I was just about to post the same , in fact I'll stick my neck out and say Lino will win the shirt to start the season and he'll have his best season at Trinity since he signed .

My reasoning is that he's got competition to keep him on his toes which is something he hasn't really had .

It's consistency we haven't had with Mason but when he's firing he can be a quality SL half .

Nice position to be in really.
Sometimes lino needed a kick up the proverbial- maybe they will bring the best out of all of them!

I thought their line speed made it very difficult for our halves. They had no time on the ball, as we lost a lot of contacts and had a slow play of the ball.

We only managed to get round them a couple of times. Once through some quick hands from Hall.

Considering the amount of ball and territory they had, our defence was pretty good. They seemed to target our marker defence and got some joy. That needs tightening up.

A decent hit out with 4 first team players missing. It will take a while for some players to step up (pace wise) and Trueman hasn't played for ages.

Promising. Really looking forward to the season to begin.

I agree with the defence holding up well despite the territory and possession. Only two steps and one gap created by foul play shows the defence was good overall.

More than 4 first teamers missing though from that 17.

Jowitt
Johnstone
Mckmeeken
Hood
Storton
Pitts
Doyle

Would be definite starters in the 17. So that’s more like 7 (almost half a team).

When you add that in I’m sure we would win more contacts and the halves would have a bit more time and options.

+ Atoni

I only thought about Jowitt, Johnstone, Mckmeeken and Atoni. I'd forgotten about the others! Be interesting to see the team in the next friendly

Griffin too.

You can not compare Russell to Gale ,though he was here for just a short spell as a player.Gale could throw passes out that put players in to gaps, Russell was throwing out a lot of hospital passes at Leeds .

Correct, thanks. Missed him. Make that 8 then.

I think he will be a back up, bench player for us this season. Be handy to step in but I can’t see him in 17 most weeks so didn’t include him tbh.

I am not comparing them. You’ll need to read again. I suggested that Russell be trying to take a few pointers from Gale and his style of play.

I felt that Russell needed to be a touch deeper personally. I do think Jowitt returning will give both halves a lot more options.