Replacing who? Manu? Tickle? Radford? Lauaki?

And I'm far from convinced that he has the engine or the size to make a good 2nd rower.

I've been saying this for years, and made the same point about the try against Saints. He's no centre IMO, and yet we've given him a 3 year contract.

Radford or Lauaki...not fussed

I'm no fan of Radford, but Yeamo wouldn't be anywhere near as effective. He's smaller, doesn't work as hard, and isn't as clever.

I wouldn't have Yeamo in the 17 if we had a decent alternative at centre.

...there are very few good alternatives to Yeamo.

We seem to specialise in "almost" centres:
Yeaman - good strength and can run in a straight line and fend, but struggles to put his winger away
Whiting - good reader of the game, but lead boots
Hall - good body swerve and opportunist but positional nightmare
Turner - bit early to tell, promising signs
Briscoe - probably the best of the lot but being cast as a winger now

Can't imagine any of them worrying an opposition coach that much as a "must stop" player when gameplanning.

Just on Radford, thought he did well again today. He seems to be literally throwing himself into tackles, like it's his last hurrah.

Yeaman in the back row

Yet Yeamos winger is our top try scorer..

thats what i was thinking

I'm more of a Yeaman fan than most. But he's a senior player now and should be looking to lead an inexperienced back line from the front. He just seems slow to anticipate opportunities.

Radford and Lauaki to play prop along with Moa, Dowes and O'Meley. Manu, Tickle, Yeamo and Burnett our 2nd rowers for next season. Focus on recruitment to the backs. Mainly a high quality half back that can stay fit.

Huddersfield's choice to accomodate Brough, Drew, Robinson and Brown vs ours of Long and Horne is interesting. Much more depth in the creative department there.

Yeaman is not, and never will be, an SL quality 2nd row forward.

Add Brett Hodgson to that list yesterday and they had 5 thinking, skillfull, experienced players to our Sean Long and that was essentially the difference . Lunt also has a bit of flair at loose forward and they varied their attack. Lets face it they should have scored at least two more tries possibly three whilst we took just about all of the opportunities we created.

There are question marks of one sort or another over all of our backs with Yeaman the only one playing in his correct position. Moving him would be madness and he's no second rower anyway.

Thats an assumption isnt it based on no evidence?

Compare theirs though to ours of:
Tansey, Horne, Long, Berro, Houghton we shouldnt be far different. (Hodgson would be the main one)

I guess the main difference is that Robinson, Brough and Brown are all fit most of the time.

I think you are right...how many games have we seen all 5 fit together...

How many games have we seen Long and Horne fit together. Less than 5 isnt it?

It's based on the evidence of his size and performances ever since he broke into the first team. He doesn't have the power, weight, or work-rate to make it as a second row in the modern game.

TBH..it was games like yesterday when Longy needed him, we need more options with less pressure on Longy, Tansey is creative but makes some silly options which I think may lessen as he becomes more experienced.

With 3 creative players and our pack we could really rock, yesterday we could have kicked on in the 2nd half imo, because when Longy is not clicking Horne can take the stage..

Hit the nail on the head,not enough players who can think for themselves

I disagree with power, weight i agree he would be light weight for a 2nd row but i find it really difficult to write his work rate off without seeing him play in the back row. Centres are involved generally when the ball finds them. That can make Yeamo look like he isnt involved but whenever he gets the chance he gets involved and scoots.

I beg to differ - if we're including fullbacks and hookers, Hudds have:
Hodgson
Brough
Drew
Robinson
Brown
Lunt
Faiumu

if you think that's the creative equivalent of our pivots, you're a loon.

Good centres go looking for the ball. They anticipate and back up plays and half-breaks. Yeaman rarely does this. The reason why he looks like he isn't involved is because he often isn't.

He does his fair share in defence and in scooting to give the forwards a break, but that's a world away from the work he'd need to get through in the 2nd row. And lack of weight = lack of power. It's all about momentum.

Bingo. Last centre we had that did that was Sid.