Won in 2005 with a pivot at 13.....if we wanted a ball playing pivot at 1 then we should have kept Rankin,Shauls speed and support is great but he doesn't link well...imo.As for a ball playing 13,I'm old school and like a ball playing 13

Me too. I'm willing for Abdull to turn into the next Jason Smith but I'd settle for the next Paul Cooke.

Connor
Michaels/Shaul
Fonua
Griffin
Talanoa
Kelly
Sneyd
Taylor
Houghton
Watts
Minichiello
Manu
Ellis

Green
Bowden
Hadley
Washbrook

Slightly against the grain...

In my opinion, Shaul needs to improve his passing, and his linkup play
to create an overlap for the outside backs..

My backs would be
Carlos
Connor
Fonua
Griffin
Talanoa
Kelly
Sneyd

I honestly can't believe that people are thinking of dropping Shaul, was excellent for 75% of the season and form dropped off when the rest of the team did, deserves to start the season at FB, if he doesn't produce then, then it opens the chance for Connor etc

Exactly this.

All about opinions Dave..

For mine...

The modern day fullback, needs to be an extra pivot, this is the area where Shaul is lacking
, IF he improved in this facet of his play, he would be in for international reckoning...

but again - in my opinion....

Agree with you there Dave
Shaul has improved parts of his game every season.No reason for even thinking of replacing him with Connor

People want to drop Shaul , unbelievable !!

I have this vague memory of Shaul scoring the winning try at Wembley. Does anyone else remember that? When Shaul scored the winning try at Wembley? The try that won us the cup? At Wembley?

Passing is nice but tries win games.

Shaul on the wing would be a waste of his support play. Having Kelly in, we will hopefully have an increased number of breaks which Jamie can follow through.

1. Shaul
2. Michaels
3. Fonua
4. Griffin
5. Talanoa

(What a set of backs!)

6. Kelly
7. Sneyd

(Mouth is watering already)

8. Taylor
9. Houghton
10. Watts
11. Manu
12. Mini
13. Ellis

(We've seen what these can do this year)

14. Bowden
15. Green
16. Hadley
17. Connor/Washbrook

We're going to need different players off the bench dependant on who we're playing. Hopefully we'll see the likes of Osborne, Downs, Fash, Turgut, Matongo, Rawsthorne all pushing for first time starts.

I still worry about the strength of depth in the forwards. The starting pack is impressive but one or two long term injuries and we could struggle.The likes of Turgut, Downs, Masi and Fash will have to step into the breach and may not be ready to play a significant number of games. Last season with good management and maybe a little bit of luck we coped but there's no guarantee next season will be the same.

It wouldn't surprise me if we sign another prop.

Agree, losing Frank means someone needs to step up, but I'd prefer someone from the 23s. Dependant on cap space, we could always dip into the loan market (Reckon Feka would come back?

) if we were desperate.

Certainly deserves to start the season at full back but I do think he'll be one worried about his position in the team with Connor waiting in the wings.

It'll be interesting how Radford rotates his backs throughout the year though.

Spot on Dave. Shaul isn't a problem and never was the problem with our attacking game. That's why our club has gone out of it's way to get Kelly in.

I agree regarding Shaul, he is a player that can do things that, until Kelly's arrival, no one else within that squad was able to and certainly has the X factor about him. I think , despite the size and strength of our outside backs, they are not really super-fast, which Shaul is so I'd be surprised to see him ousted at the start of the season, by Connor. That said , we have, at last, depth and competition for places in that position and nobody can rest on their laurels or afford a loss of form, which is the way it should be and a blueprint for continued improvement and success.

I was excited prior to last season by our additions, I feel even more confident this year as I believe that we have actually signed players who are an upgrade on their predecessors and can take us further, if we achieve the same level of fitness and injury management/conditioning.

I think, rather than sign forwards from elsewhere, we can blood the young potential starlets, if we choose carefully where and when to do so. Reminds me somewhat of the time when the likes of Lee Crooks, Wayne Proctor, Neil Puckering and Andy Dannatt came through and I hope we can unearth a future talent by going this way. Time will tell, but we'll never know until we try, to throw them in only when there is a crisis just doen't help their progression and sometimes will actually stunt their development.

Anyway, a good backline, strong pack and two excellent halves, what's not to like?

They will play after Bowden,Green,Thompson,Hadley and they will be good enough,doesn't stop Wigan putting young played in and our investment in u-23s will reap.

I can see Turgut stepping up this season.Body is filling out now and he has a bit of pace for a forward.He will be like Bateman,looks to be small but very powerful

Whilst Shaul had a very good season, I disagree with you on his attacking play. He's a terrific support player and broken field runner, but there's a lot of room for improvement in his passing game.

As we don't utilise a third pivot with our loose forward, we need more play to go through our FB and quite a lot of times last season Shaul failed too execute a play or took a wrong option.

I'm completely nit-picking of course, as I said, elements of his game are excellent and our attacking play as a team was pretty good for the most part, but there's a reason Lomax was chosen over him for England (who also don't use a pivot at 13, Aus & NZ too), which is down to his handling ability.

I imagine this is what he's working hard on in pre-season. With Connor there adding pressure for the position and bringing with him a different skill set, his position isn't as safe as it was last season.

Shaul needs to improve his timing and distribution but many of his problems come from our piiss poor passing along the line. Far too often the ball takes an age to get to him when he comes into the line to create the extra man

So there's our first 13. What would be our second 13 then?

Connor
Noggers
Logan
Downs
Lancaster

Tuimavave
?

Bowden
Litten
Green
Hadley
Thompson
Washy

Not bad in terms of competition. And I reckon we have cap space if we needed a mid season signing.

By the sounds of it, Jack Wray won't be too far off for cover in the halves. Plus there's Rawsthorne in the backs.

Starting 13 are good but bench a bot short on quality and experience then we're into inexperienced youngsters to cover the forwards if we get any injuries at all. 2 or 3 forwards injured and we could be in trouble. It seems a bit daft to let feka and frank go but not replace either but lose 2 backs and sign 4

This. A good number of times when they've ended up being man marked because the passing was too slow and Shaul has been left to try and create something on his own. However, there were times when if Shaul had taken a different option we could have created a chance. Things to work on though, and hopefully with Kelly it'll take a bit of pressure of Shaul.

Forgot about thompson so we have a bit of cover. I'd rotate ellis, mini and manu in the 2nd row and have washbrook and thompson rotating at loose man