www.rugby-league.com/england/art ... aland-test We will be missing 3 for the Cas game Batty Sol George Regards , EW

www.rugby-league.com/england/art ... aland-test We will be missing 3 for the Cas game Batty Sol George Regards , EW

Interestingly Castleford provide no-one for the squad on a weekend when we play each other.

Another 2 points down the drainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, and only one recognized centre.

Saints have 5 players but a free week end.

We would have had a free weekend only for the bad weather when the original game should have been played. Perhaps we should do what Cas U19's academy did this weekend and postpone the match?

And annoyingly the players who play in Denver will have a short turnaround as we play Leeds at home the following Thursday!!

Why pick SOL don't think he's gonna make another World Cup . Better getting used to life without him

Regards , EW

Gale is injured, so it’s not like he’ll be playing.
McMeekan doesn’t deserve a place given his form so far this year, though he has played well for the last three weeks or so.
Shenton never gets picked.
Watts will need to get through the rest of the season without getting sent off before he can be trusted at international level. He’s been playing very well and would be unlucky to miss out if he didn’t have such a short fuse.
Oliver Holmes just isn’t well-known enough for Bennet to pick him. He has been our best backrower this season but has very much gone under the radar.
Eden could score 10 tries a game but Bennett won’t pick him because he made one or two mistakes when he played for Brisbane.

In fairness to Bennett he has an embarrassment of riches to pick from on the wings and he’s named three better players then Eden in that position (plus another couple have been left at home).

Indeed.
Though I do think some don’t realise how many metres Eden makes in kick returns with his pace. Hall and McGilvary might make a metre or two more in contact, but Eden can make ten metres more before contact with the pace he returns the ball. This idea that making an odd metre in contact is exaggerated in my opinion. I’d rather have someone who can start the tackle count ten metres further up the field than someone who makes an extra metre.
As ever, his weakness is defensive. Shenton is good at communicating with him, but he still has a tendency to find himself in no-man’s land defending the line.

On a separate note, is Leuluia still eligible for NZ? Might he be missing too?

He is and the local journalist thinks he may be selected. Hopefully not from our point of view.

Issac Luke looks to be back to his best form lately.

A fair point I dont like fullbacks that hold back when they could be further up the pitch if they just ran back with some speed I include Tomkins in that category

I don't know why Shenton never gets picked; he is the best left centre in the comp for me.

Hoping Percival gets a starting berth, I think he’s a quality centre. Connor is a good centre too, I’m surprised he was taken but he could be used as back up/utility from the bench.

I was surprised to see GW in the squad though. I don’t think he’s been particularly good at all this season and I expect Lomax and Widdop to be our starting HB’s.

Good squad, well balanced with a nod to the future.

3 players missing won't mean too much. The players who play will want to try and earn a starting spot. Just look at last season when we had 8 missing vs Saints who were at full strength and we went on to beat them. Even last week VS Wire we had 8 missing also.

It spurs the lads on who get picked. Plus with how you are playing lately it may do you some good changing things up a little vs us.

Kid yourself all you want mate. We don’t underestimate the impact of losing Lockers, never mind adding Bateman and Williams to the list. Add to that Liam Farrell, Ryan Sutton and Joe Burgess (not including Joel Tomkins) and it paints a pretty grim picture for us. Only one winner next week.