Kirmudgeonlyisback wrote:
I suppose only time will tell but when you look at his time at dragons when he signed he had squad number 12 , but in this years squad he has squad number 8 , so his current club see (and have played him ) as a prop.
Given we also have Bain rodwell pitts and vagana plus storton possibly griffin who all are allegedly middles - whatever that means , but have all played in back row and with the exception of griffin have played in front row so can’t help but think bar an odd signing the squad is what it is.
Storton I d see as a straight swap for ashurst, rodwell sees himself as a back row forward suspect he may end up with squad 13 next year,
Personally still think we are an impact forward short but even if we sign parcell we still have a spare quota spot (possibly 2 as under new rules not sure parcell is overseas) squad for 2025 seems to be coming together
Delaney and Wood also off out to Hunslet, both promising players and good luck to them.
Delighted we're bringing Johnstone back but poop scared he'll be injured all the time and it'll be a big drop to our next best winger.
I'm pretty sure McMeeken will play in the middle. He's an international front rower. Hasn't played on the edge much for about three years. So if everyone's sticking around, that leaves us with McMeeken, Rodwell, Uele, Atoni, Bain, Vagana and Shaw.
That's enough middles (a middle is just a forward who 'acts' as a prop forward traditionally does. If you play a direct game, you need more middles - like Wigan, Saints and Melbourne prefer). If you play more expansively, you're more likely to put a traditional loose forward in - like Cas, Leeds and Penrith prefer.
Griffin isn't a middle.
As for a quality half in Australia - not many exist. Since I last banged on about it, Hastings has signed for Newcastle, Townsend for the Roosters, Keary for Catalans. Tyson Gamble's probably going to become available but I'd miles prefer Trueman.