Same goes for Matty Ryan. You just know he gives it everything he has got and runs some real good lines. His size makes him very hard to handle.

You're bang on there, he just doesn't look a rugby player, looks more like an amateur basketball player.

Minus the odd centre/winger, this squad is reminiscent of the best we have put together in SL.

In 2004 we had a spread of talent, Domic / Solo / Ellis / Jeffries / Semi / Korki.... They were all playing at their peak together and it would be difficult to single out who to take out to weaken us.

With the exception that we need Smith to put it all together, perhaps this years squad is similar, in that the likes of Schoey can't name more than 2 who he thinks can cut it, but we all know there are way more threats in our side than that.

IF we are fit enough, and stay healthy enough, we CAN make the 8 - no joke!

I tink you are 100% correct here, why so many readers give any credence to his articles is beyond me. As you say it sells the paper

Watch the opposition coach and dugout when Ali comes on, its usually very animated with the water carrier putting in the big minutes on the pitch.

So reading this thread we can glean we aren't such a bad side after all, Smith, Kirmond, Godinet, McShane, Ryan, Collis, Hall, Lauitiiti, Sammut and Lyne all mentioned as possible 'special' players, that's almost a full team. I'm with TRB, I reckon this side is reminiscent of 2004, and will definitely do some damage this season certainly if we keep the squad fit. So watch out Mr Schofield, I think you're way off with your prediction (again) and there will be more journo's I'm sure in the next week or two getting it wrong. I can't wait for us to make them all eat their words.

The only problem with comparing this squad with the 2004 squad is that even if it is comparable the competition is much tougher. Only 12 teams in the league and bottom 4 at risk of going down.

Also the 2004 team was very well conditioned.

And you don't have a single back comparable to Demetriou, Semi or Domic, or a forward remotely comparable to Ellis, Solo, or even Elima. Other than that it's very similar.

Don't get your logic as IMHO all things are relative - all teams are stronger now than 10 years ago including us.

I feel where all the pundits and fans go wrong is that they always concentrate on the star or pivot players with big reputations. It's easy I suppose because they are instant selections every week and you know that without them you will have problems, you don't need to be an export to work that out.
We on paper don't have as many as some but then Cas didn't last year either.

What I prefer to look at is the squad and it's reserves as that is where the strength of all teams lay but especially us - for me we are fairly well catered for relative to what we can afford. This is of course theoretical but at this point it is ALL theory.

There is no player in our squad that I personally would be scared to select. There are a few players I wouldn't want to select for every game of the season for various reasons but then that's what squad rotation is all about.

You basically have for me two types of squad players - cover and rotation.

A player who offers cover is someone like Sammut or Miller (take your pick). For you (as a coach) one of those wouldn't be your first choice but you'd be happy to see them play as cover if your first choice couldn't play.

A player who offers rotation is someone like Trout, Molloy, Ali and a few others. These players IMHO can't do a full season because they simply are not good enough or resilient enough - but each will give you 5-10 good games a season. So if automatic first choice Kirmond (example) needs a few weeks off Molloy (example) should have enough in him to cover those games and that is all we need from him. It's really up to him to prove he's more than that. Ali in particular is a bit different because age rather than lack of star quality is what holds him back. Realistically we have 25% of the player Leeds had but in the 25% of games he can play well in is still a huge bonus for us.

Good coaching and a good attitude and we could manage top 8 but then that applies to all teams.

Well we wouldn't would we

I'll give you Solomona, Ellis was not as good as Kirmond at that point in his career IMO, Domic was probably better than Collis but very different players Elima, JD and Semi give over. Tim Smith alone trumps those 3 and I do rate them all.

Better still lets revisit this at the end of the season

I'd say Collis is comparable to the backs you name and Kirmond, and to a lesser extent Ali would be in there too.

It's teams within teams too.

Solomona, Domic and Tadulala were a great left edge attack. All our best attack was down that side.
The centre on the other side whether Evans or JD etc were defensively strong and held off the other team's left edge attack. (being the popular side to attack)

We have Lynn and Riley on our left edge which is not the same, but equally Ali plays down that side and gives us a great advantage. It tends to be Lynn making the break rather than making the gap like Domic did.

From a back row point of view, you have to go to the very last players on the squad list before we have someone I wouldn't be happy with. Kirmond, Ali, Ashurst, Ryan, Molloy, Washbrook and Annakin could all start for me. Add Smith to that too. Trout and Crowther probably the only ones I would see as a slight dip and Crowther only because I haven't seen enough of him to know.

Half backs the same
Smith, Sammut, Miller and even Hall are all fine for me. Clearly Smith is the step above but I wouldn't see it as a weekness for any of the others to play SO.
Centre we are weaker in depth but we know that.

Personally, I think if Reece Lyne can learn to pass to Riley then it will massively up his game. There is no doubt that Reece can break a tackle but sometimes it's more likely to result in a break if he can get Riley in space.