Personally I always thought a forum was for people to express and discuss their opinions. If people only ever discussed facts this place would have shut down long ago! Ha ha.

Some of us are overly positive me included in that. Others IMO are overly negative . Makes for some interesting opinions Iol

Fonua and Talanoa out. Bugger.

Doesn't leave us with many options in the 3/4's. I'd be keen to give Lancaster a go though;

Lancaster
Yeaman
Logan
Michaels

Why, one's played a solitary game and the other's been poor.

Was told fonua was back in full training last week,so must be a very recent setback?

Not bothered about Talanoa at all, in fact I think it's a good thing.

It might go against current thinking, but I would have Yeamo in there. He's a Black and White through and through and always raises his game against the Dobbins.

Fonua and Talanoa out. Bugger.

maybe he will increase his 2 metre scoot to a sensational 3 metre scoot as its the derby

Did you not watch on Friday.? Stood out like a sore thumb him not being there. Our returns where tame. Lack of threat from dummy half. The man receiving the play of the ball has few options cos the play of the ball was on opposition terms and much slower than when Talanoa in.
Pretty much m o m in 1st 2 games. Quieter granted in the next 2 and missed 2. I'm including widnes cos his head was gone after 5 mins. Also keeping in mind 1 of the last times he played these he got m o m and a hatrick. Also given how dull we were on Friday our usually top or near top tackle buster clean breaker penalty winner fast play of the baller would be massively useful?

On another note is that major failing of the concussion care. He played on for a good while. Yet when he did come off it was a straight to hospital. So bad it required an over night stay. Right into the next day even and keeps him out over 2weeks later?

I didn't go on Friday, had to go away.

How many trys has Talanoa cost us this year, he is slow, poor defensive reads and is awful under the high ball. A faster winger would have scored some of the trys he has just missed out on scoring as he is too slow off the mark.

There is no doubt his carries are strong and it will be missed, but we have a great set of forwards who should be doing that, our backs do far too much work in our own half.

I prefer to see a winger that is quick, can catch a high ball and will finish a chance if given an opening, I dont think Talanoa is good enough is a good enough alround winger.

If we are playing him, just to make yards then we have it all wrong.

Symptoms of concussion can take hours to appear.
If he passed the checks at the time, then it's always going to be a tough call - should every player who gets a bang on the head go off?
There'd be nobody left of the field.

I wouldn't and I would point to last years Easter derby as a prime example.

Given how serious it seems just seemed odd he played on so long. Apparently fell asleep in changing room and couldn't be woke up. Hence going to hospital. Just seems a bad un

Do you not see it as a detrimental thing that players are unavailable?

Depends, I would rather have Naughton or Lancaster on the wing than Talanoa, however if fit Radford will play Talanoa.

Nobody likes to see a player injured, but if it means that we play the right players to win the game, then maybe it isn't the worst thing.

In this case no. We've got good cover in Naughton, Lancaster and Micheals. I'm certainly not thinking "bugger".

Still think ATM binman and fonua best two wingers we got. Even though I'd be tempted to play fonua at centre at some time. Esp in a derby would have been nice to have to big wingers available.

Yeaman get's mentioned and Bonaire isn't far behind

On balance we'd be better off with Tala playing than not. How many did he score last year at Newcastle ? He did have well documented problems against Widnes but I was left wishing that we had a kicker of Brown's quality who could nail the ball to the touchline from 40 yards rather than worry too much about the concussed Talanoa. Michaels and Logan are at least as bad if not worse on the other side and high kicks to the corners will be raining down on Friday even with Talanoa watching in the stands.

Fonua is also first choice and a blow - we've not seen enough of him yet to write him off much as some seem to think they can. Had he been fit I'd have considered playing him in the centre replacing Logan. Yeaman has to play and frankly, although I'm no fan of his, a bit of solidity in that position didn't go amiss the other week. Naughton needs to be more hit than miss in his game - flapping around trying to catch simple passes has to stop. So all in all not having Talanoa and Fonua is a blow to our chances IMO.

Totally agree, why he's been left out I don't know.

Sarky bugger!!!

To be fair Dave we dont have a winger or centre in the club who is good under a high ball.The best of the bunch is Michaels.
Our kick receive to the corners is very poor and all clubs hit us with that tactic and get results.

The comment is true though.
I just cant see how anyone can support having Yeaman in the side .He offers absolutely nothing.