thing to remember with donaldson is he's coming back from a serious injury. We dont know yet just how much that will have effected his game. Think in short term addy has probably overtaken him in pecking order and its down to donno to catch up now.

Who would kick if ah van on bench :s

Kearney
Ah Van
Platt
Walker
Raynor
Briggs
Herbert
Scruton
Diskin
Lynch
Elima
Whitehead
Langley

L'estrange
Hargreaves
Sykes
Kopzcak

Ah Van before Ainscough at the start of the season because our first couple of games are really tough and I feel he would be targetted by the opposition.

Diskin to start because he is a calming influence at dummy half and I feel Heath is more effective running at tired defences.

Scruton starting before Hargreaves because he is our pack leader in defence. He often sets the pace of our defensive line and he loves to put a shot on!!

Sykes on the bence because he gives us plenty of options if we get an injury in the back line.

swap sykes for royston, who gives same cover as sykes plus more attacking threat, and I'd go along with that line up initially.

Herbert probably I'd guess.

I'd agree with that team apart from swapping around Diskin with Lestrange. I don't think there is any seniority implied from coming off the bench at hooker and would suit both players games and the end result

I would on what I've seen (and heard) so far we should go -

1. Kearney
2. Raynor
3. Ah Van
4. Walker
5. Ainscough
6. Briggs
7. Herbert
8. Lynch
9. Diskin
10. Scruton
11. Elima
12. Whitehead
13. Langley

14. Hargreaves
15. Platt
16. Kopczak
17. L'Estrange

Its a tough one in the , hooker and starting prop IMO

s Ah Van, Walker and Platt - difficult to choose between the 3 of them
Hookers - as per above prefer Disko to start and then bring on Lestrange
Props - I think Hargreaves to start then change to Scruton

Although does having the steadier hooker on with the steadier prop give us the dynamicism we might need to get those early contests wons - maybe Lestrange/Hargreaves with a Disko/Scruton change and vary it up during the game. The good things is all our props are good quality and so are the hookers

Kearney
Raynor
Ah van
Walker
Ainscough
Briggs
Herbert
Hargreaves
Diskin
Lynch
Elima
Whitehead
Langley

Scruton (impact prop) Kopczack, Le Estrange, Royston (utility back)

With: Donaldson, Platt, Halley, Sibbit, Burgess for initial cover.

I overlooked Addy and Sykes, half back/utility back cover?

Nobody has forgot about him, theyve just realised how consistently average he is. People are now starting to think, WTF was Macca and Phil Clarke on about with this guy. Not a patch on Addy or Whitehead.

consistantly average?? the guy was doing exceptionally well for an 18yr old in a v poor team until the injury. i thought he was out performing whitehead at the time and it is accepted that whitehead was poorer towards the end of the year.

Yes, consistently average. Exceptionally well is a massive overstatement of Donaldsons form before he was injured. Take exceptionally well and apply it to Elliot and then I would agree. He's a good lil tackler, I will give him that, but that is about it and until he shows us something more then he remains just an averagely talented kid despite what Macca, Medley, and Phil Clarke have convinced many of yous otherwise.

I hadn't really thought about starting with Hargreaves and using Scruton as an impact prop, but have to admit that does sound like a good combo all round. Which ever of; Platt / Ah Van / Walker get the 2 Centre births, I'll feel for the third as think all could do a VERY good job for us. FWIW, I'd go Ah Van & Platty, but this is only based on the fact that I have seen them two most. Tough call I think.................what a choice of riches we have this year vs last. Come on Milenium weekend

Thinking about it id have either raynor or ainscough to start till halley is back then id go

kearney
halley
walker
platt
ah van
briggs
herbert
hargreaves
diskin
lynch
elima
whitehead
langley

royston
lestrange
scruton
kopczak

langley/walker can go second row for subbing and royston can go to either wing with ah van moving to centre or loose with langers moving to second row.

If briggs/herbert gets injured kearney can slot in there and royston can go fb a player with such versality is massively important to have on bench.

your probably right, the guys who see him day in day out in comparison with whitehead have got in wrong. obv you have had the benefit of time since his injury and have spotted what most people didnt at the time- well done.

TBH I'd pick Raynor ahead of halley and maybe ainscough too if he can tighten his defence up. Much as I like royston dont think wing is one of his positions. more likely he'd go into the and either ah van stayed on wing or platt shifted their (as it was mentioned last week he was training there).

Whilst I think both Donno and Addy are potentially excellent players I would start with

Kearney
Ah Van
Platt
Walker
Raynor
Briggs
Herbert
Lynch
Diskin
Hargreaves
Elima
Sibbitt
Langley

Scruton
Kopczak
L'Estrange
Whitehead

I've gone for size and work rate in the starting pack. I've gone for Sibbitt as he's a big lad who tackles well and it's key we don't get bullied early on.
For the first time in years that would give us size and strike power from the bench and the opportunity to actually change the pattern of a game rather than just resting our best players. Would love see Elliot coming on after 20 and running in that left channel.
I'd have been happy to put Ainscough on either wing but opted for a defensively safer option to start with.

I would go with this too, its got more of a feel of the Bulls style about it, bash them up first then mix it up a bit more. fourth place on the bench is the difficult one to decide

IMO it would be very useful to take advantage of this link we appear have with Dewsbury and send him out on loan.

After his injury, he'll be in need of some game time to get him back upto pace which as Odsal he might not get straight away.

If you remember Jamie Langley and JP (I belive) both had a smell out on loan and it seemed to really help them establish themselves.

like look of that team too. Think we've got a real opportunity to mix things up each week and tailor team to suit opposition. obviously we keep the core of team the same but we've got options to tweak both pack and the ouside backs to suit the opposition.
eg pack like above to go up against teams with a big pack or bring in likes of addy,donaldson,royston etc to give us a lighter more mobile pack against teams with smaller packs. Likewise we can go for power in outside backs with raynor,walker,ah van and platt or all out speed with likes of ainscough,platt,sykes and finnigan/halley. Or a pemutation thats somewhere in between. Theres a much better balance to squad this year which should allow us to rest players with niggles without significantly weakening the team which can only help too.

That's what I would go with also.

The strength that we have in depth this season is truly amazing.

yes, sensible way to get him back into it without being too far away. JP spent time in Australia and did a month at Featherstone

Interesting to see Connor tweet that Sykes "has been ill recently" and that since this was only his first game back some of the negative comment (he was replying to a twitterer who had tweeted such - is that the correct wording?) was a bit unfair.

Just out of interest - who will be kicking for you this year? Fantasy team issue.