After a horrendous run of injuries, are we now finding that our squad players are not up to it?
I realise our luck is out this year, but let’s face it , some of these so called young players have been found out .
Some tough calls for Radford to make in the next few months.

Like who? People like Lane (definitely the last couple of weeks) and Masi have done well, even Miloudi did well and far more dangerous than Talanoa has been since his return. It's the seniors that IMO are letting us down

masi and lane will do ok imo, fash downs wont make it, like to see litten given a go this year, also harris will do ok,

Honestly can't believe Litten hasn't been given any game time the last few weeks.

I think some of you are hiding behind the injury situation and burying your heads in the sand your success was built on your pack of forwards since then you’ve lost Ellis and Watts and to a lesser extent Pritchard three massive players and you haven’t replaced them you’ve resigned Manu and Mini the latter to me is finished much as you’d expect from a guy who will be 37 next year and listening to Radford there doesn’t seem to be any big name signings on the horizon Houghton looks to be burnt out you can’t flog a hooker for 80 mins every week in this day and age especially all the tackling he does I’d expect more of the same next season still I’d rather be in your position than going through the middle 8s again

I hate to say it , but , I agree .
Players have not been replaced. Too much faith has been shown in average home grown players. Radford has been let down.
Some of these Lads unfortunately will not make it at the top level.

I agree with most of it as well although there is no doubt we would have challenged top 4 without the injuries. I would have kept Mini but released Manu who has been very average this season and is missing to many games. The point you make about Houghton is valid as well.

If Widnes are relegated we should be in for Danny Walker and Hanbury to show Shaul how to play full back and pass a ball

Your ex hooker at London Cunningham always plays well whenever I see him play whether he’s SL standard I don’t know

Walker promising. Hanbury no chance. Cunningham, yes, very good player.

Mellor would be good cover in the halves to, which we clearly need

To be fair I think it's a little harsh to say the squad players such as Fash, Matongo, Downs, Lane, Harris etc aren't up to it. Squad players/young up and coming players are normally only usually played when resting players to rotate the squad. This season due to not only the number of injuries we have but also the length of time players have been out has meant the group of young squad players have had to play far more games than they are ready for at SL level. They're up to the job for a game or two but not week in week out like they have had to. That has taken its toll on them this season. The positive is the experience for next season will be so valuable.
My only concern with the squad is the likes of Green struggles with injuries and so have Mini & Manu this season plus the latter two will be another year older next and we've retained them plus Washy. For me we lack another forward and would love someone to come in like Murdoch Masila or Fafita as since losing Watts on top of Ellis retiring we look too soft.
Also we really have to address the poor attacking options as we are just so predictable it's too easy to defend against us.

I'm not that surprised our attack is easy to defend against. We have neither our best creative personnel available in the halves with Kelly, Connor, Sneyd and Westerman on the sidelines, nor a dominant pack to mitigate the impact of this. We have 2 issues this year. One is hopefully temporary in the ridiculous injuries to our pivots, such that we are going into the next round with probably our 6th and 7th choice halves in Miloudi and Harris. The other is more fundamental though in that the quality of the pack which brought rich rewards in the last 2 years is diluted. Taylor has been utterly magnificent this term, playing with a dodgy shoulder and never taking a backward step. Beyond him, though, it's hard to pick out a stand out forward. Paea has been OK, but a shadow of Ellis. Bowden and Green have been unavailable. Watts has left a gaping hole in the pack. Mini, Hadley and Manu have been hampered by hernias and injuries, and Westerman looked good but in a brief cameo only. In my view we need to play the long game, get all the operations done now so that everyone (bar Bowden) is back in on the first day of pre season ready. Knowing our luck this year though Taylor and Connor will get selected for England squad and not used but will therefore not return until January and we'll pick up more injuries in the remaining 5 fixtures. I'd really be looking to protect our senior players now to give us the best pre season possible.

This ^^^^^

Good post + we would of hopefully only had to use one or two young squad players at a time, rather than almost half your team week in and week out.

Is Matongo injured?