If and I mean if he plays hall stick him on the bench and that has covered 1to 7 if any injuries

That would all be well and good if we had 12 interchanges and could get long minutes from the likes of Paea and Con Mika etc. With Hall on the bench and the rotation of Josh and Keal, that will leave two slots to rotate the likes of Lovegrove/Mika/Paea/Tuimavave/Walker and to a lesser degree Horne and Griffin when/if required. I guess technically Carlile could play the full/near 80 mins freeing up Hodgeson to play second row, but it's too much hassle for the luxury of having Hall in 17.

Thaler is the ref........

Drop Horne. Only a backup player and doesn't do that much. As a backup player, Hall offers more.

Dropping Horne is one thing, but still leaves the question as to where would you play Hall - loose?

Horne has done a fine job in spelling Mika in the back row the last 2 games. Clearly Conn can't do 80 mins (which is dissapointing for a 23 year old), but Hall can't do this job and at present GH is a better option than Cox.

As much as I like Hall, he isn't that good that he can just walk back into the team, he will have to bide his time and wait for Burn's inevitable suspension.

www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... lls-return Good news for us. Could have Purtell back on Sunday.

www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... lls-return Good news for us. Could have Purtell back on Sunday.

It would be brilliant to see him back in action, even if he scores ten tries against us.

Hopefully great news for the lad.

The biggest threat Hall poses right now is halting the progress we're making defensively.

I've read a lot of stuff recently that comes across that the players get credit for our attack but the coach takes the flak for our defence when I tend to see things the other way round; the coach gives the team some superb attacking plays but the players have lacked the capability (until the Salford game) to execute the defensive structures well enough.

Right centre must be the single most hardest position to defend on the pitch because most traffic comes down the right edge, most attacking is one on one and also because he's often the key decision maker of when to shift the slide to the out the back runner for instance. Salter executes all of the above as if he's had years of experience and he therefore should keep his place in the team.

Alex Brown also has scored 4 tries in 2 games and works well in tandem with Salter who Brown gave great credit to Salter for his talking and guidance on the pitch during Warrington home game.

The moment we start to want to put players in the team because of their attack instead of assessing their attack [iand[/i defence, then we'll really struggle to build consistency in the team.

In short I'd bring Hodgson for Cox - other than that, the same team as last week.

It's a 50/50 game which could go either way though I think.

I'll have a heart attack if he scores ten! But in all truth, yes - awful stuff. Great to see him back and hopefully gets the all clear.

It’s made for interesting reading, the reaction to my proposal to drop Brown for the inclusion of Hall, and for once it hasn’t been derailed!!!



In many respects, I am guilty of trying to fit Craig Hall into the team at all cost. He is Rovers experienced right winger, and brings more than that to the table, but what is making it harder is how Alex Brown’s ‘filling in’ has been exceptional – Alex has grasped his opportunity with both hands and fair play to him.

I suppose these are the dilemma’s coaches prefer and this is a real poser for CS, so it will be more than interesting to see what he does.

In the last 2 games Alex Brown has helped take a lot of weight off our forwards with his workrate and willingness to cart the ball out of our own half. Havnt looked at his stats but bet he has made a fair bit of ground. When this is added to his try scoring tally i dont think he can be taken out of the side at the minute.
I think that Omari Caro and Craig Hall may need to bide their time.

If we can realistically talk about dropping someone who scored three tries at the weekend then the strength in depth at the club is obviously coming through in leaps.

It's an interesting debate and a one we've not been able to have since Fox and Cockayne left.

From what I've seen so far of Brown I really like him, decent pace, low centre of gravity with a really good fend if his opposite number goes high on him.

Caro did have a stinker against Slaford but if he's coached correctly I think we saw enough to see there's promise there.

I'm also guilty of trying to shoe horn Hall in at times, I think he's worked hard at his game. Ludicrous errors and terrible defensive reads are still part of his game but these have been reduced to the point that the positives in his pace, step and go and line breaking ability out weigh them.

Disco Dave must have one eye looking over his shoulder, I don't really think he's at threat at the moment and he's still a very reliable finisher but he has lost another yard of pace.

Hodgson's in decent nick at the moment but he's on borrowed time for me, not convinced he has another season left in him. Hall does an ok job but he's just not a winger. Most impressive part of Browns game so far has been the work he's done on exit sets, 340m in 2 games is a lot of ground the forwards haven't had to make.

Hodgson 1st choice for me, underrated IMO. Very good finisher and all around safe winger. Has scored try's wherever he has been.

Agreed goes about his business quietly but gets the job done

During and at the end of 2011 we lost those two plus Colbon and Briscoe, and only brought in McDonnell and Disco in the backs, so there was less depth there - the Sheriffe, Salter, Heil, Horne, Johnson 1-5 used in last game of 2012 being some indication of that.

With Eden, Gleeson, Caro and Brown coming in and us only losing McDonnell and Webster, it has rebalanced the squad a bit. Caro and Brown have showed some good things (as well as that there is room and potential for them to improve), considering they were seen as squad players-projects. Salter - well I don't want to jinx him, but he looks okay doesn't he? I'm quite hopeful about him. By the time Gleeson gets back there's every chance somebody else will be out, but I'm becoming a little bit more optimistic about our depth, touch wood and that.

Do you think gleeson will ever play a game for us it does not look like he will i hope i am wrong but we seem to have got a sick note for another sick note ie Webster

There's no reason to doubt what has been said about Gleeson's injury. Back injuries aren't something that should be gambled on in an circumstance as one false move can not only ruin a career, it can hamper your whole life.
I'm confident we will see Gleeson available for selection this season. Who he will be able to oust from the squad is a different matter.

Whilst the 'indefinite' tag is alarming (likewise with O'hara) Sean did take part in sprint training the other week as part of rehab assessment, which indicates progress and as EL CAMO suggests a probable debut at some point this season.

However, we haven't missed Sean because Liam Salter has made the right centre position his own.

Where has Sheriffe gone, out of interest?

down under the cutters maybe?

Redcliffe Dolphins.

[urlhttp://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Hull-KR-Louis-Sheriff-turn-Brisbane-chance/story-17055297-detail/story.html#axzz2Nbpb2Rbb[/url

Yeah, details are a bit sketchy (and tbf, I haven't looked that hard) but he played in their first two trial games, scoring in the second. Looks like they have an established full back (who from the six minutes of footage I've seen is decidedly dodgy under the high ball) so he'll have to see if he can force his way in.

They play their first league game on Sunday and other than Louis, obviously, their marquee signing is none other than Petero Civoniceva.