Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Sun May 23, 2021 10:14 pm  

I wouldn't get on Shorrocks' back; he's made a good contribution to the squad generally, and obviously will give it a shot wherever Lam asks him to play. But certainly no harm in giving him a rest if Tommy is fit, or even to give KPP a bit more game-time.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Sun May 23, 2021 10:21 pm  

moto748 wrote:

I remember, what, about a year ago on this forum someone reckoned we'd be so pleased to watch live sport that there'd be 15000 at the DW when crowds were allowed back. I thought that was crazy talk then, and I still do.

I must admit at the start of all this I did feel like we’d see a little boom when people could go back but then I didn’t think we’d be in this position as a country 14 months later. All the talk at the start was as though we’d just get a magic date where Covid disappeared and we all went crazy on a big weekend bender and just got back to normal. It became clear after a couple of months that it wouldn’t be the case and as we see now and will likely continue to see, things will be relaxed and tightened back up and we’ll be living with some form of restrictions or preventative measures for a long while to come. There will never be that magic date of things becoming totally normal and that means now it will be a tough ask to even get back to pre covid crowds, let alone see a surge in people desperate to get to games.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Sun May 23, 2021 10:23 pm  

Yes, sadly, I agree.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Sun May 23, 2021 10:30 pm  

I don’t blame Shorrocks for struggling at centre and when he’s played in the middle he’s added to the team. I don’t think either are his position though, well not his position just yet. He could at some point make it as a loose forward but like Smithies, I’d like to see his opportunities come in the second row, where he can run a little wider, against smaller bodies and not have to get beat up by guys twice his size. Lams insistence that Smithies and Shorrocks are ‘middles’ baffles me. Throughout time young forwards coming in to a side will be eased in gradually and play some second row before moving to lose forward later in their careers. Even the greats like Andy Farrell and Paul Sculthorpe started in the second row. Lockers got shifted around between 6 and second row when he started and there are countless others.

I don’t know if Lam just thinks having umpteen youngsters in the middle of the field will bring energy but it’s been overkill since he came. We can’t keep having so much inexperience in the middle of the field. Guys like Isa and Bateman should be going in at loose forward before Shorrocks and Smithies.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Sun May 23, 2021 11:28 pm  

Baffles me why Bateman isn't playing at 13.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 9:30 am  

Slightly off topic, Brad O'Neill (Widnes) and James McDonnell (York) are getting good reviews . O'Neill made sixty-one tackles last week and I saw a video clip of a break McDonnell made over the weekend, he looks to have put some decent size on him.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 9:30 am  

deleted - dual post

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 10:27 am  

Hearing very good things about O’Neil from Widnes fans, hopefully he can carry his form into super league

[Pemps]

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 11:37 am  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Baffles me why Bateman isn't playing at 13.

He's not a 13 for me. I'd prefer him on the right. I'd prefer us to go with a ball playing 13 or a prop 13 and he's neither.

Re: 21 man squad to face Salford Saturday. : Mon May 24, 2021 11:44 am  

I’d at least like to see us try Bateman at 13. He isn’t that extra prop and he’s not a Lockers style ball player but he’d bring a different edge to the position. He runs at gaps not bodies and I think he’d go great catching out the big props in the middle and getting us on the front foot. His offload game around the middle would also be really useful and if you got French supporting around that area we could really hurt teams.

We won’t know for sure until he gets a run there but I’m confident we’d see an even better player over time.