Fairly surprised Rourke hasn't been mentioned as a starting centre. Seems to have come off a very good season in Super League and has the attributes to be a very good one. Possibly in a better position than Hall given his season last season and Pratt given he iss till learning and hasn't played his trade in SL yet. Definitely think we're weakest at wing and centre in terms of quality combined with depth. Hopefully we don't get many injuries in those positions.

I like Rourke a lot but he's only played 15 SL games for the bottom club.
He's got a lot of development in him but he'll put pressure on Max and the 3/4s.

I wouldn't say centre especially is an area where we're weak, or weakest. We've got Scott and Hall, both SL quality centres, plus Pratt, who for his age and development seemed to just go from strength to strength last season, who I think will just continue to improve and develop. Then Rourke, who seems a good SL quality player with quite a bit of room to improve, has utility value as well and he's very early into his RL full-time development. It's actually an area I think we'll be good in IMO.

Even wing, we've got TJ and Walmsley with Russell as backup, who's a decent SL quality winger, especially as a back up, we can also move Pratt there to play if it comes to it.
I don't think Rourke's got a mention at centre because he played mostly at FB for London didn't he, that's his preferred position and he'll be back up to Jowitt, keeping him on his toes all season.

I think generally we've got good backup for every eventuality, especially as a team just moving back to SL, I think we've got real strength in depth across the park. Every team in SL has areas where they are weaker than others when they scramble to cover if they get injuries, so it's a bit unfair to pick holes in our squad after everyone we've brought in and retained and we haven't even seen them play together yet. It will take some time to gel, especially with a new halfback pairing, centre pairings etc. It's may take a bit of time for us to click but hopefully not too long.

It was interesting to hear Powell talk about the spine.

Half backs will be Trueman and Russell as first choice.
He says they are fitting together really well. He sees Russell as the one to replace Gale as the shouty organiser but says Trueman is gifted and one of the best halfbacks in the league. And says he's looking extremely fit and strong in training which bodes well.
He talks very highly of Max. Still says he has improvements in his game but that he thinks he should be aiming for an England shirt. That's unbelievable praise.
And then Harvey Smith at hooker. He loves him, especially for his speed. Says he'll get a good chance to play as Doyle is still recovering from his op.

He also talked about Lino saying he's behind the other two but we are lucky to have such a quality halfback in reserve and spoke to him about how he breaks back in.

My concern with our backline is where our metres come from on our exit sets.

Our backline is still quite young and inexperienced and outside of TJ we don’t have another in the 1-5 shirts who consistently dominates/wins contact which could see us kicking deep in our half at times on the last.

It’s good to hear they are looking at this with Walmsley because it’s a big part of a wingers and centres responsibility these days and I also think it’s the reason we went for Matty Russell as whilst he has many issues with his game his exit sets carry is without doubt his best attribute.

Other than squad numbers, any other news?

I have said do a good while I expect Max to be in line for an England shirt soon. He’s not far away at all. A combination of lack of competition of uk halfbacks and to be honest his only real competition is Wellsby. Max has a far better passing game than Wellsby but Wellsby has the flair. If you stuck Jowitt in the St Helens team he would be excellent imho putting try’s on a plate more so than Wellsby. It would r surprise me in the slightest and I’m expecting it. Partly why I’m very confused he’s out of contract.

Walmsley massively improved in bringing the ball back in early sets the last 3rd of the season. It was notably commented on by Powell also. He was running it in hard and direct and his metres were much higher. Another full time pre season and probably a kilo or two of muscle will only improve this. I am more positive that Walmsley will make a very good transition and make a good standard SL winger. Marty Russell offers experienced back up/rotation and reliability being a solid winger. I think Johnstone and Walmsley between them could be amongst the top wingers in SL if the transition for Walmsley goes well.

As for other backs, Hall improved Castleford last season. I watch a number of their games and he was solid in defence and worked hard and to me looked pretty good.

Scott I was impressed with at Hull but his best games were at second row so be interesting to see how he goes at centre if he plays there.

I do think that Pratt will retain a centre spot though.

Another couple of bits Powell mentioned we may bring in another player. I asked him after the forum if we are discussing a new deal with Max and he said we are.

(well spotted Trojan)

Powell mentioned how good Hall was looking in training

Hopefully Matt Ellis can be signed up longer. He had a good season last year.