Ive been thinking about next season and to be fair Im really excited by the prospext of our backline. At the minute though probably like everybody else is how its going to shape up?

Obviously Mathers is first choice full back, then Id hazard a guess that Hicks is first choice winger just because of his scoring record. After that Im struggling.

Is Bridge first choice centre because Smith picked him for the four nations? That means Atkins, King and Riley are all fighting for two spots. Now in my view Atkins could turn in to a real class centre, King (dispite his haters) already is a class player and Riley hardly put a foot wrong last season.

So good luck Tony I wouldnt like to be choosing, whats everyone else's views on this?

Riley and Penny both won't play in a first choice 13, Riley would in mine, in place of mathers; but not in Smiths.
King might be 'quick for a big man' but he still got caught by malcolm alker after being put clear.
I'll elaborate on my atkins point. He's the sort of guy who would normally be playing soccer as a kid, not a great technical rugby player but a very good all round athlete who's found his way into RL and because, lets be honest, in this country we dont produce many 'athletes' he'll look good. In pure centre terms Bridge is the better footballer by far but athletically Atkins is superior. For me it's how much he can learn in the next few years.
Put simply, Atkins would get a place in an NRL team...on the wing.
Our backline (talking outside backs here) lacks class, only Bridge you'd say has any.

Was told at the end of last season that Hicks would not play again because of a back problem, i guess we will see in the coming weeks, dont see any reason why he would not get a visa tho.

Hicks applied for a visa at the end of the season , and there was a problem somewhere , not too sure what though think it could of been admin error, but 3 weeks ago he applied again, so not sure how long these things take but surely it should be done in time for the season .... was also suprised to learn that the Visa is paid for out of the players own pocket, 600 dollars i was told its cost him both times lol..

Says in todays guardian Hicks will be back here Monday.

That's good news.

In that case, I think it'd be a stick on that Penny would go to Widnes on that dual registration thing, makes sense. He gets first team rugby every week, whilst we still have control of him.

There's no point him kicking his heels, playing for the reserves, which clearly doesn't do him any favours. You'd assume he's behind King, Hicks & Riley, so let him go & play.