Rodwell being a 13 is not a given for me.
He's fitter and more mobile than a normal prop but I can't say I've seen him do a lot of ball handling.
Atoni does more than him.

But as a powerful runner and big defensive backrower he's great.
Just depends what kind of 13 you want.

There are very few ball playing 13s these days.

I’m of the opinion you need 3 creative outlets on the field, 6, 7 and 1 or 13.

If you go with 4 it reduces their time with the ball and effectiveness as they start to get in each others way.

Origin 3 this year Queensland tried it throwing Pongia on without removing another creative player and they fell apart.

Rodwell can tip on the ball and do big minutes with the ability to post a high tackle count and continue to be effective.

He did pretty decent against trinity in championship but as you say he just can’t seem to crack it at the top level. Think he’s at Batley now.

Although I sort of agree, in hindsight another year from Bowden would have sorted us out but we don't know how his body was fairing even at Champ level let alone SL. but it looks like we enquiring after another body, after we asked Wigan about Makin.

I'd say a few of our Props have a point to prove in SL, especially the young Aussies coming up for the first time, but I'm certainly not worried that they're going to let us down in any way. I haven't since we played Wigan in that friendly last year. Yeah, I know when it was and what it was, but all our guys handled themselves superbly against Wigan and showed they could go toe to toe against a champion SL team, and that was when most of them had just fallen off a plane. Since then their confidence levels have improved, they've got used to playing in England, as a team and have developed a good bond.
I don't worry about McMeeken, Atoni, Uele or Rodwell. Atoni last half of 2023 was decent, once BIg Dave arrived to give the pack some go-forward and he seemed to feed off him and build confidence from there. Both Uele and Rodwell bossed the Championship so much that the step-up doesn't worry me at all. Both are complete professionals and Rodwell already came to us as a player ready to play at a higher level IMO.

I also wouldn't put Bain and Vagana in the same bracket personally, Vagana has a higher ceiling IMO. I certainly wouldn't describe him as a little lightweight. He's already a huge guy for his age, with huge legs, 6ft4/5 and he has the frame to really add some size and muscle to it. Bain's smaller, weighs just 95kgs and is definitely more of a back row/13 than a prop, he's a similar size to Cozza and his frame wouldn't lend itself to piling on size, especially at 24 IMO.
I know the coaches are looking at Vagana being a wide-running destructive back rower which I can understand, he's already caused issues out wide and another off-season under him it will potentially make him that much more dangerous. Saying that over the next year or 2 he could easily add 10kg and turn into a beast down the middle, whether that be prop or 13.

Stourton could play prop at a push but we'd have to have an injury crisis, just as we would if Cozza played there or Bain. Storton's one of our best back rowers and along with Seth, Pitts, Griffin, that's where they should mostly stay. There's also Cam Scott who's a good back-rower, but it looks like we're fancying him at Centre this season and tbf he looked the part on boxing g day.

Atoni's best game in 2023 in my opinion was against Warrington when he played 13. However, we used him as an extra prop rather than what you'd call a traditional loose forward. Powell often went with 3 props when he was at Cas, and this is where I think we'd need an extra one if we needed 3 on the bench as well.

Kibula had a spell at Fev on loan towards the backend and was pretty woeful, missing tackles and making little impact. He's huge but seems to fancy himself as a ball-playing forward, he's the type who clubs will always take a chance on because of his size but he's not one to have too much faith in.

Bain has departed the club.

Firstly I hope all is well with him and his family and it is just a decision he has made that he wants to go home.

From a squad perspective this is exciting as it opens up another overseas quota spot and an opportunity to add further quality.

I was surprised we retained Bain, personally didn’t see much in him other than a Championships standard player so I think it’s a good move as long as we can replace him and use his quota spot well.

Yes I agree
I wish him well but his spot is valuable

Bit of a difference between Origin 3 and the rugby we will be playing. Does any body know if Sky are showing the Australian rugby league or are we just getting the second rate stuff in England

Correct but if the best players in the world cannot accommodate and make 4 ball players work on the field at the same time what hope do we have of making a success of it.