They are woeful stats i have to agree, i am braced for what i am about to say but i don't mind Powell he speeds the play up when he comes on, his passing off the ground is good. Yes i know he threw one into nowhere on Saturday on their line but that's just one instance. He does need to add some running into his game 100% but i feel he's got some flak on here recently. Defending wise he's solid no complaints, passing wise he's on the money it goes right where you would want it when taking the ball in. 

Well, defending and passing the ball accurately from dummy half are fairly fundamental aspects of a 9's role and I think virtually every hooker in the game can tick those boxes and has done for most of the last century.


For a bloke who has played half back I'd expect him to be able to lurch forward for the odd yard gain but he's too old to change now.


Walker's return can't come quick enough.  We've missed him more than any other player, inc. Williams and Sneyd.  He can do all the above, and has a great running, support and kicking game.  And he's got some fire in his belly.


In his absence, Harthill should have been in.

I think over the past 12 or so years we have been chasing the dream of the big one. We have been trying to buy our way to the holy grail by chasing Star players that will be the difference between also rans and the winners. Look at the number of halfbacks (6/7) we have had. 
Sandow
Roberts
Brown
Widdop
Gidley
Williams
Austin
Sneyd
Plus probably others I have forgotten. 


But when you look at Saints they have stability in a lot of those key positions. Pretty sure Lomax has been at Saints all those 12 years. . The Melbourne storm model was based around the 1,6,7&9. 




It looks like we have tried to get the best in some positions and then some other positions have been an afterthought based on what we had left available on the cap. 


I think we need to spin it on its head and build the squad around what we have and who we think will be invested in the club long term and then fill in around that with some quality players. 


So it is feasible to see a team built around
CTW, Lindop, Thewlis x 2,  Possibly Wrench, Irwin, Hayes, Thomas, Wood, Walker, Harthill, Ashton etc 
Some of them might not make the grade but hopefully all do. 
Then you look at the positions where we need support and fill them with quality players. A few quality forwards and a quality centre. 
I think we have been approaching this the other way round by playing fantasy RL to try and get top players and then realizing we only have enough money to Sign Matty Russell, Dan Russell, etc 

Yeah the Fantasy RL model has clearly not worked but doesn't appear that we've learned that lesson. You have to give us credit for the academy, squadbuilder etc - we are producing quality youngsters and that's been work done for well over a decade. We're not going to be able to keep them all (as Wigan will attest to) but we need to make sure we at least give them a solid chance and that is where Whitehead and (possibly) Hartill leaving would be difficult to swallow - especially seeing as they have a golden opportunity to show what they can do at the moment. 


I know it's been done to death but Crowther over Hartill beggars belief and it better stop this weekend. 

Hartill is not even in the squad for the Hull FC game. 


Jordy Crowther, Ben Currie, Matt Dufty, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, James Harrison, Toby King, Tom McKinney, Joe Philbin, Sam Powell, Stefan Ratchford, Sam Stone, Marc Sneyd, Rodrick Tai, Jake Thewlis, Josh Thewlis, Luke Thomas, Paul Vaughan, George Williams, Max Wood, Connor Wrench, Luke Yates

Oh just sod off Burgess 

Nigel Wood appointed chair of RL commercial. Seems we can not go backwards fast enough.