I wouldn't play Cusack against Saints but would definitely have him back in when he's fully fit. Radford has done well enough at prop for quite a few people to have taken notice (including me) so I'd have Dowes, Radford, O'Meley and Moa. Lauaki seems a little under-prepared as well so I'd leave him out this week - we definitely need to play him soon though to see what he offers us. I reckon that he and Manu will be fantastic for us on the harder grounds later in the season.

Even if I'm completely wrong, I will still be happy because we have a lot of quality options.

Meet up and i will buy you a pint to celebrate.

are we playing under union rules

if there's any doubts about berrigan then houghton will occupy one of the bench spots. in fact agar might opt to use houghton off the bench and spell berrigan anyway, same as saints do with cunningham and roby

I'll be with my Uncle Scooby

And the fact he played pretty much 80mins in most of the games had a bearing on that, which even Agar has alluded to. He was the only player last season who ran any sort of angles or dummy runs.

The trouble with Tickle's angled runs is that it's always the same one, the ball comes out to the right and he makes an angled run back towards the left. He did play 80 mins a lot which is probably why he dropped off tackles at times and gavce penalties away.

I like him as a player but I don't think he should be anywhere near a shoe in.

He would have been to more away games"If it hadn't been for those pesky kids"

Spot on. Personally I'm a big fan of Burnett and think he's ready to make his mark this year.

Don't think he had an option to be honest as our numbers where low so was more forced into playing.

Far from a shoe in but i don't feel he has done much wrong to justifiy been dropped from a starting position.

I'm inclined to agree. He performed a lot better and consistently than most last season but was asked to do a lot due to our lack of options. I think, like the kicking duties, the place should be his to lose.

I am too but im not sure hes ready to start week in week out as he makes a few silly mistakes.

Would be a good bench player as hes a strong runner and would offer a lot of impact

Thing is, Burnett has great potential and should be replacing Tickle next season as a first pick 2nd rower. IMO we'll go with Fitz and Manu as 2 of the back 3 with Lauaki off the bench, then we have a choice between Tickle and Burnett. Unless Tickle can mix it up a bit and stop giving away stupid penalties, my personal view is that Burnett offers a bit more. I take your point on maybe not every week, but I'd like to see him get 15+ games this season in readiness for next year.

Hopefully Fitz will have a big effect on Burnett, great guy to learn from.

Another thing to look at is Tickle has kicked in the 2 warm up games and Fitz hasnt...i know Fitz is a superb kicker but cant see us going to Sts and using him as a kicker..whereas Tickle has kicked very well in pre-season...as for Burnett...a season learning off Fitz and he will be ready for 2011 where he may be replacing both Tickle and Fitz.

Personally can see Tickle having a big last season for us and him being spelled will be beneficial to us......overall Tickle ahead of Burnett all the time for me.

Fair enough, but Burnett won't be ready to step up unless he gets the gametime this year. And knowing what I know about Fitz and his preparation, I bet he practises his kicking. It's a nice discussion to be having, I suppose.

Apart from the ones Whiting kicked

Im not writing him off just pointing out a few problems i see in his game. The pre season games are the chance to show what you can do and make a mark for your position. Hes the 2nd rower who impressed me the least.

tansey briscoe yeaman turner calderwood horne long omeley berrigan radford lauaki tickle fitzgibbon dowes cusack houghton moa

Manu won't miss out.

Don't think Dowes and Yak will start on the bench together either.

You would drop Manu ?

I think Agar will go (but don't entirely agree with)

Tansey
Briscoe
Yeaman
Hall
Calderwood
Horne
Long
Cusack
Berrigan
Radford
Tickle
Manu
Fitz

bench:
Washy or Houghton (probably washy as he gives more cover)
Lauaki
OMeley
Dowes

Moa, Whiting, Turner and Burnett to miss out.

He seems to like starting out steady and then bringing the impact players off the bench. Thats why I think Cusack and Radford might start. Dowes had a good game against Rovers so he might edge out Moa.

It would be madness to have Radford, Dowes and Cusack as 3 of our 4 props in any game.

That's why I said they won't both be on the bench.

It would be absolute madness, unless injuries forced the matter.