The quads tear last season was a bit of a problem. On the plus side he does heal quickly

Comparing Leeds, Saints and Bradford:

Hookers

You would have to say that the combination of Newton and Godwin comes some way behind those of Cunningham and Roby, and Diskin and Buderus. All three combinations have an injury prone experience player so it really comes down to the back up - Roby and Diskin are far superior to journeyman Godwin

Props

Saints: Graham, Fa'asavalu, Cayless, Hargreaves
Leeds: Peacock, Leuluai, Burgess, Bailey, Kirke, Worrall
Bradford: Lynch, Burgess, Scruton, Kopczak

Saints seem to have the edge in numbers and quality, although many of their players are injury prone. Leeds look lighter than last year with Scruton missing although Kirke will be expected to play more and I wouldn't be surprised to see Eastwood play there. Bradford have lost Big Joe and Feather and only brought Scruton in, although I would expect Kopczak to play there more. This is a tight department to call - if Peacock, Lynch or Graham gets injured any of the three sides will be in big trouble.

My concern is that Sam Burgess will be wasted at prop - the British SBW should not be relegated to a biff and barge role. Sadly, the Bulls backrow is stock with aged antipodeans so he will probably be forced to play there.

Backrowers

Saints: Puletua, Wilkin, ?Gilmour (if not at centre), Flannery, Clough
Bulls: Solomona, Menzies, Morrison, Worrincy, Langley
Leeds: JJB, Lauitiiti, Eastwood, Ablett, Sinfield

Bradford certainly have a strong back row on paper, but how many games (or minutes for that matter) will Solomona, Menzies and Morrison play together? That said the other back-rows look very stong as well, and certainly contain younger and fitter players than the Bulls. This one is on a knife edge for me.

All in all there's not much in it - except perhaps at hooker. Although Bradford may be able to compete in the forwards their backline is very weak compared to Leeds and Saints. Gilmour slotting in at centre will still be a better option than Sykes or Nero, whilst even if Lee Smith doesn't work out in this role Leeds have the option of playing Ablett there again or bringing in Kallum Watkins (who incidently carved up the Bulls backline in Cardiff). Also Bradford are the weakest in the halves - even with a fit Deacon, Jeffries is just too inconsistent and is prone to making lots of errors.

i couldn't agree more. he has decent hands so taking the ball in should be left to others.

Fozzard has gone to HKR mate

D'oh, I'd forgotten that one. Less depth in the pack for them.

So The Punisher is a Warrington fan then

That explains a lot

not bad for a reserve grade player to play 25 of 28 first grade games, + all 5 world cup games for the world champions,

added to the 22 of 28 first grade games he played the year before including a WCC, + another test match

its fairly clear that Eastwood gets through a lot of games if he is playing reserve grade as well

Don't really see how Eastwood can be described as 'reserve grade'.

There's also a lot of undue negativity on this thread surrounding Buderus - of course he is a risk but no more so than Menzies who I might remind people is four years his senior.

forgive me if i'm wrong but I think the concern over buderus is because he's carried more injuries than menzies recently?

Yes, you're right, although none of them have been career threatening to my knowledge.

How many matches has morrison missed since he signed for you??????
Plus i never said sam was rubbish read the post i was responding to who claimed we only had one good prop(peacock) to which i pointed out luke had outplayed his brother thus nullifying the one decent prop argument.
I'm on nothing mate i'd take our pack to beat yours again next season despite your improvement in recruits there.

Newton isn't even as good as diskin now let alone one of the worlds best.
As for deacon read newton finished over the hill and prepping for retirement.
Nero,tadpole,and fattymona over-rated journeymen and any quality they did have has been coached out of them by the enigma that is mcnamara!

Like the backrow for Bradford but think you are short of 1 experienced Prop.

I think it will be interesting next year Saints, Leeds, Bradford and Wigans packs are all pretty close, at the moment maybe Wigan slightly off the pace unless they manager to recruit a final Prop, but i do expect in all packs the younger players and how they fit in to play a major part in who can be seen to have the best pack at the end of the year.

There is a few packs out there that will give yours Leeds and Saints plenty problems mate dont you worry.

most ensible post on this thread so far

in one match when sam was already carrying an injury - big deal. Over the entire season sam was much more impressive than luke. Lukes at least a season behind sam in terms of development. He'll become a great prop given time no doubt, Sam on the other hand has the ball skills to be much more than a biff and barge prop and he's only filling in there in 2009 till we recruit someone or one of kids makes the position his own.

Our pack seems to have coped pretty well during the past 2 seasons though

played nearly every game.get your facts right first.
and it doesn't matter if you had the aussie national team pack because your backs are garbage

Say what you see tad!

You already over rely on sam and imo is wasted at prop.
If your coach continues down the prop route with him he could end up washed up by the time he's 25 ala fielden.
Sam started the season great but wasn't exactly on fire when injury cut his season short and in terms of performance he wasn't that far ahead of luke.

I'am indeed a wire fan mate. Surprised no one has mentioned Le Catalans pack, they bullied alot of teams last season. Anyway for me the Bulls and Rhinos packs are the best on paper, with Saints, Catalans, Wires then Wigan's in that order.

He'd been playing with the injury for most of the season.

Interesting issue that I know SM and the club aware of. On the one hand you have the player's long term interests, on the other you have the club's need to get results now or risk the wrath of Eddie et al

Makes him look cr@p as well.

I think he could be the next big thing but he could be burnt out if he's over-relied on.

By eck Eastwood must be shiite then.