According to todays Wakey Express, King, Crowther and Atkins are all in contention for places this weekend....positive news for a change (unless you are called BOJ042 of course !!)

Think the last time we made the top 8 we had 9 wins .We were lucky that there were some poor teams around.Think we will need that many to stay in S L .All the teams have got stronger ,and from what I have seen are better coached in the skills of basic rugby eg passing the ball faster ,forwards running in harder, ex Do not know if this is down to bad coaching or players time will tell

Add to this fifita, walker and green could be back for cas..
Not sure if this weeks game will go ahead forcast worse than last weeks

Always good to get a bigger squad , but with exception of Atkins couldn’t really see any of others starting , really need fafita and arona fit , be a double edged sword if match is cancelled

We brought 4forwards in to get rid of when Faifita and Arona are out we are poor affect .Plus two more at the back end of last season .Take it the problem as not gone away.

Ehhh ???...In English, please ??

I can translate the first part but am struggling on the second

But suspect the gist is without fafita abd arona our forwards are hard working but lacking that certain joie de vie

I said English, not French !!! BTW...It's "Joie de Vivre"..... but I get the gist now... https://www.google.co.uk/search?ei=TXlF ... 5D9vsBJh88

I said English, not French !!! BTW...It's "Joie de Vivre"..... but I get the gist now... https://www.google.co.uk/search?ei=TXlF ... 5D9vsBJh88

Translating fans are saying we are poor without Fafita and Arona .So what was the point off signing 4 forwards who do not improve the pack in close season

They do improve the pack. Green is better than England, Tangata is better than Hirst. Westerman & Pitts give us something a bit different. But you need a stable of forwards to deal with injuries and demands of the season. Or do you expect us to sign 4 Fifitas?

Are we comparing Green to the busted version of England. He was immense for us us in his first two and a half seasons, until niggles began to tell on him

Agree about Green and Tangata two good forwards ,could not see what we gained by signing both Westerman and Pitts one mabe think money could have been spent on a better forward so we do not have to over play Fifta , Aron in every match so they do not get busted up and play all season

Imo we have strengthened our pack considerably over last season ,for me pauli and hirst Just didn’t cut the mustard and poor old England gave his all but injuries caught up with him in the end .Tanginoa pound for pound is up there with the best ,we just need game time to get them all singing from the same Hymn sheet so to speak

Pitts replaced Pauli and Westerman replaced Annakin... great bit of business for me. Add into that Walker and Atkins and we are a lot stronger imo. Josh Wood looks good too, but too early to tell if hes better than Randell

I think (admittedly after one game) that Westerman will prove to be a great signing and will pick up a lot of MoS points through the season.

as long as we don't lose by 30 we wont be last

Lighten up FFS!

I've always liked him, I think he's underachieved generally at his other clubs though for me. When Arona comes back, where's he going to play?! I know it's an if, but if we get Fifita, Arona, Green, King all back in the next few weeks, we just seem to have an abundance of forwards in the squad. Navarette for a full season? A couple of years ago the team picked itself, we had real continuity, I don't think Chester knows his 'best' team when everyone is fit. It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks who gets left out completely.......

I think Westerman is a great signing if he can be consistent. A real handful and great offload game. Gives us another dimension and can be swapped out for any of the back 3. Chester not knowing his best side is a benefit, genuine depth all over the place.

I would like to see us make a game of it and get away from the predictable boring rugby we’ve been playing the past year or two.

21 for The Wire

TOM JOHNSTONE
BILL TUPOU
REECE LYNE
JACOB MILLER
KYLE WOOD
MATTY ASHURST
DANNY KIRMOND
JOE WESTERMAN
JAY PITTS
CRAIG KOPCZAK
JAMES BATCHELOR
ADAM TANGATA
JORDY CROWTHER
JOE ARUNDEL
MAX JOWITT
GEORGE KING
JOSH WOOD
LEE KERSHAW
RYAN HAMPSHIRE
KELEPI TANGINOA
ROMAIN NAVARRETE

I would go with -

Fullback – Jowitt
Wing – Johnstone
Centre – Tupou
Centre - Lyne
Wing - Arundel

Stand Off - Miller
Scrum Half – Hampshire

Prop – King
Hooker – Kyle Wood
Prop – Tangata
Second Row - Ashurst
Second Row – Tanginoa
Loose Forward - Westerman

Bench

Koppy
Navarrete
Josh Wood
Kirmond

From that three quarter line I'd personally go with:

Tom Johnstone
Joe Arundel
Reece Lyne
Bill Tupou

Jowitt
Johnstone
Tupou
Lyne
Kershaw
Miller
Hampshire
Koppy
K Wood
Navarette
Ashurst
Tanginoa
Westerman

J Wood
King
Tangata
Crowther/Batch

Maybe you guys will have better luck with Westerman, but having looked a real star when he broke through at Cas he never matched that promise in either spell at Hull and was generally very disappointing for the Wire. Not terrible, but very ordinary.