1. Zak Hardaker
2. Tom Briscoe
3. Kallum Watkins
4. Joel Moon
5. Ryan Hall
13. Kevin Sinfield
26. Liam Sutcliffe
23. Brad Singleton
9. Paul McShane
10. Jamie Peacock
15. Brett Delaney
12. Carl Ablett
14. Stevie Ward

7. Rob Burrow
8. Kylie Leuluai
11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan
16. Ryan Bailey

Why swap Hall from the left to the right?

FWIW, and in the hope that this turns into another cracking lists thread, here's how I'd have us line up next season:

1. Hardaker
2. Jones-Bishop/Briscoe
3. Watkins
4. Moon
5. Hall
6. McGuire
7. Burrow
8. NEW PROP
9. Sinfield
10. Peacock
11. Jones-Buchanan
12. Delaney
13. Ablett

14. Sutcliffe
15. Leuluai
16. Singleton
17. Ward

How long do burrow mcguire sinfield peacock and leuluai (all 30+) have left at the top?

I'd be comfortable with that, assuming an occasional change of acting half play.

One thing to be borne in mind: We've kept the squad together. Warrington are losing at least Morley and Hodgson, and Wigan seem to be losing half their squad.

Wigan lost both half backs, Lima and Carmont for this season - doesn't seem to have done them much harm would you not agree?

Pretty close to where I would be - I would have Singleton starting at 8 with Leuluai, Ablett at 12 and Ward at 13 Peacock and Delaney would be my first interchanges. Hooker is still an issue for me.

Wigan play to such a set structure that they arent so much replacing players, as just finding another to fill that set role within the team, it makes it alot easier and smoother.

Of course.....he will be the new CEO silly



Those photos are very very good and persuasive

No it wouldn't....crazy man

As for half-back and hooker on the bench....whoops

True, but how far can that go?
Their record without Tomkins playing is not good.

Just trying to prolong his career a la Sinfield



Seriously....next season the sooner we learn to not be so dependent on him - and others - the better (that's the fundamental point of my opening post)

......because the Moon/Hall partnership has hardly excelled. Hall has proved he can finish just as well on the right and his partnership with Watkins could be devastating. Let Moon try building a better partnership with Briscoe?

To be honest I like your similar agreement that Sutcliffe, Singleton and Ward should [uall[/u be in the starting first choice 17. BUT surely you must agree we damn well need a good new quality hooker in there ???

Well with no WCC to get up for it'll be interesting to see how we line up. The fixture list for 2014 could sway decisions. The ones involved in the WC could get a rest early on depending on the opponent.

I would suggest Bowen will be a more than adequate replacement - the best NRL import to come to SL since Buderus. Add to that the progression of the youngsters and Wigan will still be there or there abouts come next season.

Bowen will hobble through the season, and certainly won't have the pace and cutting edge on Tomkins. I'm sure Wigan will be "thereabouts" but they won't be what they were.

Neither will leeds.

Who do you expect to overtake us?
I'm suprised at your pessimism though, considering that unlike Wigan and Warrington we aren't losing any key players.

Wigan and warrington are ahead of us. It's up to us to overtake them. I only see us declining from here on in, with the squad in it's current guise.

Considering the losses both those clubs suffer from their squads, how do you see their decline in comparision to any decline we might suffer?

Hardaker
Briscoe
Watkins
Moon
Hall
McGuire
Burrow
Peacock
Sinfield
Delaney
Clarkson
Ablett
Ward

Sutcliffe/mcshane/new hooker
New prop mid 20s
Jjb/achurch
Singleton

Would move Delaney up to get a better ball player in the second row which would help Watkins.

I would like to see clarkson get another chance to start.

Don't know enough about the new prop (Yates ) he could go well but it's hard to put too much on him.


Overall the squad needs to be rotated more and players not playing when injured, there also needs to be a realisation that peacock probably won't have the same season again so he can't relied upon.

I dont expect anyone to overtake us.wigan will be alot weaker for the loss of tomkns and richards from the back line.Bowen could be very good but there are question marks so we will see.Wire are in a similar position to us but do seem to off loading the older generation quicker but i dont see anything that says they will be a better team next year.

Bottom line is there is no great side in SL at the moment and even though we are in a long drawn out transition that will last a few more years, we are still one of the top 3 teams in the league and will be in the hunt for the trophys again next year.

I'd go with..
Hardaker
Bjb/Briscoe
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Sutcliffe
Burrow
JP
Sinfield
Singleton
Delaney
Ablett
Ward

Mcguire
Kylie
Yates/New Prop
Jjb

IF Kirke maintains his recent good form then he gets in if not he's out the same for Bailey its time the coach started dropping certain players who clearly haven't performed.

Who do you expect to overtake us?

I have said this many times and will continue. Without Peacock this year, we would have struggled to better the Hull clubs. Considering we finished 3rd, then potentially, at least 5 clubs could overtake us, if we were to stand still, and Peacock does not match this years form (which is a big ask).

Of course we could pull a couple of rabbitts out of the hat and improve the squad, or improve already with a change of coach.

If Wigan were going to go backwards, then it would have been this year, with the loss of their half backs. Tomkins hasn't played enough this year to warrant effecting them that much by being gone. What they have on top is some very very good youngsters, who have also arlready being integrated into their first team, through very good squad management this year from Wane.

Saints will be a completely different proposition next year, alos with some very good youngsters now integrated into their squad.

Wigan had far more chance of regressing this year with the players they lost at the end of 2012 and look how that turned out.