A Look At The Squad : Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:54 am
Ive got a litle bit bored looking on here and most of the talk is about the DR situation so thought we could have a look at some possible line ups and try and look where our strength and weaknesses may lie in the squad.Full Back
Miles Greenwood
Joe Martin
Wings
Gareth Potts
Alex Brown
James Saltonstall
Tommy Saxton
Centres
Ste Tyrer
Chris Taylor
Ben Heaton
Half Backs
Ben Johnston
Matt Place
Scott Murrell
Props
Richard Moore
Luke Ambler
Mitch Calahane
Adam Tamgata
Andy Bracek
Hooker
Paul Mennell
Ben Kaye
Keith Holden
Ryan Maneely
Back Rowers
Ross Divorty
Dane Manning
Jack Spencer
Adam Robinson
I think overall the squad looks to have a pretty good balance to it. We may be a bit light in a couple of areas if we did pick up any injuries but we have a few players capable of filling in well in other positions and its clear with a pretty small squad why loans or the dreaded DR may be seen as an option.
At full back we have the best player in the division from last season in Miles Greenwood who we know all about so we have not got many worries there and we should see a lot of tries from him. As back up we saw what Joe Martin is capable of in the last game of the season and if needed himself and a couple of others can fill in there.
In the backs we picked up Alex Brown who caused us no end of trouble in the games against us and was easily Batleys best player in the game against us at the mount. I wasnt a big Potts fan to start with but thought he finished the season in good form after his injury and can see him pushing for a starting place. We know exactly what we are getting from Saxton and Saltonstall was joint best player in the next division down and sounds to be ripping it up in training and may turn out to be a bit of a surprise package if he can get past Saxton for what I would expect to be the 2nd wing berth alongside Brown.
At centre could be a spot we may be a bit light if we picked up any injuries but Tyrer had his best season for us last year and was back to looking like the potential he showed early in his career, in Chris Taylor we got a bit of a coup getting Wigan to let him come to us as once he settled at Haven he had a good run once playing at Centre.
In the halfs you would expect Johnson and Place to start there but it all depends on the structure that RM goes for and whether he sees Murrell as a 13 or a 6. Im expecting a big year from Johnson this year playing under a coach who will let him express himself rather than trying to stop him taking players on. Matt Place is a bit of an unknown but on the videos looks a decent organizer with a good kicking game but we shall see.
I don't think we had a problem in the pack last season I thought it was more how they were asked to play. Im looking forward to our Aus and Cooke Islanders playing as both looked pretty good in the videos and both playing a ton of minutes and making a massive amount of tackles something which we lacked last season from a couple of other props. No matter what Leigh think, for me in Ambler we have the best prop in the division it would be nice to see a bit more aggression from him at times but he made team of the week most weeks and that wasnt by chance. Then we have Bracek who was one of our better players last season so we know what we are getting there along with Richard Moore who along with the overseas players adds a bit of size to our pack.
The back row is probably one of our strongest positions with Divorty and Manning probably been 2 of the best in the division and we have done great to hold on to them both. I think we will see a lot more from Spencer this season with a full off season under his belt for us and hopefully we can see more from Robinson who in glimpses has looked pretty good.
For me we look stronger than last season but a lot will be on how RM goes as a coach and how he can get us playing, I think its fair to say under a good coach we would have easily finished 2nd last season and this season we really need to be pushing for that important 4th place with the team we have.
