No reason to think that Manu won't sign and Ticks will be here for a while also. Ellis coming in will give us a formidable back row. As for "fitting them in", every pack needs cover and just because a player can do 80 minutes, doesn't necessarily mean that it is the best thing to do.

I do worry about the salary cap though, with so much money in the back row, I can't see how we can strengthen the parts of the squad which need it most.

And your point is? He's younger than Ben Galea who your lot are desperate to see back in the team.

2 years younger, current NRL star vs has been, current international 2nd row v never been an international.

I can see the comparisons. Bless them

Manu could benefit from being spelled, but Ticks is doing alright at playing the full game.

And would do even better with a break as I said. Playing players 80 minutes every week will bite us at some stage of the season

Hasn't he always played 80 for us?

And?

And played well playing 80? I agree that Manu can be better to be spelled, but Tickle does a solid job throughout. Maybe with more interchanges we could have had the luxury of spelling players, but I think it's another quality that Ticks has to play well the whole game.

IMO tickle was ineffective in the last 10-15 minutes of a lot of games last season due to being over played. We'll get better out of players over the season if they're not flogged for 80 minutes every week and 10 interchanges is plenty for us to have rotation in the front and back rows. With ellis, ticle, westerman and hopefully manu on board next year they'll all be looking for plenty of game time

Agree with this. Even when Ticks scored a million points the other week against Widnes he made a number of handling errors in the last 15 minutes which were likely purely down to fatigue. We definitely need all of the above players to ensure they're all effective.

As I say, with the luxury of a few more interchanges then Ticks probably would benefit from having a rest, however he has shown that he can do a quality job for the full match so I would rather prioritise the interchanges elsewhere.

We'll have a very fluid pack next year, can imagine starting with Ellis, Ticks and Manu with Westerman off the bench to replace a prop with Tickle moving up to the front row to accommodate him.