SW managed to win trophies with us with no kicking game or goal kicker. I don’t think it bothers him that much.

The real weakness of this team is centre, percival playing would have solved so many issues but unfortunately was not to be.

Hasn't welsby played centre for saints on a number of occasions? Could be our best fit for him as our other options are very sc

Farnworth - obvious one of the 2 starting centres
Watkins - hasn't he played second row basically all this season and had somewhat of a career revival there?
KPP - not sure i trust him defensively at international level to play the centre position
Bateman - i suppose if we have to? We have plenty of second row options

I keep looking at the team and trying to decide who my 2nd centre would be, only position i am struggling to fill in the 13.and every time i can't see past welsby being the best option we have there.

Dosn't tomkins kick for catalan? Serviceable at least. Sneyd would play in my 13 though with welsby at centre.

Edit - we also have makinson to kick? Plenty of decent enough options

My main worry with the squad isn’t the lack of quality as such but more the lack of real figureheads we’ve lost since the last World Cup. We had S Burgess, Graham, Lockers and Roby for the rest of the players to look up to and that must give you a feeling of security and confidence. Man for man I think we might be as strong just about but that does worry me. Who can step up in to those roles?

On the plus side I see a number of players who I have confidence can make a name for themselves. Guys like Welsby, Farnworth, Young, Oledzki. Pearce-Paul, Batchelor and Knowles haven’t had a big series to establish themselves yet and I think they can all really take that step up and thrive.

They are both no where near good enough that’s why

Thanks to Lammy for coaching him well last season.

This adds a bit more context to Lomax and Percival pulling out https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/230 ... world-cup/

This adds a bit more context to Lomax and Percival pulling out https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/230 ... world-cup/

Not surprising really

So essentially the medical advice was they could play without undue risk up to September 24th but any longer and they'd start falling apart.

Quote: TheWarringtonWolve69 "They are both no where near good enough that’s why'" Smithies was better than Knowles in 2022. https://www.superleague.co.uk/player/87 ... n-smithies https://www.superleague.co.uk/player/13/morgan-knowles More metres, more tackles, less missed tackles and much better disciplined.

Quote: TheWarringtonWolve69 "They are both no where near good enough that’s why'" Smithies was better than Knowles in 2022. https://www.superleague.co.uk/player/87 ... n-smithies https://www.superleague.co.uk/player/13/morgan-knowles More metres, more tackles, less missed tackles and much better disciplined.

No, we really don't need to cut the quota.

We do if we are to succeed at international level.

It will go down like a lead balloon, but this international nonsense and all the focus on it is farcical, pie in the sky BS.

They are on a different planet, but the NRL thrives so why can't SL? An even bigger goal would be to look American sports who also thrive without any international calendars too. All that success was originally based off the quality of their leagues and the quality of week to week competition (not 4, or 5 international games at the end is the year). Even bl00dy darts make more of a spectacle than we do.

What makes RL the best sport in the world, imo of course, is rivalries and the passion of the fans. I honestly believe that if the Hearns had taken over, then they'd have marketed the $h!t out of the league and sold its positives. That's how this game grows, that's how this game survives.

We need more international imports and ways to retain better talent. All with the goal of making the domestic competition the main focus. Obviously this won't ever happen, but I'm using it as a way to make a point, if RL in Australia was suddenly banned and the top talent came over to SL we'd see the game grow. Why? Because the games would be of a better standard, the skills and highlights would be better etc.

Fully agree about Eddie Hearn taking over. They had preliminary talks I believe but it went nowhere.

RL needs some fresh eyes on the game, some innovative out of the box thinking. Something that the Hearns would bring in spades. Too many dinosaurs in charge of the game.