Kirmudgeonlyisback wrote:I suppose only time will tell but when you look at his time at dragons when he signed he had squad number 12 , but in this years squad he has squad number 8 , so his current club see (and have played him ) as a prop.

Given we also have Bain rodwell pitts and vagana plus storton possibly griffin who all are allegedly middles - whatever that means , but have all played in back row and with the exception of griffin have played in front row so can’t help but think bar an odd signing the squad is what it is.

Storton I d see as a straight swap for ashurst, rodwell sees himself as a back row forward suspect he may end up with squad 13 next year,

Personally still think we are an impact forward short but even if we sign parcell we still have a spare quota spot (possibly 2 as under new rules not sure parcell is overseas) squad for 2025 seems to be coming together

Butcher wrote:Delaney and Wood also off out to Hunslet, both promising players and good luck to them.

Delighted we're bringing Johnstone back but poop scared he'll be injured all the time and it'll be a big drop to our next best winger.

I'm pretty sure McMeeken will play in the middle. He's an international front rower. Hasn't played on the edge much for about three years. So if everyone's sticking around, that leaves us with McMeeken, Rodwell, Uele, Atoni, Bain, Vagana and Shaw.

That's enough middles (a middle is just a forward who 'acts' as a prop forward traditionally does. If you play a direct game, you need more middles - like Wigan, Saints and Melbourne prefer). If you play more expansively, you're more likely to put a traditional loose forward in - like Cas, Leeds and Penrith prefer.

Griffin isn't a middle.

As for a quality half in Australia - not many exist. Since I last banged on about it, Hastings has signed for Newcastle, Townsend for the Roosters, Keary for Catalans. Tyson Gamble's probably going to become available but I'd miles prefer Trueman.

asmadasa wrote:Don’t think Bain, Boothroyd and Shaw are SL standard plus losing Bowden. I appreciate Trinity will have Storton,McMeeken and Corey Hall but think more quality is needed in the pack as it’s thin on the ground.

alegend wrote:Will get shot down for this but would have gone for a quality half from Australia instead of buying back T J .Lot of TJ trys came from breaks down the middle of the park ,with TJ been there to finish of the move At Catalans this season because of spine struggling T J as been starved of chances When Gale had the pace to go along side his skill a lot of the time the Cas winger just had to finish of the move for a try , because of the over lap created by the spine of the team That was on the Cas ground as well that is well short of been standed size

Trojan Horse wrote:Personally I’d look at Parcell or Judah Rhimbu for the 9 role. Rhimbu was on cusp of NRL this pre season. He’s a bit like Ipape in style.

As for halfbacks, I’d have looked at Sneyd when available but he got snapped up. There’s not too much available but I’m reasonably okay with Russell. Truman has an element of risk but could turn out to be a cracking signing if he can stay fit.

God wrote:Rhimbu great prospect and shout watched footage of him in qld
Good source like NSW and sg ball.
Think strategy is with this squad assembly is with the younger ones they have actually played together B4 plus there are a few signings u all don't know about

Willzay wrote:alegend? More like abrokenrecord.

Trojan Horse wrote: I’m not sure why you have so little faith in the middles who have dominated every pack in this league.