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Post by bandgeekmafia78 on Nov 9, 2016 12:30:34 GMT
The injury he suffered - effectively one of his man boobs falling off, turning "the Meter Eater" into "the Nipple Cripple"  Brilliant! |
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Post by redunderthebed on Nov 9, 2016 19:01:55 GMT
If Carnster's list is right. I make that 22 players. That's worryingly small with effectively no real cover in the centres unless Vidot has make a miraculous improvement and transition or Bibby can step up. Likewise not much cover for halves or back row. We might bring some of the u19s back I believe but somehow I suspect we won't be running a second team
3 or 4 injuries at once and well be in big trouble. We were lucky with injuries in 2016, can we be lucky again??
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2016 19:31:21 GMT
What about.
Connor Williams, Jordan Andrade, Liam Bent and Matt Wilkinson from this years squad. Not sure if one or two haven't moved on though.
When you consider that JJ had shirt number 33 last season it shows the depth isn't there yet. I'd hate to get part way into the season and for us to be scrapping around for short term loan deals ALA 2015.
From what I see the Toronto squad looks like it will have no little talent any number of them would have done a mighty fine job for us during the season.
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Post by russ on Nov 10, 2016 6:23:47 GMT
I was going to start a new thread about improved or not for the squad but it fits on this one.
Has the squad been improved ? Yes and No would seem to be the answer.
22 is a ludicrously small squad if true! Coaches moan there isn't sufficient quality out there and then hoard players in vast squads and it works! But it also means the level playing field doesn't work across the league.(mind you the Salary cap helps that happen too)
Hope we're not saving money in the expectation of an MPG season.😨
The questions then are: Have we improved the clutch of players sufficiently and do we have the depth to cope with injury?
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Post by Carnster on Nov 10, 2016 8:25:10 GMT
I was going to start a new thread about improved or not for the squad but it fits on this one. Has the squad been improved ? Yes and No would seem to be the answer. 22 is a ludicrously small squad if true! Coaches moan there isn't sufficient quality out there and then hoard players in vast squads and it works! But it also means the level playing field doesn't work across the league.(mind you the Salary cap helps that happen too) Hope we're not saving money in the expectation of an MPG season.😨 The questions then are: Have we improved the clutch of players sufficiently and do we have the depth to cope with injury? The list I made doesn't account for some of the youngsters like Wood and Bibby, or any lads brought in from the Academy. It is a small squad which leads me to believe that maybe we'll be keeping an eye out for potential new signings. A full strength side is a stronger one than last year imo, but injuries in key areas will be our downfall unless cover is provided. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2016 8:38:57 GMT
What does strike me is how many utility players we have, Evalds is a diamond for his as he can play right across the backline and in a real scrape I could see him doing a job at SO. Despite his first season being injury troubled you can see again Vidot playing wing or centre and as he played prop for the Broncos in the forwards as well. Jones is equally good in the centres and second row. Josh Wood looked rather good at 9 before his injury last season so can cover the 3 main pivot positions. Hell even Griffin can play front and back row along with his brief stint in the halves in 2015.
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Post by rednotdead on Nov 10, 2016 9:36:43 GMT
Some of the youngsters will have to step up to first team level this time around. Of the glimpses we saw if some of them last year none of them embarrassed themselves at SL level. They'll have had more time to develop and more experience so if they're good enough why not?
The size of the squad is a bit of a worry though. The kids need to be drip fed really but a few injuries and we could be fielding a side made up of 40-50% youngsters
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Post by Carnster on Nov 10, 2016 9:40:55 GMT
What does strike me is how many utility players we have, Evalds is a diamond for his as he can play right across the backline and in a real scrape I could see him doing a job at SO. Despite his first season being injury troubled you can see again Vidot playing wing or centre and as he played prop for the Broncos in the forwards as well. Jones is equally good in the centres and second row. Josh Wood looked rather good at 9 before his injury last season so can cover the 3 main pivot positions. Hell even Griffin can play front and back row along with his brief stint in the halves in 2015. Spot on. You can see Watson has built the squad with adaption and utility in mind. The problem comes if we get both HB's injured. Although, tbf, any team would struggle to replace both HB's through injury. On the other hand, we must be well under cap with room for any decent player who may become available during the season. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2016 9:47:45 GMT
I see we have Wood, GOD and as I say can see at a big push Evalds playing SO (can you imagine his burst of pace in the halves) but agreed half back the depth doesn't go qui9te as far. I would make a serious effort to try and get Brierly home to Salford, where you would play him might be an issue but it's an issue I'd love Salford to have. Ideally we need a Greg Bird type player, equally at home in the back row or the halves and a definite leader.
I can only see the bigger props being restricted to one position the others can if required shuffle around as injury dictates.
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Post by russ on Nov 10, 2016 13:19:11 GMT
I think there's some excellent assessment of the strengths of the squad and the main weakness being depth.
Bringing Brierly to SRD would help with that.
I do like the adaptability theme and hope it works,but I am disappointed that we haven't managed a bit of off season quality for excitement while waiting for the good stuff to begin.
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Post by Astleyred on Nov 10, 2016 15:24:49 GMT
My main worry is how fit will Lui be?
We all know a fit Lui is an excellent Lui.
But the later half of the season he was well below par carrying that knee and was a passenger for large parts of the games.
Has anyone heard if he's having an op close season, we can't afford that luxury again.
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Brilliant!
