Yeah he's definitely too big, he's a well built bloke so hes never going to be a flyer, but there's too much bulk there, he was caught at marker for our 2nd try because he couldn't turn to get Dwyer fast enough.

We all agree he has to improve, but what you say is baseless. The last three coaches, two of whom have had a degree of success, deemed him good enough to play, regularly. They know more about RL than anyone on here, so there is a reason Houghton features, and it isn't sentiment. He has no prior connection with TS, so there is no sentiment involved in Smith's decision to play him. Lovodua for me isn't a hooker, I don't really know where he fits, but his distribution from dummy half isn't great, some of his passes go higher than necessary and slow down the attack, he isn't really a punchy backrower and not a halfback. He is handy to have around as he can cover those positions to a degree, but he doesn't warrant a quota spot, for me, anyway. .I'd like to see Brown in the 17, I feel he is probably ahead of Taylor for form, but we don't all see what TS sees everyday and maybe he has already decided not to renew his contract, which expires at the end of this campaign. It is only round two, against Leeds who seemed absolutely clueless and I would not be surprised if there is dressing room unrest there, some players hardly bothered against Warrington and maybe Rohan's novel new approaches have been a bad idea, who knows? But to be bagging Houghton after game one is ridiculous, we need him for his D if that Cas result is a yardstick, one area in which he is outstanding.

Thought Taylor went well against Cas. If anyone I'd be dropping Evans for Brown. But think Evans will get another week.

Mcintosh gets another week too. If Mitch is out for a few weeks, wouldn't be against giving Litten a go on thr wing if Mcintosh can't cut out his errors.

Hoy, Swift, Sutcliffe, Scott, Mcintosh, McNamara, Clifford, Taylor, Dwyer, Satae, Griffin, Lane, Fash

Sao, Evans, Savelio, Lovodua/Houghton

Taylor at least looks in better nick than last year.
My biggest gripe is him shooting out the line to put a big shot on and missing entirely.

Did he do that against Cas? If he did I missed it.

Agree though it drives me crazy when he does it

Yeah, he did it a couple of times. Once he missed the man entirely
I suppose its a fairly minor thing.
Anyway, some signs we might get a better version of Taylor this year, which we desperately need as Sao and Satae can't do it all alone again.

Yes a couple of times and missed by some way especially the 2nd one he attempted.

I must've had a few more beers than I thought

Think Talanoa helped make him look a lot better at times.

well his D didnt help much given he was on the field for the second half