WOLVES SQUAD

4 Ryan Atkins; 33 Ryan Bailey; 9 Daryl Clark; 11 Ben Currie; 16 Brad Dwyer; 3 Rhys Evans; 1 Kurt Gidley; 8 Chris Hill; 29 Benjamin Jullien; 18 George King; 24 Toby King; 2 Tom Lineham; 22 Gene Ormsby; 6 Stefan Ratchford; 7 Chris Sandow; 10 Ashton Sims; 14 Joe Westerman; 13 Ben Westwood; 27 Sam Wilde

Sam Wilde and Toby King to miss out.

Team probably picks itself, doesn't it?

Ratchford
Lineham Evans Atkins Ormsby
Gidley Sandow
Hill Clark Sims
Westwood Currie
Westerman

Dwyer, Bailey, Jullien, King G.

Strong team.

Unless Ormsby is left out and T King plays centre & Rhys is on the wing

Ormsby and King both didn't have the best of games against Cas

Yeah I agree.
Apart from Matty Russell, Jack Hughes & Mitch Dodds this is our strongest team.

I'd still put Penny (for Ormsby) in our strongest line up.

I think Penny might disagree? If your returnees return, I presume you are putting Ratchford back on the bench with Westwood to accommodate Russell and Hughes?

Strongest team (assuming no Harrison at all)...

Russell, Penny, Atkins, Evans, Lineham, Gidley, Sandow, Hill, Clark, Sims, Currie, Hughes, Westerman; Dwyer, Ratchford, Jullien, Westwood, Dodds. That's 5 on the becnh, cos I really don't know who to leave out. Probably have to be Ratchford!

I can kind of agree with your strongest 13 all things being equal (people not carrying knocks) but Ratchford to stay in front of Jullien for me as he's proven and he covers more positions 1, 3 ,4, 6, 7, 13 should the need arise and I get that Penny can move to 1 Evans to 2 Currie to 3 etc if Russell gets injured

Opps!! Talk of out of sight of mind I forgot about Kev.

My Bad.

Deffo Kev in the team.

My strongest 13 would never include Sims.
Sims isn't as good a prop as Dodds and I'd also say Cox too under his form.
Sims needs to come off the bench for impact.
I would start Hill and Cox.

Are you seriously saying Cox is a better option than Sims?

Sims is a safer bet, cox looks likevcould beta better prop than sims or a more traditional prop

I just don't get this Sims negativity. He is aggressive in defence, makes 30+ tackles, missing very few. He carries the ball straight, regularly making 100m or more a game and is a good leader. He is a damn good prop!

Just because he isn't top of our line breaks isn't the be all and end all, he gets on the floor and plays the ball quick, and turns up with a few offloads as well.

Compare him to Hill and he's nowhere near as good, but unless you've got Matt Scott available, no one will be compare with Hill. But Sims is light years ahead of Cox, Bailey, B Evans and G King.

Sims is our top offloader with 31 offloads. The 4th best in the league.

Ratchford is our best centre

Sims is fine, Cox has loads of improving to do until he is near sims level and fitness but he has still been a good addition to our team. Dodds has been a big miss with George King playing a lot of time at prop.

Isn't it interesting how views can vary on what a specific player brings to the team? I thought Sims did well last season and seems to offer a little extra this season. I also think that we are a better team with Ratchford than without him, I do think he is not well served by being so versatile as he isn't given a consistent position, and that makes it difficult for supporters to identify his strengths. My personal view is with a few extra kilos he would make a fantastic loose forward in the Sculthorpe mould.

I think there are two stand out differences between Dodds & Sims... Firstly, we know Sims capabilities within our team & secondly Sims is comparatively injury free & available for most games.

I actually think there is a case to be made for Hill being our best player in the Super League era. Consistently 9/10 performances, occasional 10s. When he makes a mistake, you actually hear the intake of breath from the crowd as it is so rare.

I don't understand why having Sims come off the bench to play to utilise his mobile strengths in the second quarter, as opposed to starting and putting him on the bench in the second quarter, can be perceived as a negativity?

Sim is a great player and has his worth to the team no question, but we also need leadership qualities when Hill is subbed out. Yet we more or less take them both off at the same period? So we loose two leaders and replace them with none? Doh!
Cox can run hard, hit hard and tackle relentless for 15mins solid. We soften them up and wreak havoc by unleashing Sims for the next 25.

I never said better. I believe the question was about the strongest starting 13.
I think we are stronger and better as a team when he doesn't start.
In fact one of the best games I saw him play was when he made a rare appearance off the bench. I think Asotasi started.
So in answer I feel we are not stronger in the starting 13 with Sims.

Just a side note on the England Academy curtain raiser tomorrow night, it looks like we don't have any players in the squad which is disappointing

We had Toby King, Jack Johnson & Sam Wilde from the last crop who played for England and have made it to the first team

Perhaps we should have kept Roy as deputy pack leader for when Hilly is on the bench. He didn't get many injuries either.

In the current Academy Phythian, Fox, Moore and Smith have also played for England and all have been overlooked (albeit Moore has a long term injury).

The whole England selection tends to be a bit political at times though.