Must admit that was a concern after watching the Rovers friendly. Hopefully it's something that can be worked on.

1:Tansey
2:Calderwood
3:Yeaman
4:Hall/Whiting/Turner
5:Briscoe
6:Horne
7:Long
8icon_biggrin.gifowes
9:Berrigan
10:Radford/Cusack
11:Tickle
12:Manu
13:Fitzgibbon

O'Meley
Lauaki
Moa
Houghton

Tough decision over Hall, Whiting & Turner plus not sure which I'd go for with Radford or Cusack. Tickle I think will be in from the off due to nobody else having kicking duty in the friendlies.

Big plus is that each player has to perform each game now or face losing a place in the 17.

He will get better with games in terms of his fitness. It's his impact with the ball that could be really useful, his defence should get better as the fitness does. Not saying he is an automatic pick but I would have him as my replacement backrower to spell Manu.

On the props, one has to miss out and I think it will be Moa although personally I would drop Cusack. Radford, Dowes, Cusack and O'Meeley means we have no real impact off the bench apart from shrek.

and what does tickle do apart from drop the the ball and just as bad with tackles

Hes overated in attack aswell imo. Dont really see what he brings to the team except his big hair.

Are you serious ?

Guess we'll see as the season progresses.

FWIW I probably wouldn't start with Tickle. However, he is a solid defender, runs some good lines and generally works very hard, he is a very good player to have as cover and I wouldn't grumble if he was first choice.

There is some real tough choices to make atm, I think there are only about 10 players who are guaranteed of a place in the 17, centres, props and second rows are very much in doubt.

I agree with Paul M that when he gets match sharp he could prove a real asset as impact to compliment the rest of the pack.

Surely we haven't seen enough of him to be writing him off just yet?

hame will become a good player in weeks to come

From what I saw in the derby, Moa is worth a bench spot. I think he could be a real handful this season.

yes

all he did last season was drop off tackles

the only reason he was playing week in week out was that he could kick a goal

Of course Moa is worth a bench spot. Some people on here would have Radford, Dowes and Cusack as three of our props every week if they had their way and we would have the most dour and ineffective front row in SL.

O'Meley
Berrigan
Cusack
Manu
Tickle
Fitzgibbon Moa Lauaki Houghton Washbrook

TBF the couple of games i saw him play last season were pretty much the same and when you factor in his obvious discipline problems i think he'll be more of a liability than an asset. Most of the south sea islanders are very much hit and miss, lack the roll your sleeves up attitude of others and are notoriously bad trainers. They look the part, look mean but more often than not they are error ridden and fail to deliver.