I take your point, but I can’t remember Wigan rotating through many props. Byrne, Thompson, Havard, Dupree, Hill, and Cooper for a handful of games before he got injured. They have Eseh, Makin, and Chan too but I can’t remember any of them playing for Wigan last year. As Trojan often says, we should only sign players who would improve our squad. We’ve got Atoni, McMeeken, Rodwell, Uele, Vagana, Bain, Shaw. Now Chris Hill would certainly improve our squad for a year - his play the ball speed and wrestle is still up there with the best - but that would probably prevent Bain and Shaw getting game time. Singleton? I honestly don’t think he’s as good a player as our first five options. Runs and tackles hard but makes some poor decisions both sides of the ball. What is propping? Hate (love) to bring it up again, but as I see it in the modern game there’s no difference between a prop and a loose forward. I understand that 30 years ago a loose was a dynamic, hardworking, ball handling forward. And 10 years ago a loose became a prop but with good hands who organised other forwards. But now (with a few exceptions like Oledzski and Walmsley) 8,10 and 13 have the same skillset. No SL team should have a prop who can’t set up a play or tip the ball out the back accurately. If Cozza, Bain, or Pitts plays prop, and Rodwell or McMeeken plays 13, you wouldn’t notice apart from at kickoffs. Here for the debate!

"[quote="Vastman":b6f561mg]Oh do give it a rest for once. You know exactly what I meant so stop the agent provocateur stuff, I wouldn’t mind if you were any good at it. He comes as back up FACT and he will have to accept that to start with FACT. If he goes onto prove himself worthy and becomes first choice that’s fantastic, I’d love that. What he can’t do is swagger in and think he’s number one based on past achievements and then sulk when he isn’t first on the list. You earn your change or are you claiming otherwise?"[/quote:b6f561mg] Well that didn't take long. True colours always shine through i guess. But I think you'll find it isn't a fact its your opinion about something that hasn't even happened.

Rodwell being a 13 is not a given for me. He's fitter and more mobile than a normal prop but I can't say I've seen him do a lot of ball handling. Atoni does more than him. But as a powerful runner and big defensive backrower he's great. Just depends what kind of 13 you want.

[quote="PopTart":2pjg5aj7]Rodwell being a 13 is not a given for me. He's fitter and more mobile than a normal prop but I can't say I've seen him do a lot of ball handling. Atoni does more than him. But as a powerful runner and big defensive backrower he's great. Just depends what kind of 13 you want.[/quote:2pjg5aj7] There are very few ball playing 13s these days. I’m of the opinion you need 3 creative outlets on the field, 6, 7 and 1 or 13. If you go with 4 it reduces their time with the ball and effectiveness as they start to get in each others way. Origin 3 this year Queensland tried it throwing Pongia on without removing another creative player and they fell apart. Rodwell can tip on the ball and do big minutes with the ability to post a high tackle count and continue to be effective.

[quote="imwakefieldtillidie":17nef1lg]I didn't think Kibula was anything special, even in the Championship. Struggled to get games in a poor Cas side.[/quote:17nef1lg] He did pretty decent against trinity in championship but as you say he just can’t seem to crack it at the top level. Think he’s at Batley now.

[quote="Droopy":3f42q9aa][youtube][/youtube]My point exactly, other than McMeeken, our other starting props are either unproven at SL or have a point to prove. It does worry me. I was disappointed when Bowden signed elsewhere because whilst he isn’t a world beater, he is robust and experienced enough to be a key part of the team. You then look at if one of our first 4 props is injured who steps up? Bain and Vangana are both inexperienced and probably a little lightweight. Storton, probably would be my preference to step up but isn’t a natural prop. So I go back to my previous post, even though it wouldn’t be a exciting or inspiring signing, a experienced and robust SL prop is needed in my opinion.[/quote:3f42q9aa] Although I sort of agree, in hindsight another year from Bowden would have sorted us out but we don't know how his body was fairing even at Champ level let alone SL. but it looks like we enquiring after another body, after we asked Wigan about Makin. I'd say a few of our Props have a point to prove in SL, especially the young Aussies coming up for the first time, but I'm certainly not worried that they're going to let us down in any way. I haven't since we played Wigan in that friendly last year. Yeah, I know when it was and what it was, but all our guys handled themselves superbly against Wigan and showed they could go toe to toe against a champion SL team, and that was when most of them had just fallen off a plane. Since then their confidence levels have improved, they've got used to playing in England, as a team and have developed a good bond. I don't worry about McMeeken, Atoni, Uele or Rodwell. Atoni last half of 2023 was decent, once BIg Dave arrived to give the pack some go-forward and he seemed to feed off him and build confidence from there. Both Uele and Rodwell bossed the Championship so much that the step-up doesn't worry me at all. Both are complete professionals and Rodwell already came to us as a player ready to play at a higher level IMO. I also wouldn't put Bain and Vagana in the same bracket personally, Vagana has a higher ceiling IMO. I certainly wouldn't describe him as a little lightweight. He's already a huge guy for his age, with huge legs, 6ft4/5 and he has the frame to really add some size and muscle to it. Bain's smaller, weighs just 95kgs and is definitely more of a back row/13 than a prop, he's a similar size to Cozza and his frame wouldn't lend itself to piling on size, especially at 24 IMO. I know the coaches are looking at Vagana being a wide-running destructive back rower which I can understand, he's already caused issues out wide and another off-season under him it will potentially make him that much more dangerous. Saying that over the next year or 2 he could easily add 10kg and turn into a beast down the middle, whether that be prop or 13. Stourton could play prop at a push but we'd have to have an injury crisis, just as we would if Cozza played there or Bain. Storton's one of our best back rowers and along with Seth, Pitts, Griffin, that's where they should mostly stay. There's also Cam Scott who's a good back-rower, but it looks like we're fancying him at this season and tbf he looked the part on boxing g day.