Personally instead of Lineham I'd have signed Lachlan Walmsley from Haven...pace to burn, knows where try line is and can kick

But is that because they are both outstanding players as much as the fact they are both wingers? Especially in TJs case. The very fact you rightly refer to miracle tries kinda makes the point. It's not like we play a style that creates them overlaps every game. That said I guess the rule change with the corner flag has meant decent finishing wingers can have more impact on the game than before

No, it's because so many of their tries were individual efforts carved from nothing. The pack and the halves had little part in these tries as they were not team efforts and without them, we'd not have won a significant number of games.

Like FB the position of the winger has increased in importance significantly in recent years. It was always a glamour position but now it's vital in attack and defence.

Without space or, the ability to make space on the edges, you can have the best winger in the world and they would be feeding off crumbs.
The pack has to come first.
The old saying about forwards deciding the result and the backs by how many is still good.

But that’s the point your missing.

Look how many tries TJ has scored with literally mm’s to spare. Nothing to do with the space created because there wasn’t any. Many were from desperation passes when the play had over run. He had no right to score them and many were match winners.

So no offence but these days that saying is b*ll*cks to some degree, certainly in our case.

Don’t get me wrong you still need a good pack but I no longer think they rule the game as much as they once did. Things change.

People seem to think I'm against Lineham's signing - I'm not. I just think that he won't have come cheap and that with our limited budget there are other options out there that may be worth exploring, Walmsley was one of those imo.

Similarly, with Westerman going I think James Bell at Leigh would be a good replacement but again that's an option as I also think Brad Walker would do well there...if you see other posts of mine on previous threads I suggested Western at prop (before a ball was kicked this season) as a way of keeping KT at 2nd row and using Brad Walker at 13 or in the halves based on the opportunities he created in the 2 or 3 games he had towards the end of last season - the away game v. Leeds in particular stands out.

We all have the club's best interests at heart but have different ideas on how to use the limited resources we have...which is why there are some decent convos on the forum, as well as some tit for tat comments etc that personally aren't for me, regardless of whether I respect everyone else's opinions...we can disagree without taking offence