I watched the Widnes reserves game and he was a level above in that first half. I suspect Shorrocks would get the nod because he could spell Tommy at 9.