Squad for Wednesday

[fozzieskem]

Why is everybody ‘going on’ over Hanley, He's been crap so far

Edited - Josie

I’ve said on here he looks far from first team ready to keep playing him I wonder is it the right thing to do?

I’m not so sure to be honest.

[widdenoldboy]

Why is everybody ‘going on’ over Hanley, He's been crap so far

Edited - Josie

I’ve said on here he looks far from first team ready to keep playing him I wonder is it the right thing to do?

I’m not so sure to be honest.

I don't think we have many more options with Hardaker/French/Field/Manfredi out? If we have to play Hanley who isn't ready yet then his position of fullback would be best (or least worst).

[josie andrews]

Is gildart playing? I thought he was out still.

It was a ‘twinge’ in the groin strain that kept him out of the game v Wakey

[lucky 13]

Hanley
Bibby
KPP should keep his place in team
Gilly
Marshall
Hastings
Smith
Bull
Powell
Havard
Faz
Isa
Partington
Subs Tommy Smithies Byrne Clarke

[Suzieb]

In all honesty I think it is time to sign a few outside backs to help us overcome our current injury crisis playing forwards in the backs is not the answer

[Caboosegg]

Why is everybody ‘going on’ over Hanley, He's been crap so far

Edited - Josie

I’ve said on here he looks far from first team ready to keep playing him I wonder is it the right thing to do?

I’m not so sure to be honest.

But so far we have had Hastings and Marshall play FB and that has not worked while also removing 2 attacking threats in a blunted side.

For me it isn't if Handley is ready, it's a needs must I'd rather have Hastings in the halves linking up with farrell and Marshall on the wing causing issues than removing them as a threat before the game has started.

[Barney841]

Why is everybody ‘going on’ over Hanley, He's been crap so far

Edited - Josie

I’ve said on here he looks far from first team ready to keep playing him I wonder is it the right thing to do?

I’m not so sure to be honest.

But so far we have had Hastings and Marshall play FB and that has not worked while also removing 2 attacking threats in a blunted side.

For me it isn't if Handley is ready, it's a needs must I'd rather have Hastings in the halves linking up with farrell and Marshall on the wing causing issues than removing them as a threat before the game has started.

I agree. I don’t think Hanley is ready but we are thin on the ground with injuries so why not put him in his preferred position?
We’ve nothing to lose, hope he goes well

[EagleEyePie]

I don't think you can argue it's a case of Hanley not being ready. Lam has already played him in something like 5 consecutive games this season. If he isn't ready now he wasn't ready then. And Lam played him in a position he wasn't familiar with and clearly seems less suited to than his preferred position of fullback. Surely if Hanley isn't ready to play fullback he also isn't ready to play wing where he seems even less effective?

For me the problem is we just don't know how he'll go at fullback. There are question marks but the fact is we could know for certain by now. He could have played Hanley at fullback against Hull KR and we'd have an idea of where he's at. He could have played at fullback against Wakefield but he didn't. So now we're coming up against a massive test and it just doesn't seem like Lam has that option anymore. The lad must know in the back of his mind that Lam has already decided he isn't good enough at fullback so chucking him in against Wire is throwing him to the wolves (couldn't resist).

I think it's pretty likely that Lam will revert to Hastings at fullback. He's almost certainly the most reliable option there and Lam has decided that's the most important consideration. I don't think there's any other choice because he's better there than Marshall and it weakens the wing to play Marshall at fullback.

Perhaps with a few more training sessions running at fullback we might get a bit more from Hastings but it seems like the most important thing is we're going to need far more from Smith and Leuluai in the halves than what we've had so far this season for that to work. The worry isn't what Hastings can bring at 1 but what Smith and Leuluai aren't bringing to the 6 and 7 roles which Hastings does.

I expect Lam's team to be:

Hastings; Bibby, Isa, Gildart, Marshall; Smith, Leuluai; Bullock, Powell, Havard; Smithies, Farrell, Partington
Bench: Byrne, Clark/O'Neill, Shorrocks, Pearce-Paul

[Mike]

Is gildart playing? I thought he was out still.

It was a ‘twinge’ in the groin strain that kept him out of the game v Wakey

Ah. I assumed that was code for we can expect him to hardly play from now on and he'll keep withdrawing at the last minute. After how long it took his original groin strain to recover I assumed this would be a multi week tweak.

[fozzieskem]

Why is everybody ‘going on’ over Hanley, He's been crap so far

Edited - Josie

I’ve said on here he looks far from first team ready to keep playing him I wonder is it the right thing to do?

I’m not so sure to be honest.

But so far we have had Hastings and Marshall play FB and that has not worked while also removing 2 attacking threats in a blunted side.

For me it isn't if Handley is ready, it's a needs must I'd rather have Hastings in the halves linking up with farrell and Marshall on the wing causing issues than removing them as a threat before the game has started.

I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying but let’s be fair here he’s looked at times very poor so far apart from that lovely try against Wakey I just get given his slight stature he will get found out at fullback,he needs a year or two more he’s still very young after all.

Now given the issues at fullback I’d go with Smith there the last couple of games his kicking game hasn’t been brilliant and it may just be the right move for him but who knows?