Love it how I made one off-the-wall comment and it ends up being right!

(Although I don't know if he'd been dropped or is injured yet...)

You answer your own querie Mrs B. 3 impact forwards is enough, you still need the hard graft doing at times and Cusack, Radford and Dowes are all far more effective defensively than Moa.

I hope the rumours about Agar picking an experimental team arent true, it just makes no sense we have had a great per-season, have a full strenght team to pick from (except Calderwood), play people in their positions.

Turner will miss out IMO, then it is between Washbrook and Hougton for the last bench place, personally I would go with Houghton.

Starting props of Radford and Dowes.

Would liked to of seen Moa in the team ahead of Yak, although I like Yak he looked off the pace vs Rovers and don't like the idea of 3 grafters in the team all at prop. Unless Agar has only dropped Moa due to it most likely been a wet and crap pitch.

I'd go with this.

Tansey
Hall
Whiting
Yeaman
Briscoe
Horne
Long
Dowes
Berro
Radders
Manu
Fitzy
Washbrook

Lauaki
O'Meley
Houghton
Yak

But think Washy will be dropped and Tickle in the backrow.

Also all of this talk about no one knowing wether Calders is injured or not. I know it doesn't prove anything but on skysportsnews.com its says Calders misses out due to injury.

I think it all depends what sort of mentality you want to play with.

In attack Cusack and Dowes wont test Saints at all whereas I believe Moa would. To beat a Saints side you need to give them something to think about and not try to contain them. Its looking like we're going into this game with a front row of 3 grafters and 1 buster which isnt our best option IMO.

Either way this alone wont cost us a game and its just my opinion. Hopefully I will be wrong.

Maybe he's playing a winger at stand off and a stand off at loose forward like justine

Well from what I've read Longy has been advising Agar about how Saints play, what their moves are etc so the team selection has probably got a lot to do with his input.

Slight Hamstring tear - not serious but not worth risking at this stage.

I would like to have seen sam in the 17 but hope I am proved wrong by 7.30 on saturday we will know .

Moa did more at the backend of last season and in preseason to deserve a spot ahead of Yak. He should be playing, otherwise our front row is the same old with Ogre in there.

Why the hell Calderwood would be dropped to play Hall out of position I don't know, if he is not injured then it's a baffling decision.

It's still a decent team we will field (from the info I was given) but it just reinforced my belief that Agar will not make the right and sometimes tough decisions that are needed when everybody is fit. Yak, Dowes and Radford will always get picked it seems.

Also think it's criminal to leave Washy out. Why not play him at 13 and leave Tickle out!

Ah the old "slight hamstring tear" line. Funny how that's always the injury when a player is dropped oppps I mean "injured"

What makes you so certain he's not Robbo?

I'd rather not say TBH and I can't obviously be 100% certain on it. People should make their own mind up really.

i can understand the mentality of heavy pitches and therefore going for 3 grafters in radford, dowes and cusack but leaving washy out is the worst part.

Washbrook should be playing LF every week barring injury and form. If tickle is indeed leaving at the end of the year then tickle would be my backup second rower. I'd play a backrow of

Manu
Fitz
Washy

with Lauaki on the bench

I'd really like to see whiting given a shot to impress in the back row as well as he deserves an extended run in his preferred position.

This is before you even consider we have burnett twiddling his thumbs.

You could be right i suppose i guess the 19 squad release is only a ruling of the RFL saying that the team sheet has be released 2 days before a game.Maybe Agar has named his 17 behind closed doors so the players can mentally prepare for the game.Lets hope he has got it right.

We obviously want to play the Australian way, that's to have a 3rd prop at 13 and a ball player at FB. Unfortunately this means that washy will miss out a fair few times. I think that Danny will end up leaving (which would be a crime) to get his starting place, especially if Fitz extends his stay.
On the flip side of that Agar may see Fitz as Washy's finishing school, spelling the 2 and telling washy to learn from him before the role becomes permanantly his next year!

I know it's very early but I would like our 2nd row next year to be something like -

Manu
Whiting
Washbrook

With Luauki on the bench and Burnett backing them up.

Can't see that he is playing radford at LF if he only has 4 props in the 19. Back row surely is tickle, manu and fitz with lauaki coming off the bench

Rad & Ogre to start, Dowes & yak off bench and what Jake says above, with Houghton taking last spot

Next year? What about this one first.

If Luauki is in the backrow I expect that he will get targetted alot when he is defending.

Early in the season it does make sense to have an extra prop at 13 as you tend to get very little open rugby and pitches are very soft. The problem is last year we used the same system all season and I don't see it changing this year. It would mean Fitz moving into the back row and Tickle missing out and I just don't think Agar will do that.

The problem is if Washy gets fed up and wants out we are left with nobody as there are rumours about Tickle wanting to leave and Fitz might not be here for very long. It's a short sighted view and it only puts more pressure on the halves when it comes to creativity.

We can win at Saints with this side and if we do all the plaudits should go to Agar and the players but it just seems the easy thing to do is to not play the likes of Washy and Moa.

Personally, I dont see the need for 'extra' creativity from your loose forward when we have a four pronged assault from Berro, Long, Horne and Tansey. Would much rather get more from Tansey even if that means leaving Washbrook out, have never really seen what Washbrook brings other than a show and go which worked for a season when he was unknown.