Because 90% of the time he will start from the bench, and I'm happy with that, his versatility is his strength (apart from his obvious Superhero qualities) and for me he starts from the bench every time to give us cover / options during the game.

What year is his testimonial?

Decent squad, not sure it's a top 4 squad, more top 6. Depends what Radford can get out of them.

Maybe not, but tbh I don't think many would have predicted Huddersfield would be top of the league come the end of year. Not comparing us to Hudds, but just saying there's always a chance of a surprise

Hopefully Radders can be our own Paul Anderson!

Lets be honest, as it stands now the squad is way down on last years.

There are tribes deep in the Amazonian rain forest untouched by Western civilisation and even they knew you'd say that.

About the same, we will be stronger in the halfbacks, pack is about the same, but squad has more depth with young players coming through.

Only great loss is Briscoe.

Last season we didnt know how good Green, Lineham, Crooks and Shaul would be, this season they look like good-great SL players.

I think like Paul we will finish 6th again next season, unless Radford can have some kind of Paul Anderson impact.

How?

Because some people refuse to see the obvious

Basically Miller, last season we started with Seymour and Holdsworth and never were good enough, Miller showed more in his little time here than both of these and should be better this season with a pre-season, add to this a signing of another halfback, I think we are better than the ones that started last season. We also had no young players in our first team squad last year that were halfbacks, we now have two FT training and I get the feeling that one of them might get a couple of games next year.

Unless a big name quality player is coming into your halfbacks then I can't see any improvement at all, I know FC fans who have failed to see anything in Miller that suggests he is going to make the grade.

The pack is certainly weaker apart from the addition of Paea.

The emergence of Crooks, Lineham and to some extent Shaul is a huge boost to the squad especially in terms of exciting players. But losing an international in Briscoe will certainly weaken you guys out wide.

We never used him so how is he a loss?

According to who?

I see what your saying but if if Horne or Miller are missing, which i'm guessing Horne will miss a few, then were struggling.

But will it be a big loss though.. Last season we never used Briscoe as much as we should of. We were always playing to the right with Crooks an Lineham.

Briscoe was a good player yes, but still had some flaws in his game. Often went missing and tbh with the new signing i think we've replaced him. Someone bigger and stronger.

My opinion is based on another halfback signing as backup/competition.

But then we'd need to sign a 7, theres no point bringing in another 6.

Can't see how are pack is weaker, backrow is stronger, Tickle and Galea last season were awful, at times I would have dropped both of these.

Paea replaces O Meley, so big improvement there, younger, makes more yards and less injury prone.

Lynch is a loss IMO, but him leaving will give Green more time and I think he will turn out a better player than Lynch was last season.

Feka is a gamble, if it pays off then we will have a good set of props, he knows it is his last chance to play top level rugby and it looks like he has been working hard to get into shape.

90% of fans I have spoken to rate Miller or least see something in his game, he has an exciting running game and good passing, kicking needs to improve though and this is possible our biggest concern next season.

Maybe our best 17 isn't as good as last year (although not far off), but our squad is better IMO, maybe not that much better to improve our league position unfortunately. I'd say the same for Rovers, better squad, but not as good best 17 and don't see much improvement in ether teams league places.

We have Miller at 7. Horne at 6, Horne is most likely to get injured so we need a 6 more.

6 and 7 positions have become very similar anyway, at Warrington you had Briers at stand of, but his role was that of an old fashioned SH.

Good point, although I would say Hudds have a better squad than we do. Still if Radford does a really good job then who knows.

Any 7 can play 6, not all 6's can play 7.

Its not Briscoes fault the service to him is/was poor, you have a player of that calibre on the wing and very rarely use him, it's a tragedy, no wonder he has left.

You have clearly replaced him with two players coming in, upto his standard, I seriously doubt.

Isn't Miller a 7 anyway?? He was brought in as a 7.

Horne plays his best rugby at 6 anyway rather then 7 imo.

Pretty much agree with all of that. Much will swing on any halfback coming in, the hoped improvement of Miller with a full preseason, and Paleaaesina (or one of Green/Bowden really kicking on). In the case of the latter, I think like you that our front row possibly isn't that much weaker than last season, but neither am I confident it will be an improvement, and certainly not by enough in an area that I think was a weakness for us this year. Unless somebody does really step up (including Watts having a better year), I think we may still have a bit of a problem there.

Morning, Sandy.