Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:59 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

My worry is that, if we don't change the team for anything other than injuries, the starting players could get too comfortable.

A raft of changes would be wrong, but swapping out a couple of lads for experience in Clubb & a 27/28 year guy like Clarke isn't taking the pi$$.

Yeah. I know Kilner isn't in the 21 man squad but he showed up well in that Saints game then never got another crack so far. I didn't realise until recently that he is the same age as Byrne, Partington and Havard.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:03 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Yeah. I know Kilner isn't in the 21 man squad but he showed up well in that Saints game then never got another crack so far. I didn't realise until recently that he is the same age as Byrne, Partington and Havard.

idve given him a shot before now, Oie is 2 years older than Havard and Byrne is in between add smithies to that and the crazy young for a pack

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:09 am  

I have never seen a game where Kilner did not go forward after contact. He seems lively in defence as well. I would like to see him in a team that was not going backward most of the time. I understand that wholesale changes can be a problem but we should be able to put out a decent team for this no matter what.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:32 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

My thoughts were that we’d really get to see if they have the desire to try and earn a place in the first choice team on a regular basis. A way of trying to drive competition but let them know they’d have to play out of their skin to displace Byrne, Bullock or any of the other forwards and you may well get a bit more out of those two in this game than you would out of a first choice forward who thinks his place is safe. I want the strongest spine and a real core of the players who have started these first two games but I just think there’s lots to gain going forward from trying to drive competition in the prop position. There’s a lot of them but none are at the very top of the tree when it comes to superleague props, so I’d like to just see us try and force everything we can out of them. If we lose against York with that side I named, it won’t be because we picked Clubb and Clark IMO.

For whatever reason we now seem to start most games slowly and having Clubb and Clark on the bench would just extend that. Neither of them add anything to the squad and it was only a few weeks ago we were looking to offload Clarke.

I’d rather win tonight with last week’s 17 and play C&C against Leeds who I think could be quite vulnerable after playing Saints over the weekend.

Most fans seem to think tonight is a gimme I’m definitely not in that camp. We’ve played probably the 2 worst teams in SL and have put together 2 pretty dire first 40 minutes and got away with it. I don’t want to risk a repeat and be playing a team who I’m assuming are treating this game as their final.

I maybe overreacting but I’d rather do that then end up with egg on our face. I suppose my problem is that I think any team coached by Lam is suspect to having a a very bad game and I want some success this season in the CC

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:35 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

My thoughts were that we’d really get to see if they have the desire to try and earn a place in the first choice team on a regular basis. A way of trying to drive competition but let them know they’d have to play out of their skin to displace Byrne, Bullock or any of the other forwards and you may well get a bit more out of those two in this game than you would out of a first choice forward who thinks his place is safe. I want the strongest spine and a real core of the players who have started these first two games but I just think there’s lots to gain going forward from trying to drive competition in the prop position. There’s a lot of them but none are at the very top of the tree when it comes to superleague props, so I’d like to just see us try and force everything we can out of them. If we lose against York with that side I named, it won’t be because we picked Clubb and Clark IMO.

I agree with that although I would add that I think Singleton and Bullock have been performing well below expectation levels and therefore they need a timely nudge.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:46 am  

I’d give Clark a go instead of Bullock.

Clark played well in the Salford friendly and Bullock has been poor IMO.

Reward Byrne with a starting spot.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:46 am  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

For whatever reason we now seem to start most games slowly and having Clubb and Clark on the bench would just extend that. Neither of them add anything to the squad and it was only a few weeks ago we were looking to offload Clarke.

I’d rather win tonight with last week’s 17 and play C&C against Leeds who I think could be quite vulnerable after playing Saints over the weekend.

Most fans seem to think tonight is a gimme I’m definitely not in that camp. We’ve played probably the 2 worst teams in SL and have put together 2 pretty dire first 40 minutes and got away with it. I don’t want to risk a repeat and be playing a team who I’m assuming are treating this game as their final.

I maybe overreacting but I’d rather do that then end up with egg on our face. I suppose my problem is that I think any team coached by Lam is suspect to having a a very bad game and I want some success this season in the CC

It’s no gimme that’s for sure. I just think trying to drag performances out of the collective of props we have would be wise. We need more from Bullock for one but there’s more in all of them but if the 5 being selected at the minute just think they’re safe, you’re asking them to become complacent. I think Bullock and Singleton have started the season looking a bit like they think they’ve cracked it and whilst I’m not convinced Clark or Clubb can break in to the first choice team, I think the timing is pretty good to try and set them that challenge. I think a move like that guards against complacency rather than risk adding to it.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:55 am  

I think Bullock has been poor when he's started but been better,like last year when he's come off the bench .I also agree about Kilner getting a shot soon Clarke has had a few run outs and Clubb doesn't need much game time to get him ready if needed for his two ten minutes cameos per game.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:27 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

Bit of an exaggeration, I wanted to give two kids (Hanley and Kilner) a run back when we thought everyone bar Marshall would be fit and available. I get that in the short term the least risky option is to always play your strongest side, but longer term that tends to lead to lads being thrown straight into the deep end against a good team when injuries strike (see Murphy v Leeds in the 2012 play offs which basically wrecked his career as an example). It also runs the risk of burning out your best players later in the season (which is why we didn't make the Grand Final in 2011 despite being the best team in the league IMO).

I wouldn't say it wrecked his career.

He was never going to make it as a super league fullback.

From memory he got picked up into the academy very late and barely made an impact there.

Re: 21 man squad to face York Friday : Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:11 pm  

Cherry toffee wrote:

I think Bullock has been poor when he's started but been better,like last year when he's come off the bench .I also agree about Kilner getting a shot soon Clarke has had a few run outs and Clubb doesn't need much game time to get him ready if needed for his two ten minutes cameos per game.

Definitely think that Bullock should move to the bench if we do get the prop that we all hope for later in the year.