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.

Looking at the squad I think we need a lot of the question marks that hangover it to be resounding successes if we are to finish in the top 8.

The spine is my biggest area of concern.

9 I’m most concerned about, it’s such an important position and we lack proven quality we have Hood and I’m not sure what more we can expect from him. Doyle looks promising but more in the Smith impact type role. A dominant 9 is top of the list for recruitment for 2026.

Russell a bit of an unknown. Showed signs of going well but also been anonymous at Giants at times. Hopefully a new club, and a consistent run of games rather than him dropping in and out of the team brings out the best in him.

Truman at his best is a very good player. I personally like him more as the organising half back than the 5/8th role it looks like he will be playing for us but he is capable of playing both to a very high level. The obvious issue is injuries if he can get a run of games he will be very influential on where we finish in 2025.

Full back, less concerned as Max is a good full back and I think a year in the Championship will have done him the world of good. Pace and defence were questioned when we were last in SL and whilst there is only so much you can do with pace I think positionally and defensively he’s matured since his last season in SL.

Rourke has achieved a level of performance last year that we haven’t seen from a Trinity 1 in SL maybe ever. The question mark is was it just a freak purple patch of form or can he back it up for more than 15 games in his second season in SL. Max rightfully starts at 1 but if doesn’t hit the ground running and Rourke does he could find himself under a lot of pressure to hold on to that shirt.

I would also add Rourke probably suits our halves partnership in style better than Max.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how this team settles down over the first 3-4 months and who the starting 17 is for round 12.

Needs to get in the gym in my opinion....

Mat ,said North Stand, will hold a lot more, when finished before season starts Not happy with ,playing some team's twice before we play our first game against others .Waiting for planning permission to come back for West stand Over all a great evening and shows how far we have improved as a club ,as been more professional

Just noticed Ellis Lingard was missing.

Could he be the one WT f'book is referring to?