For the 20 mins I saw of England v st George before he got injured, he was better than King, Simms, Evans, asatosi , we won 11 straight games in his first season when he started with hilly that got us to semis of gf with 5 mins away from gf itself,, so I can't see how people are labelling him a championship player
I would have kept him, he had 1 season left and would have had to play better and put himself in shop window for if his contact was not to be extended, to get another club
As it stands

Simms no prop
King no prop
Westwood wouldn't last season without injury if placed as prop
Harrison out
B Evans 2 years with serious injury rusty
Dodds knees like Harrison
Philbin, great prospect but untested


Hilly will be knackered towards super 8,s Ayer carrying above
So would have kept England for sure,, as it was do or die for him

If we had kept England we'd be slipping back to that culture we had under Cullen. ... he's not for me glad he's gone. ..

But I'm shocked Tony Smith is "Happy with the squad". ..

Is the prop situation another one of TS's blind spots ? We seem to have a pack that is filled to overflowing with backrow forwards. I don't see King as a prop, also Simms - as previously mentioned. Philbin is second row, even though he could move to prop in time and Westwood is in a similar position but at the other age scale. So yes, I agree with most of the comments, we are at least a good quality prop short for 2016.
Then there is Mike Cooper and the question why did he not flourish at the HJ. He looks a different player now after a relatively short stint in Oz. I might be putting 2 + 2 together and getting 5, but it is looking as though we need much more focus (coaching and squad selection) on the role of the prop in order to ensure we can get the basics completed on the pitch, before we move the ball out to the 3/4's or unleash the likes of Currie and Hughes.

However I do disagree that we are likely to endure another year like 2015. The squad has been considerably upgraded with Dodds, Gidley and Sandow, and hopefully Westerman and Lineham will also prove high quality imports. SJM has put his hands in his pocket again for the club, lets just hope that the coaches have the ability to get the best out of a squad that has essentially 7 new players. At least they should certainly all be pretty fit after a 1st November start to training.

Roger Draper said at the Pyramid that another Director matches SM contribution and the rest of the Board were fully committed to improvement of the club. Maybe it's time to spread credit for player signings 'across the Board'?

I think the club has been on the lookout for a prop/props and must have had at least one lined up having missed out on a couple, England for weeks was rumoured to be going at the end of season, so not to have a replacement especially knowing the team would be missing Harrison and Laithwaite for a long period is poor management.

King for me has prop written through him but he's young with his experience being mainly from the bench, King who is quick, like Sims can slip into the back row as both are mobile, Sims isn't your ball wrecking prop but he hurts in the tackle also having a great work rate.

This is not a massive pack but certainly one of the quickest, I can't see Hill,Sims,Dodds,Westwood or Clark being bullied so if the
team plays to its strengths with the pace it has we should be OK.

We'll be signing another prop don't panic.

who and when..do tell

I still think Ryan Bailey could be a bargain 1 year buy

Apart from George King do we have any youngsters who might step up this year for game time? I have to admit since the breakup of the academy teams I've lost track of things. I would have liked to see England see out his last year with us as like mention he was a beast in the st.george game and I thought he's finally become a bigger Alex Walmsley. I'll be gutted if he finally hits his top form with Wakefield, looking at wakefields forward pack for 2016 I genuinely don't think there's a team that will bully them, there gonna be a tough game for anyone next year. I think we have a solid pack though and will do well I just think we lack the depth with cover for injuries.

London Broncos sign prop. www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... ioane-coup

London Broncos sign prop. www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... ioane-coup

We do have Daniel Murray from the U19's who is apparently being retained and will feature in the reserves - not that I have seen anything official as yet. Murray is an out and out prop, strong in attack and defence. He played in all 26 matches last year and scored 8 tries. i would be quite happy to see him getting game time but at 19 he is still very young for a prop.

He's 20 in March. If he's good enough get him with the big boys before someone else nabs him.

I think that might have something to do with there being very little information about the U23s as a whole competition. I still don't know what the format is, when it starts and which teams are due to be playing in it.

Will it even cross over with the Championship teams?

You are right about Murray though, last seasons POTY, he is a big lad yet mobile and has a good attitude. Knows the way to the try-line as well.

Hopefully the RFL are finalising the details of the competition. I wonder if part of the rationale for partnering with Rochdale was to make up the numbers for the U23's from them.

Interesting topic this one. If there is anyone with an in-depth knowledge of others SL squads it would be interesting to see how other teams props fare against what we think ours are going to be. I don't have that level of knowledge. The basic maths shows that of the players who started last pre-season we have lost 3 propos in Wood, Asotasi and England and brought in one in Dodds. That means we are two short of where we were 12 months ago.

So, does anyone have a relatively comprehensive overview of the relative strength of other top 8 teams front rows, particularly Leeds, Wigan, Saints and Huddersfield ? Will be interesting to see how Leeds go on after losing Peacock and Kylie L.

We probably have the top prop in Hill Saints with Walmsley up there and I think Wigan's Crosby will go well, Huddersfield have a solid look about them as do Leeds even without Sinfield, Peacock and Leuluai the latter two teams have brought in forwards but I don't think any team can say their pack is miles better than the next.

B Evans should now be in contention for a place but there is very little information regarding his recovery, if he's back to full fitness then with the addition of another prop I would feel a little more confident.

Ben Evans is in full training now.

That's great news having him back along with Rhys with only Laithwaite and Harrison out long term, I can't remember a season like it for long and medium term injuries the season was a mare.

Dunno about laithwaite, he modelled the kit last week, looks ready to go. Looks to have put a bit of size on as well

Again more good news and thanks to Mark-M regarding B Evans, I was thinking we may have had more regular updates perhaps a ready for the start of the season or early March statement, Simon Grix has been back in training for a long time now and not yet playing so maybe the club is being a little more cautious about recoveries and timelines.

The other one to add to the list is Russell who is still in rehab. They won't rush players back into full training with the amount of time left before the season starts but unless players get injured in training I would expect everyone to be ready for next February.

Were still in the hunt for another prop.

Big George Rose is available. ......

I like Big George, big, strong and deceptively agile. Could fit the 'wrecking ball' void that you don't get with Hill, Sims and Dodds.

With the NRL subs being reduced this year I guess he will struggle to get a contract over there.

It's a risk, but could be a worthwhile one

He could be an absolute terrace hero.

Yes, let's offer him £100k and so long as we get 15 mins per game from him then he's a bargain too