I think Bowdens being given some unfair press, he was well off the pace after his injury, but I thought we saw some signs of his old form towards the back end of the season, it seemed to coincide with Last taking over, I'm sure Hodgson will get the best from him if not we have an able backup in Brown.

One of my biggest niggles was the use of our props last season, Satae and Sao played big minutes before joining us, but for some reason Satae was well underused , wasted as an impact prop in my opinion, his workrate along with Saos is huge. For this reason I'd start both as props against Huddersfield, especially with Taylor being injured recently and missing the friendly too I think he l be abit under cooked, so for me it'd be Satae and Sao to start gain some early momentum and field position, with Bowden and Taylor off the bench.

Agree with you about Bowden and it seemed it was more a psychological/confidence issue with him rather than the injury itself which if I remember he'd said as much in an interview. I thought in the 2nd half of last season he was certainly looking like a player who should be in the 17. As good as Brown is at the moment I would still put Bowden in ahead of Brown (just) so Bowden certainly can't afford to be below par but neither can any of the forwards as Brown would rightly be given the opportunity to shine.

You have left out Swift who in my opinion will definately play
Bowden getting a bit more form into him will also play
Like you i think Cator will start with Lane on the bench.Dont see much game time for Fash
The bench front row will be interesting.I would start an in form fitter Satae with Taylor and have the more mobile Sao come off the bench with Bowden.
Johnstone doesnt come into the team for me
My bench Sao.Bowden,Brown and Lane

I think Lane will start at 13 instead of Cator

not my choice but you could be right given his starting position at York

Haha funny how Johnstone’s gone from starting 9 for most to not even making the squad, most had written Houghton off by the end of last season! Not me, Houghton all day starting hooker, and surely Satae is the first name in the starting 13, he’s our best prop by a country mile

The thing is, Houghton was starting to look like a bit of a spent force in 2019 and early 2020. I actually think spelling him with Johnstone and giving him a slightly different role has reinvigorated him. There's no doubt he's still our best hooker, but it's a case of figuring out what is best for him and the team.

Also, I agree that Satae is our best prop, but that doesn't automatically mean he should start. Again, you've got to weigh up the opposition and our team as a whole and figure out how he is going to be most effective. That said I would start him if it was up to me.

The club have been talking about 'the spine' and if we keep that spine fit then we might do something - that spine is always talked as Connor - Reynolds - Sneyd - Houghton - so that is what we will see play most rounds this season barring injury

I don’t know one team either here or the nrl, that doesn’t start with the best prop, I could be wrong, but doubt it

I do agree with you, start with your biggest and best ball carriers to lay the foundation would be my philosophy too. But I can also see the argument for keeping him back and letting him run riot against tiring defences. He's wasted as an "impact" prop because he can do bigger minutes than that. But our prop rotation is something we need to think about. Too often under Radford we started well with our starters and then lost all momentum when the bench forwards came on. We need to get the balance right. I trust Hodgson to do this though. I think he has a much better eye for detail than Radford ever did.