Re: 2015 : Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:41 am  

Lomax
Makinson
Percival
Turner
Swift
Burns
Walsh
Amor
Robes
Walmsley
Vea
Lms
Wilkin

Mose
Thompson
Lance
Richards/jones/greenwood etc

Another prop is a must IMO if we are to retain our crown

Re: 2015 : Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:52 am  

Definitely, definitely need another prop. At one point this year Amor and Walmesley were both out at the same time. Effectively losing LMS and Lafranc out of available props really puts us down on numbers there. If our two starter were out at the same time together we'd be seriously struggling

Re: 2015 : Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:59 am  

Saint Simon wrote:

Definitely, definitely need another prop. At one point this year Amor and Walmesley were both out at the same time. Effectively losing LMS and Lafranc out of available props really puts us down on numbers there. If our two starter were out at the same time together we'd be seriously struggling

I think we'd struggle without injuries. We would have two 19yr old forwards in that line up possibly which isn't healthy at that age. You need to be able to drip feed them games at that age and do it wisely, that's something Nathan Brown was excellent with.

Re: 2015 : Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:12 am  

St pete wrote:

I think we'd struggle without injuries. We would have two 19yr old forwards in that line up possibly which isn't healthy at that age. You need to be able to drip feed them games at that age and do it wisely, that's something Nathan Brown was excellent with.

I completely agree mate.

Re: 2015 : Wed Oct 29, 2014 4:01 pm  

St pete wrote:

I think we'd struggle without injuries. We would have two 19yr old forwards in that line up possibly which isn't healthy at that age. You need to be able to drip feed them games at that age and do it wisely, that's something Nathan Brown was excellent with.

I do agree that we look to need another senior prop as not only have we lost the likes of Boof, LMS (possibly to 2nd row) with Sia & Manu also going, we've lost a whole lot of experience and knowledge from this pack, how many years between Boof/Sia/Manu went with them?

However, I disagree that you can't play a 19 y.o. for a full season if they're up for it. Lets not forget, not too long ago at this club we had a certain Mr Graham playing full seasons from the age of 19 and did it very well for 7 years and look where he is now, being voted as the best prop in the world!! I think Thompson could enjoy the same kind of success if they moved him to prop.

Re: 2015 : Wed Oct 29, 2014 4:12 pm  

WindsorSaint wrote:

I do agree that we look to need another senior prop as not only have we lost the likes of Boof, LMS (possibly to 2nd row) with Sia & Manu also going, we've lost a whole lot of experience and knowledge from this pack, how many years between Boof/Sia/Manu went with them?

However, I disagree that you can't play a 19 y.o. for a full season if they're up for it. Lets not forget, not too long ago at this club we had a certain Mr Graham playing full seasons from the age of 19 and did it very well for 7 years and look where he is now, being voted as the best prop in the world!! I think Thompson could enjoy the same kind of success if they moved him to prop.

Do you think they're just going to try and make up for a lack of 4th senior prop with a big back row? Play Thompson 13, LMS in the 2nd row and rotate Sav and Richards at 4th prop?

Re: 2015 : Wed Oct 29, 2014 4:21 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Do you think they're just going to try and make up for a lack of 4th senior prop with a big back row? Play Thompson 13, LMS in the 2nd row and rotate Sav and Richards at 4th prop?

Or LMS plays as 4th prop with Flanaghan Wilkin and Vea in the back row. All 3 are apparently long minutes players meaning KC can be flexible on the number of minutes any kid on the bench plays.

Not my preferred option but seems more and more likely...

Re: 2015 : Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:23 pm  

I can see Lms going back to prop and us having Wilkin, Vea, flash, Thompson and Greenwood as our backrows

Re: 2015 : Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:02 pm  

At Thompson's current yardage per carry you can bet he's a starting prop next season.

His lack of height is offset by good speed, footwork and most of all - the (rare) ability to sniff out gaps in the defence - rather than getting involved in the usual testosterone-fuelled swinging dick bash-a-thon.

Re: 2015 : Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:21 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

At Thompson's current yardage per carry you can bet he's a starting prop next season.

His lack of height is offset by good speed, footwork and most of all - the (rare) ability to sniff out gaps in the defence - rather than getting involved in the usual testosterone-fuelled swinging dick bash-a-thon.

What your describing is a tackle busting second rower though, which is the role he played at the end of last year, and should play next year. Between him, LMS and Vea we'd keep the size in the pack that gave us such an advantage in the playoffs this year. The problem is at the moment at least one of them need to be moved into the front row to compensate the lack of a 4th prop for rotation.

Thompson playing front row for us next year will be similar to Laffranchi in years past.