Harsh on Pratt.
Surprised by four others.

You would think so after a very good season last year. His performances were above his years.

Powell was glowing in his praise of Pratt.
More so than any other.
So I don't think there's any worry about him playing.

Powell and a few in the know in the audience commented on Walmsley putting on some muscle in preseason.
That was always my worry about him but if they are working on him he could be great.

Me too. He was error prone last season and him being missing and Vagana put in from the Play Off Final was contributory to our excellent performance in that game.

Yeah but isn't Griff side-lined for the first few weeks/months while he recovers, so I suspect Vagana will have the opportunity to make that spot his to lose ??

For me, Griffin had a good first half but a relatively poor second half. Considering his age and form I'd personally have gone with Vagana in my top 17, I'd have also gone with Pratt and Scott in the centres, but as people have said it matters little in the greater scheme of things.

Looking at the numbers, it seems like the team is big on Seth, sticking him straight in the 13. I'm excited to see him play even more now. We've potentially an exciting set of Props, with Big Mike and Rodwell starting with Caleb and Atoni off the bench, with Vagana backing up there or S/R. Saying that the whole team's full of potential if we get it right and injuries don't screw us over, even though we've got depth.

Powell talked about Vagana being second row.
He felt he still had a lot more growth in him. Clearly likes him.

But he talked about Seth being something special.

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.