When I was captain of a local RU club, we had two games in successive days - the second one a Lancashire Cup tie. We decided to rest one of our 'older' second rows, for the first game, to have him fresh for the second one. After the cup tie, which we lost, he attempted to drown me in the bath afterwardss, for not selecting him for the 'easy' game on the Saturday!



Forwards eh - no idea!!

Like the look of that. Though would keep Hopkins as an interchange prop. Don't think we'd be allowed three second rowers and a 13

The simple answer is ' probably yes ' , but it isn't as simple as that , yes we could do with another 3/4 players because of injuries

So , where are these players going to come from ?

When you are top dog in the Championship there are a plethora of fringe SL players available to you , especially when those SL clubs don't have injury crisis themselves , but as we hear every week , everybody currently has problems , all bar Cas,Salford and now Leeds , interesting they are the current top 3

No potential middle 8 team will lend you anybody , we are I assume up to the max on our quota

So where are these players who are better than who we currently have , be they playing or on the treatment table ?

So we knuckle down , shuffle the pack ( ie the whole squad , not just the big lads ) and get on with it , the coaching staff might have to fit the tactics round who is available rather than the other way round

I agree with you Starbug,as for where are the players are coming from,surely our experience in Championship could point to a few.

We do not need to make major changes. We just need to get some bodies back and tweak a few positions. Why we are persevering with a SL class full back in the three quarters I do not know. It's akin to moving Josh Drinkwater away from 7 and asking him to fill in for Harrison Hanson in the pack! If Brown plays,he is in at full back every week.

Higson Dawson and Crooks need to cover the centre positions between them until Tonga returns shortly.

I think Reynolds is looking a little stale and has earned a breather, if Ridyard is not going to be first choice 6, please give Hampshire a shot.

There seems to be a bugbear some where with not playing Hampshire there H..Possibly time for someone to swallow their pride and give the lad a go.

ATM Ryan Hampshire is our most important player , because quite simply he is a damn good RL player that can put in good performances in several positions , he is our new Lee Smith

So Ryan , please , please keep filing in those gaps , you will get your chance in your preferred position , we do thank you for your patience

So who in the Championship could step up right now ?

I'd be happy with Taulapapa at at the minute..Would be a good buy in my eyes,not sure where we stand on the quota spots at the min.

Quota spots are full. Need a centre and a second rower. How about tyrer and manning?

They are better than we have ?

Would love to see Hampshire given a chance at 6. A few years ago when he played for the Pies in the Battle of the Borough game he started the game at Full Back and didn't play well. At half time he was given a chance at 6 and he was a real threat to their attack. We have nothing to lose at this stage in the season by giving the lad a chance. What will become more important later in the season is knowing what the best positions are for our fit players, and hopefully we will have enough of them available to choose from.

At the moment we have 1 fit centre in crooks, and 2 second rowers in stewart and vea. Tyrer would allow brown to go to full back, and manning would be better than vea, in fact playing with 12 would be better than playing with vea. Am sure there are other options, dont like either tyrer or manning but think they would be reasonable options from the championship.

I wonder how happy McGillvary & Cudjoe are at Giants ?

& also when their contracts expire ?

Might be worth starting the courting process, at least by "giving them the eye" across a crowded SL.

I don't think we should have let Sarsfield go could cover centre and second row.In my opinion we need someone like him or a similar player.its all right having 4 forwards as subs but one of them needs to have a bit of pace to cover for injury to our backs

There would appear to be a consistency on here, Ryan Hampshire to halfback! Well, I too have been advocating this during Drinkwater's absence! I would definitely have played him Scrum Half with Ridyard outside him.

I wonder why so many people are now calling for Hampshire to play in the halves? I'm sorry to have say this but, Ben Reynolds is not good enough to occupy the halfback position in Super League, not only does he lack pace, he lacks awareness and ability too ! I don't like to criticise unless I feel its necessary and recently, he has been really really poor! I know Riddy and Drinky are not 'even timers' however, they are both skilful and astute kickers, around the field! I often cringe too, when Reynolds passes to one of our players who is already lined to be clattered, ouch!!!
If we can get Riddy and Drinky both fit and on the pitch, in form, we will be fine there is a lot Rugby to play yet!
Riddy answered his critics last year when, faced with losing his place to the much more experienced and highly rated Travis Burns, he came back and led us into Super League! Lets be patient with Riddy and Drinky they are a class act together.
I said at the beginning of the season I was very happy with our squad and, I remain so !
Surely, Tonga, Patterson, Maria, Clare, Ridyard, Hock, Acton, Pelissier, Brown and a fit Mickey would make a difference to our team, at the moment ? Get these Guys available and, we wont need to worry about the Championship!
Lets not condem our squad totally, we all have our opinions, preferences and team selections, more importantly we need to support the Coaches and club at present.
Where I sit in the West Stand, the Booing, echoing around the ground is really embarrassing particularly after having witnessed the wonderful atmosphere generated during our performances against, Hudds , Saints and Wire!
I'm looking forward to Saturday when I'm sure, our Team will give us a win and, a performance to clap for

Nice one Kirk, Corn't argue wi that.

Lol ! Some people on here are delusional. Niel is a Championship Manager. No more no less. Irrespective of injuries. Honest guy, but not a good enough Manager. Simple as that.

Need a player like him, but can't comment on whether he's back to the sort of form he showed in 2014. Don't forget, he ended up playing Championship Shield last season.

Is this 'Niel' your referring to Neil Jukes by any chance? As I don't know him personally perhaps you could enlighten me on your knowledge of him then, I wont be delusional!

Kirkhall is spot on for me.
Drinkwater and Richard are the halfbacks to lead us forward. The others that are currently out injured will be good enough to see us through the middle 8s should it come to that.
Get behind who ever is on the field for us in the next few weeks as they will be playing a lot of minutes back to back to see us through our injury crisis.
Up the Comics

OH OK

I think you will find Neil Jukes is neither a SL or Championship manager........
He is however our SL Head COACH, and a damn good coach at that.
I wouldn't normally split hairs but I'm figuring that you are maybe here to wind people up, so just wanted to help you get the terminology right for Rugby League to help you on your way.

perhaps he's trying to be Canadian or a bit of a sheep in wolfs clothing

Head Coach, First Team Coach, Nags Head Coach to Margate on The Jolly Boys outing for all I care, but whatever you want to call him he's out of his depth and has no plan A never mind a plan B.