Prop was the weakest part of the squad prior to this development.

With the cup, qualifiers and playoff, we're looking at 30+ games. If we want to get to the middle 8 in good shape then we need to manage the minutes that Sidlow and Clough are playing. Fleming, Samir and particularly Bates are young with no experience of a long, hard season with SL opposition after 22 games. We've never seen Davies. Back rowers filling in at prop for anymore than a game or two is a certain recipe for a second half blow out score away to HKR, Hull, Wakey.

In summary we're definitely a prop short. I'm a fan of Sammut but leave him at Wakey.(hopefully Smith stays at Salford)

Just a hand grenade to throw in the situation. How would everybody feel if we re-signed Carvell? I for one (if his wages were right) would welcome him back, he would be just what we needed in the championship rugged with a great off-load and bags of experience.

(Wakefield have a major signing to announce on Monday which is heavily rumoured to be Tim Smith)

Jay Pitts is more than capable of playing at prop and I was confusd why Lowes didn't push him up to the fornt row when we needed it and insisted on playing Addy there... unless it was to get Danny tackling more.

I mentioned the name a few weeks ago but it was somewhat disparagingly, but AFAIK Paul Sykes is still available.

There are certainly options out there - in a general sense - of players we've heard of to come in, not to mention the Jimmy approach of players we haven't heard of. None of them are particularly perfect on the face of it but IMO we're more in need of experience half cover that prop.

Because right now neither Pitts or Addy are of sufficient size, strength to play prop at the crucial part of the season. No doubt both would hold their own against York but against Paea, Anderson, Poore, Weyman we wouldn't get out of our own 40 metres.

Last season I wasn't convinced by his signing even before he left, but this year I think he's exactly the type of player who could do well for us. A combination of seeing how a lack of props dicked us and the drop down means I'd welcome him back.

I forgot to say before that I'd also failed to mention Jake Mullaney as an option as a half-back, whether or not someone like Chris Ulugia is a suitable full-back stand in if Jake covers the halves I don't know. One thing we aren't lacking is options but we are lacking another defined and experienced half... and maybe a prop.

And now I'm back with the original conundum again.

Interestingly, Clough, who is a prop but some Saints fans said he wasn't big enough is "officially" only 2kg heavier than Addy. While that doesn't point to much is a neat little bullet point for comparison.

All in all, Addy needs to slim down by about 10kg and become a proper half.

Then sign Sam Burgess.

Problem solved.

and Ferguson is 4kg heavier than Clough and a similar weight to the Lumberjack and the Tomahawk. I've done an Excel table of the squad and will post it sometime soon which has various bits of info such as total SL appearances, appearances last season, average gain, missed tackle ratio, age height weight. soon as I can fire up my ftp software I will put it up as an addition to the original post on the 2015 squad listing.

Yeah I could do all that but I'm in the park most evenings with my crew. Nerd.

It does point to quite a bit. Our front row isn't physically or numerically big enough, even accounting for good signings like Clough.

I agree that we could do with another bona fide prop really, and another halfback it we’re to be in an ideal world. We have a lot of backrowers (as usual).

Our lack of size has been a real handicap in recent seasons. As has been said, we may go alright versus Hunslet with only 2 or 3 props but at the end of the year we’ll have to step up significantly in quality and potentially be without some players due to injury. We struggled up front versus Widnes, Hull KR and Hull in 2014. I’d not like to see us go into games against the likes of them with only 2 bona fide front rowers and a bunch of converted backrows.

I didn’t realise Clough was so small. As far as I know he’s not exactly an Andy Platt or Corey Parker type of small prop who plays far above his weight either. He may be a good defender and make few mistakes, that's great - but we do need some lads who can take it out of the opposition. Davies looks promising but is unproven. Big Samir has the physique but apparently can go into his shell.

The half back position is an issue too. We look thin on the ground there. If we lost with Siejka or Gaskell we’d be struggling. A third halfback is a must.

Despite these reservations I remain fairly optimistic. We have a settled squad and staff and should be feeling more confident than we have for years.