I was more pointing to the fact that he has more than pace to his game, that he is decent in the air and can make metres. His performance against Warrington, directly up against Monaghan proved he's ready for SL imo.
It's also worth pointing out that Talanoa also played against that opposition, twice!

My three quarter line would be

Talanoa
Michaels
Sa
Lineham

a good combination of pace and strength IMO.

With the inevitable injuries Lancaster and others will get their chance.

Also bear in mind that we are only having this debate because we have such strength in depth in this area, which can only be a positive.

But still, it's a different level of opposition affording players the opportunity to show off their skills. Yes, he might have looked good up against other 19s wingers, but those 3 I mentioned all looked world beaters and couldn't regularly transfer it to the first team. Tommy Lee could carve defences open and kicked well, Graeme Horne looked a handy ball-playing loose forward, but they both struggled to deal with the increased pressure and decreased time on the ball of SL. Lancaster's metre stats initially look great, but they are significantly helped by those 2 games against the poor defences of London and Widnes. Take those out and he actually averages about 5.4 metres, which would make him the lowest of all our 3/4s except Logan (and only Heremaia, Miller and Tyson-Wilson any lower in the entire squad).

Fair enough on the Warrington game, he did well and it's a good sign, but 5 games into a career with only a couple of those against decent opposition is not enough to be putting someone forward as a first choice for me. He needs to prove it over more games and then it's worth looking at properly.

Again, I'll point to the Lineham, Shaul & Crooks comparison. All 3 had a season of only a few appearances then became regulars the next year. I completely understand your reasoning, and don't disagree with what you're saying as such. I just want our back line to be pacey and I personally think Lancaster is ready.

That has to be the line up surely though ive got a feeling Yeaman will be ahead of Michaels

This is exactly what I'm afraid of. A back line of Talanoa, Yeaman, Sa & Lineham would be painfully slow.

How on earth did you connect tha t to Talanoa? Radford got ,Colborn in who was truly awful,my point being was that we had Lancaster already and albeit young Radfords youth policy should have meant we were staying well clear of turds like Colborn..that was massively frustrating all round.
My point re Pryce etc isn't rubbish..it's a valid viewpoint, you just happen to disagree with it but instead of saying well I think Pryce is better because, or Micheals would be more valuable in the centre you went on and had a pop at me without any basis of facts...

www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Hull-FC- ... story.html Abdull has been training with forwards, seen as future 13 by Radford.

www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Hull-FC- ... story.html Abdull has been training with forwards, seen as future 13 by Radford.

Got13 wrote all over him.

Be good for Westy to have Abdull pushing him, his looks the only position with no competition at the moment, which won't do him any good.

There is choice in most positions but I think this is a big, strong side.

Shaul
Lineham
Sa
Yeaman
Talanoa
Pryce
Sneyd
Paea
Houghton
Watts
Minichiello
Ellis
Westerman

Feka
Green
Cunningham/Rankin
Thompson

No pace at all

Shaul lineham sneyd all have pace. Saying that I would like to see Michaels have a bash at centre. Would give us pace and power in back line imo

Hmmmm.... I realise I've missed Whiting out, but I believe that those in this list will

1. be strong in defence across the pitch
2. make good yards
3. run over defenders for short range tries

No pace at all

Ok, you win:

Shaul
Whiting
Sa
Yeaman
Talanoa
Pryce
Sneyd
Paea
Houghton
Watts
Minichiello
Ellis
Westerman

Feka
Green
Cunningham/Rankin
Thompson

Put paea and feka on the wings. they'll make yard and run over people all day long

We are not that slow. Not a pacey team but personally I like the balance we've got. Teams won't like playing us. We're gonna be hard to hold. Biggest team I've known us to have.

Shaul -fast
Lineham -fast
Michaels - fast
Rankin will play some role most games n he's not slow.
During course of the season Lancaster n naughton will play games n they're properly fast.

I'm surprised to see that some people are still including Yeaman in your starting 13.

Including radford no doubt

I've some genuine hope for the new season. Like the balance of our squad. Like the requirement done. Coach has had a yr to bed in and like the progress the kids have made/making.
But if yeaman lines up in the 1st game I'll be a bit sick to be honest. Always loved yeaman as a player. Has his faults but he was effective at what he did. But we've not seen that or anything for 2yrs.
That said I don't see Michaels on a 1 yr deal sitting on the sidelines.
Yeaman would still be a decent replacement centre if injuries bite tho. Although Logan is now in the mix.

Just delighted it's only 2 weeks away now.

As for Yeaman, he's been first choice centre under 6 different coaches and a great servant to the club. His challengers are Michaels (who I though possibly more a winger) and Logan (not ready for first choice selection quite yet) assuming Sa plays on the right. So I can see it's not clear cut. Radford will pick based on training evidence, I genuinely don't think he'll go on anything else. I personally hope Michaels impresses.

We see this every season from plenty of posters on here. It's blind optimism, not based on any reality of where we really are. The squad is average at best with one aged and one inexperienced half with a few more inexperienced back ups. The front row lacks any quality in depth and the 3/4's have no real pace or guille. We have one hooker who is SL standard and if he gets injured we're FUBAR'd.

If we have luck with injuries and the halfs click then we can finish 7th or 8th but I think we'll be looking at 9th down and a battle against the likes of fev and leigh for our SL place

He will not have to impress too much to get in ahead of Yeaman on the last two years performances.

Training evidence cannot be relied on. All coaches always say everyone is training the house down or words to that effect. Last season Radford was continually saying how well training had gone that week only for FC to perform poorly at the weekend. Having said that so did Sandy!