1. Matt Orford - yay or nay?
I reckon he should be off before the season starts. We have quite a few players coming off contract next year so we should use his money to front-load some contracts so we have more to spend in 2011. Hodkinson or even Daley Cherry-Evans are both good prospects having led their teams to very successful seasons in disruptive circumstances. Hodkinson probably deserves the shot considering he led the Sunshine Coast to the Premiership in their first year after a really poor start.
2. Our backline. Given Stewart and Robertson are certain starters at fullback and wing, and Lyon will definitely be at centre or five-eighth, we have to fit David Williams, Matai, Farrar and Foran into three positions. Who gets left out? Will Matai be having surgery? Foran off the bench?
3. Kinda leading on from that one, who takes L'Estrange's spot on the bench? I have a feeling we'll miss him more than we think as Ballin had a pretty average year. I'm not sure if he has the creativity from dummy half that we need and he's been lacking in games when he's had to play 80 minutes. Foran be worth a shot as interchange hooker? He'd be very dangerous around the ruck against tiring defences. Buhrer from the Under 20s team? He was originally a hooker but played most the year at lock I think. Or someone from outside the club (we were looking at Kingston or someone, weren't we?).
4. Our prop rotation - we'll have five props in Kite, Perry, King, Rose and Cross who'll all want a place in the 17. King and Rose were our two best this year, Kite and Perry both need rockets up their collective if they want to keep their place for 2010, especially if we look at getting Burgess for 2011.
Easiest way to sum it up? With a YART of course 😉
1. B. Stewart
2. Robertson
3. Matai
4. Farrar
5. D. Williams
6. Lyon
7. Hodkinson
8. Kite
9. Ballin
10. King
11. Watmough
12. G. Stewart
13. Rodney
14. Foran
15. Gulavao
16. Rose
17. Perry
18. Bailey
19. Cross
20. Tony Williams
21. Buhrer
22. Lussick
23. Hopoate
24. Mauro
25. Cherry-Evans
Tough decision to leave Foran on the bench but with a rookie halfback Lyon had to slot in at five-eighth. David Williams lucky to retain his spot but we need a personality player, he'll have to be on top of his game though as Foran can easily play at centre and Farrar on the wing.
Still have heaps of depth though, especially in the forwards. Bailey, Cross and Williams could easily have spots on that bench.
Can see us retaining Orford for another year though unfortunately 🙁
I reckon he should be off before the season starts. We have quite a few players coming off contract next year so we should use his money to front-load some contracts so we have more to spend in 2011. Hodkinson or even Daley Cherry-Evans are both good prospects having led their teams to very successful seasons in disruptive circumstances. Hodkinson probably deserves the shot considering he led the Sunshine Coast to the Premiership in their first year after a really poor start.
2. Our backline. Given Stewart and Robertson are certain starters at fullback and wing, and Lyon will definitely be at centre or five-eighth, we have to fit David Williams, Matai, Farrar and Foran into three positions. Who gets left out? Will Matai be having surgery? Foran off the bench?
3. Kinda leading on from that one, who takes L'Estrange's spot on the bench? I have a feeling we'll miss him more than we think as Ballin had a pretty average year. I'm not sure if he has the creativity from dummy half that we need and he's been lacking in games when he's had to play 80 minutes. Foran be worth a shot as interchange hooker? He'd be very dangerous around the ruck against tiring defences. Buhrer from the Under 20s team? He was originally a hooker but played most the year at lock I think. Or someone from outside the club (we were looking at Kingston or someone, weren't we?).
4. Our prop rotation - we'll have five props in Kite, Perry, King, Rose and Cross who'll all want a place in the 17. King and Rose were our two best this year, Kite and Perry both need rockets up their collective if they want to keep their place for 2010, especially if we look at getting Burgess for 2011.
Easiest way to sum it up? With a YART of course 😉
1. B. Stewart
2. Robertson
3. Matai
4. Farrar
5. D. Williams
6. Lyon
7. Hodkinson
8. Kite
9. Ballin
10. King
11. Watmough
12. G. Stewart
13. Rodney
14. Foran
15. Gulavao
16. Rose
17. Perry
18. Bailey
19. Cross
20. Tony Williams
21. Buhrer
22. Lussick
23. Hopoate
24. Mauro
25. Cherry-Evans
Tough decision to leave Foran on the bench but with a rookie halfback Lyon had to slot in at five-eighth. David Williams lucky to retain his spot but we need a personality player, he'll have to be on top of his game though as Foran can easily play at centre and Farrar on the wing.
Still have heaps of depth though, especially in the forwards. Bailey, Cross and Williams could easily have spots on that bench.
Can see us retaining Orford for another year though unfortunately 🙁
