Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:44 pm  

NSW wrote:

Bang on.

I’ve said before I don’t get the obsession about props, Smithies and Partington play exactly the same role.

George Burgess getting mentioned is laughable, I’d have Bryne, Clark, Sharrocks, Kilner etc over him. Unfortunately liability until his hip gets sorted, hopefully okay for next year.

I think the idea which has been mentioned. Singo, Oli P and Bullock operate in the first 20 where it’ll be tight and ultra physical. Greenwood and Lockers to come on and we can move the ball wider and hopefully break the game open.

Moving Farrell into the middle might work well for when the older saints substitute props come on, Amor and LMS. His footwork and speed could get us some quick play the balls.

Can’t wait.

I agree that there's not a lot of difference between prop and loose forward now, but I still think you need a good mix between size and mobility in the pack. If Clubb, Smithies and Lockers come on for Bullock, Singleton and Partington you're suddenly giving up quite a bit of size, which could be a danger if it turns out to be a war of attrition up the middle. Clubb, Partington and Lockers coming on for Bullock, Singleton and Smithies retains more of the size IMO.

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:45 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

I agree that there's not a lot of difference between prop and loose forward now, but I still think you need a good mix between size and mobility in the pack. If Clubb, Smithies and Lockers come on for Bullock, Singleton and Partington you're suddenly giving up quite a bit of size, which could be a danger if it turns out to be a war of attrition up the middle. Clubb, Partington and Lockers coming on for Bullock, Singleton and Smithies retains more of the size IMO.

Partington has been very good at 13 since lockdown - As I said with the Bullock starting argument we go with our best team and do our best to be in the game come the Half hour mark. I think we will get stronger as the game goes on.
Partington at 13 last 5/6 games has worked so for me go with that (and I think his ball handling is better than Smithies) and keep the fluidity that's been created in the last 5/6 weeks.

Although I do to a point see your concern I'm not overly worried, I think the first 25/30 and getting parity is the key Friday
Isa can move to the Middle and make us yards, Partington can play Long minutes so can do that to cover any issues of Go forward from the bench

If we get 25/30 from Clubb like last Friday (8-10 hit ups and High Teens in Tackles) The rest I'm fine with

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:14 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

I agree that there's not a lot of difference between prop and loose forward now, but I still think you need a good mix between size and mobility in the pack. If Clubb, Smithies and Lockers come on for Bullock, Singleton and Partington you're suddenly giving up quite a bit of size, which could be a danger if it turns out to be a war of attrition up the middle. Clubb, Partington and Lockers coming on for Bullock, Singleton and Smithies retains more of the size IMO.

I don't see us giving up any size Grimmy. Clubb and Bullock are very similar, Smithies is bigger than Partington and fair enough Singleton is a little bit heavier than Lockers. Overall we dont lose any size in my view.

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:34 pm  

Sweaty Betty's wrote:

I don't see us giving up any size Grimmy. Clubb and Bullock are very similar, Smithies is bigger than Partington and fair enough Singleton is a little bit heavier than Lockers. Overall we dont lose any size in my view.

Is Smithies bigger than Partington? I won't look up the playing stats because they are always wrong but he looks smaller to me.



Fair enough though I get what Jukesays and others are saying about the importance of setting the platform early doors, and I definitely don't mean it as a slight on Partington, who I think is doing really well.

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Thu Nov 26, 2020 1:14 am  

Grimmy wrote: Is Smithies bigger than Partington? I won't look up the playing stats because they are always wrong but he looks smaller to me. https://www.superleague.co.uk/article/1 ... dream-team Fair enough though I get what Jukesays and others are saying about the importance of setting the platform early doors, and I definitely don't mean it as a slight on Partington, who I think is doing really well. He's about 5 kilos heavier and two inches taller.

Grimmy wrote: Is Smithies bigger than Partington? I won't look up the playing stats because they are always wrong but he looks smaller to me. https://www.superleague.co.uk/article/1 ... dream-team Fair enough though I get what Jukesays and others are saying about the importance of setting the platform early doors, and I definitely don't mean it as a slight on Partington, who I think is doing really well. He's about 5 kilos heavier and two inches taller.

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:17 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Too risky IMO. Nether Lockers or G.Burgess is a safe bet to complete a game unfortunately. Play them both together and you run the risk of being down to 15 men. Add in that one of those 15 men is Clubb, who only seems to give us one short spell now, or Greenwood with his history of concussions, and we could end up in real trouble against a Saints pack that tends to dominate anyway.

You risk either Lockers or G.Burgess IMO, not both. On that basis, give me the leader who played last week and has helped us win loads of trophies in the past, as opposed to the guy who has only given us one good game since signing.

Fair point. If it came to it Lockers would absolutely be my pick over Burgess. FWIW the only reason for the inclusion of GB was his and Clubbs work rate and game return aren’t too far apart and therefore, IMO, wouldn’t make much difference as to who was there. However looking at it in the way you’ve put it, I’d agree you’d select only one of Lockers/GB

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:32 am  

French
Bibby
Hardaker
Gildart
Burgess
Hastings
Tommy
Bullock
Powell
Singleton
Isa
Farrell
Partington

Greenwood
O’Loughlin
Smithies
Clubb

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:47 am  

Sweaty Betty's wrote:

He's about 5 kilos heavier and two inches taller.

Fair does if you know that, it doesn't look it on the picture. Hope you're not just going off the stats they publicise though because they're always wrong (e.g I'm 6'2, yet taller than players I've seen listed as 6'4 when I've stood next to them).

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:01 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Fair does if you know that, it doesn't look it on the picture. Hope you're not just going off the stats they publicise though because they're always wrong (e.g I'm 6'2, yet taller than players I've seen listed as 6'4 when I've stood next to them).

TBF I didn't really get what you meant because I've always thought Partington looks tiny, would definitely have thought he was smallest, and the stats on the website(dubious, i agree) have him as smaller. He's definitely throwing his weight around more atm though.

Re: 21 man squad to face St Helens Friday : Thu Nov 26, 2020 1:02 pm  

Choc Ice wrote:

TBF I didn't really get what you meant because I've always thought Partington looks tiny, would definitely have thought he was smallest, and the stats on the website(dubious, i agree) have him as smaller. He's definitely throwing his weight around more atm though.

Fair enough maybe I'm wrong (fixed my link above with them stood next to each other by the way)