I dont think we have signed Costigan, who is one of our biggest signings, to cover hooker and loose forward off the bench. Id expect him to be starting and i would think CS knows where he will fit into the picture. The fact we have a squad with so many options is reason for optimism rather than perhaps previously its been 'this our best 17' with average to inadequate back up

surely your picking the team on last years form how do you know who will be injured in warm up games, who will play with knocks etc. sean gleeson is in most peoples team yet we now know he wont start against leeds. kostigan,wheyman,keeting,maki,laroyye we dont know how quickly they will adapt to uk conditions

Not forgetting the injured players in edan, berns and horn

1. Eden

2. Cockayne
3. Welham
4. Salter
5. Hall

6. Burns
7. Keating

8. Poore
9. Hodgson
10. A. Walker

11. Larroyer
12. Costigan
13. Langley

14. Carlile
15. Lovegrove
16. Weyman
17. J Walker

Lovegrove makes it for me due to his versatility, if we were to take an injury in the backs, Lovegrove provides an option off the bench.

Putting aside 'your' first XIII and 'my' first XIII, I think the announced squad numbers give more than a clue as to who are first choices in the unlikely event of that luxury ever becoming available.

D. Hodgson gets his share of injuries, Hall gets his share of injuries...so in the course of time the relevance of who is first choice will give way to the pressing need of who is available. At any given time it's just as likely neither will be fit as both. For now it's clearly Hodgson.

Larroyer vs Cox is an interesting one. The Frenchman has far less SL experience than Cox despite being 3 years older. Larroyer has scored 10 tries in 23 Super League games which is impressive for a second row man maybe that is what gives him the nod. But Cox used to score 4 tries a game at academy level..........2014 has the signs of being his breakthrough year and unlike Larroyer he is not contracted to another club for 2015.

Lovegrove........rightly or wrongly well down the pecking order in the fantasy of a fully fit Craig Sandercock squad. A Wakefield player tomorrow if they could stump up for his wages......Craig Hall too.

Whatever, happy new year to all Rovers well wishers and thank you to the moderators who provide this platform for us to express our opinions.