To go back to the original post and the title ie. Quota spots then I'd say:
Miller, Lino, Fifita and Arona all deserve their spots
Tanginoa - I feel should be doing a lot more and we've seen it so you have to ask what has gone wrong
Tupou - A great player for us but I do feel that we should be looking to negotiate a pay-off with him now
Whitbread - So far he has completely failed to impress me at all. I'd rather we played Aydin

Someone on another post felt that Lino is still 'suffering' with injury. Interestingly, IIRC, Max has been goal kicking recently.

When Lino started playing he was kicking goals easily then suddenly Max took over. Does make you wonder if he’s not quite right

Yet he kicked 2 40/20s against Wigan

Agree think he looked the only player who could do something against Cas .Been said many times Miller was the missing link .Both bring the best out out of each other and make enough space to make the other players look better

Lino was goal kicker both the games at Warrington, so he was fit enough then.

I thought arona was past his best but has played well this year what i dont get is the crowther love in hes a solid tackler and wakey committed definitely but ball goes to him and dies no passing kicking or hand off its brad walker is who i feel sorry for in and out in a variety of positions so never gets to settle but a far better ball playing forward than what we use at the minute give him an extended run at lf and put tanginoa back in 2nd row with batch and pitts interchanging persevere with forwards but give aydin a chance to prove himself and keep looking who we can get from oz for a big forward who aint getting gametime

Funny thing with J C our last Coach and W Poaching seem to like him I look on him as a squad player nothing special .To me does not make a lot of yards with ball in hand ,yet Tanginoa get slated yet run with more force This is why we would not make good Coaches we must be missing some thing

Because running with the ball is only 50% of the game.

But Tanginoa doesn’t run with more force, he did once but not now. I don’t get why people are so forgiving to this highly payed player yet will gladly bin Crowther.

Omg vastman your halo has slipped.ahhhha

How much is he paid then Vasty.
You keep rattling on about pay, so how much.

Crowther clearly does not run with the force of Kelepi, even on a bad day.
But Kelepi isn't on the best form.
Crowther pays his way in defense.

They are just different players.

Some just don’t get it, flights, family, accommodation, cars, etc etc. Maybe basic pay not much different (unlikely) but ancillary fees are massive. As someone said, Whitbread is no better than Aydin, in some opinions, but gets a priority slot in the team, or seems to. He will be gone in a year or so, Aydin will still be here and his development will be stunted. It doesn’t stack up. Looking at Sid on Friday, he doesn’t seem too bad for another start.

Yet Crowther came on against Wigan and immediately got 2 defensive reads and technique wrong which both lead to try’s being scored!
One of them was due to a lack of effort to map across which is unacceptable from a player fresh off the bench
Worse was the fact that the starting team had defended manfully and limited Wigans attacks.

I’m in danger of being accused of being Chairman of the Tanginoa fan club but I don’t get why you can’t see past the end of your nose on this one.

Tanginoa is not a prop, yes he can play there but he’s not a prop forward and his form and confidence has faded since we started playing him there.
Yes he’s occasionally been played at second row and hasn’t pulled up trees but as mentioned above his form and confidence is gone because we insist on playing him at prop forward.
IMO, if we want to see him in his Dream Team form then we need to play him in the second row and let him regrow his confidence, form and enthusiasm.
By the way, what he gets paid is irrelevant to his form

I'm of the same opinion. I agree Tanginoa [ican[/i play prop, but his true form was seen when he was in the second row. So, why do we play him at prop - because we're short of two props.
Arona is the same, he was converted to prop, and of the two he has made a better job of it, he always gives his 100%, but I reckon playing that position has taken it's toll on him. I think it will probably be his last season with us.

You’re in danger of being accused of being his agent



Think you’re missing the point. The Tanginoa you describe whether at prop or SR was a brilliant player. But it’s all in the past tense, the one we have is a shadow no matter where he plays at present.

He means Crowther, Ashurst and especially Batcg are way ahead of him.

The only way I can excuse Tanginoa is if he has personal issues or a medical issue we don’t know about. I don’t know this so I can only judge on what I see and the Kelepi we all loved seems long gone.

Genuinely don’t know what’s going on with Tanginoa, I was so happy when we managed to tie him down to a long deal, but how he’s playing now it’s simply not good enough as we all know what he can do. I hope Whitbread finds some sort of form too to warrant a quota spot as the lad certainly has talent, but so far this season’s he’s way down the pack for me and that’s saying something

I don't agree about Whitbread. He's not flash but he does his job.
Tanginoa may be slightly off form but he's not bad. I'd still pick him every time.

People bang on about Crowthers defence and while his workrate in defence is high he does get bumped off regularly and makes a number of poor tackles from what I see. Can’t knock his effort one bit though.

If J C is making poor yards with ball and gets bump of regularly and makes poor tackles is his effort enough to keep him in the 17 every week

He isn't getting bumped off as far as I can see.
I don't think he played well against Cas but he puts big hits in and a high number in every game.
He's not my favourite player but we are weaker down the middle when he doesn't play.

Does anyone else think that a change at hooker might bring more from our forwards. On Thursday it was very clear we were making no progress through the middle. To me the distribution from Hood at dummy half was slow and predictable, with very little movement. Gaskell was just passing the ball as soon as he got it, I don’t think his kit will need washing as he never got near the defensive line.
Kay back at hooker will give us much more zip around the ruck and hopefully get the likes of Tanginoa and Arona hitting the line at speed again.

I don't. Hood may have not been his best against Cas but so far this season the forwards have been much better because of Hood's distribution and game management.

More than happy with Bowes and Kay at hooker, but Hood brings experience we've badly needed for the last two years.