Hell no. His defence is crap. It was crap on Friday. And wasn't he partnering Meli in the GF when Shenny went off injured? Nightmare.

I agree, the days of sia playing centre are long gone.

I think lomax moved to the Wing when shenton went off at old Trafford as he dine his ankle, so think it was Meli and lomax on the left when they punished us.

Nope. Lomax went to the wing, then centre, then further infield. Meli was on the wing and Soliola at centre. Leeds realised then that Christmas had come early.

That may well have been the case, but having read through his twitter feed at the weekend he was critical of his own performance, that's not what I would expect from someone believing his own hype.

He's a young lad with time on his side, mistakes will be made and it's how he reacts to these which will determine the player he will become.

I think it was noteworthy that at one point he made a deliberate call for a bomb and caught it. His game improved after this.

Is that what happened? Meli started at left centre, but got shuffled to the wing when Wellens went off, but didn't he then swap to right centre when Shents got injured?
Anyway, no to Soliola in the centre. Shenton, Wheeler, Meli and indeed Makinson would be preferable to for me. Keep the beef in the middle. Despite a couple of missed tackles, Soliola came up with a few monster plays on Friday.

Meli was on the wing. That bit I'm never going to forget! I remember saying to my Dad sitting next to me that we are finished because Meli is on the wing.

Fully fit there are selection problems all over the field for royce.

There is no reason to player the same team week in and week out. We had four/five props in the widnes match if you count megennis. You add TP to that rotation is a must for a fully fit front row. That means some weeks TP or La frank dont play whilst megeniis does.

Same in the backs we dont have to play the same FB each week or the same wingers. I know you can only rotate so much to maintain fitness but take the easter weekend.If we have a fully fit side why not.

wigan game

Wellens. Foster. meli. shenton. makinson. lance. gaskell. TP.roby.LMS.Wilkin.sia.Flanaghan.

easter monday

makinson. foster. wheeler. shenton. gardner. lance. lomax
Clough. roby. perry. dixon. sia. flannery

You've not mentioned Magennis, there. For me, he needs to be out on loan this year.
He's way down the peccking order in the back and front row, despite showing glimpses. He needs regular first team action, whether that be for a SL club or lower league club like Leigh.

I'm not sure he's as far down the pecking order as you make out TBH.

It's hard to mention everyone without writing so much that people think your writing an Essay.

That's why I left out subs etc. In the end we have alot of options, I just hope early in the season we use them. There is no need early on for all 5 of our best props to play every match. TP, Clough, LMS, La Frank, Perry.

Whilst a devastaing pack with one of them playing in the Loose forward position it's a bit over kill for so early in the season. Would rather 4 of them played and one had a rest week with megennis/forester etc getting a game. It reduces the chances of injury and overkill, therefore giving us a better chance of fielding a fully fit choice 17 for key games. (Wigan/later cup games/playoffs).

The same would apply to the 2nd row with Sia, Wilkin, Flannery Dixon, Flash

I agree, I think Magennis will play 15 games at least this year if he stays fit, no need to loan him out, we need him here!

agrred, we're light on front rowers, and we need plenty of cover there as its a position that generally leads itself to injuries. Shaun is a good lad and i hope he cments his place in the team this year

He brings something different to our front row with his off load game.

Do you really think Magennis will make it at front row?

He reminds me a little of Edmonson in that he hits the line with gusto, but makes bugger all yards.

Same weight as LMS according to the Saints website, so I think he has the size.

Will be interesting to see if he can get a largely injury free season, I would expect significant strides forward if he does.

I think he's more solid than edmonson.

Are we really light in the front row. We have five props.. before we even get to megennis. I know people argue that players started in other roles. But most players move around. Sia centre to second row. Meli wing to centre. Lyon centre to half back. Foster centre to wing. Wheeler half back to centre. and thats just a few in our own team.

I see no problem with players starting in the second row. Then moving to prop so long as they can hold their own.

We have numbers in the front row but we don't have quality there. When I say we are light at prop I mean we short of quality in that postion.

Its vital for us this year that perry stays fit and played well, its vital that LMS gets out on 2nd gear and starts to do the hard graft required for a prop and we need a fit TP.

Basically all of them need to stand up and be counted but based on last season, paul clough, LMS, Magennis are nothing more than decent props. It's tough to judge perry and laffranchci as we've not seen much of them.

I'd liked us to have replaced jammer with a good tough prop like Bryce Gibbs or Jason king.

Well in the off season, I was thinking the same way, but now we know we are not getting one, I'll reserve judgement for the Salford game. It will be my first so, I'll get a better view of what our front row can do.

ps who did we almost sign?

Darrell Griffin.

Edit: Say Darrell over and over again, what a stupid name.

We only have 3 actual, genuine, pukka props in the squad now, which is a little worrying to say the least, particularly as 2 of them were injured all last season pretty much. Our front row rests on a knife edge and if we pick up a few injuries there (as is inevitable) then we could start to struggle badly - we don't have Graham to stick a saddle on and flog to death for 60+ minutes a game every week anymore which is a slightly scary thought at the moment. A vision of Dixon as starting prop in the CC semi starts to haunt me...

We've got 5 senior props in front of Magennis, if their quality was questionable, then Magennis would be higher up said order. Also, check the senior squad, they've added Forster, Hand and Walker, all promising young props to act as back up.
I agree that Magennis would get some games for us, but I feel there's a real danger of him stagnating and turning from someone who seems to have a bit of edge in his game to just an average hard working drone.

**EDIT** I've perhaps neglect that we'll probably be taking 5 props in the matchday squad, so only need one injury for us to need our 6th.
I think my opinion of him is based on the fact he can do some good stuff, but then seems to make a lot of foul ups. I think he'd benifit from being relied on more, which he would be if had a more starts.
I must say that I too have doubts about his physical capacity for the front row.

When you compare our first choice 5 with Wigan and Warrington, there is very little to choose between the teams. Most have 2 or 3 big name props, then a couple of work horses and then the youth team.

I think we would all love a solid front row, but the reality is that the federation ruling has made this less likely as you can only fish in your own pond really. We have 3 of our non-federation players at prop. So basically we have loaded our team in the front row with overseas, probably to give the likes of megennis the time needed to really bulk out to be first choice props when they hit 24/25.