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From Lam’s interview after the game:

The head coach did highlight the return of Dom Manfredi as a positive, with the winger grabbing a try in his first outing of 2021.

“I’m really pleased for him. He’s back now and puts us in a better position with the squad and in the long-run. We can start to shift players around back to their preferred roles.”

The question is, what would be your back 5 moving forward?

Gildart must be close to returning.
Moving Isa / Farrell back into the pack may give us the opportunity to rotate some of the younger forwards who’ve been great for the last few weeks, but are we carrying too many at once?
Isa has put some fantastic passes out to his winger in the last few games but is he a longer term answer?
Bibby is scoring for fun but remember he was signed as a centre.
The only thing I’m certain of is Hardaker isn’t a goal kicker.

My back five which I selected for the game today was;

French
Manfredi
Hardaker
Isa
Bibby

And the rest of my selection was

Hastings
Smith

Singleton
Powell
Partington

Bateman
Farrell
Smithies

Bullock
Havard
Shorrocks
Byrne

Hull knew what team we were playing & played to that same team that beat them last week. They already knew our weaknesses.

We continued to play straight up the middle when their forwards will out muscle us every time! We should have made more use of our speedsters to get us up the field. When one of our ‘middles’ got the ball they hardly made any hard yards.

Zak needs to be man enough to relinquish kicking duties too. I said on the other thread we have two possibly three kickers who have been more accurate than him at the moment.

josie andrews wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 7:39 pm My back five which I selected for the game today was;

French
Manfredi
Hardaker
Isa
Bibby

And the rest of my selection was

Hastings
Smith

Singleton
Powell
Partington

Bateman
Farrell
Smithies

Bullock
Havard
Shorrocks
Byrne

Hull knew what team we were playing & played to that same team that beat them last week. They already knew our weaknesses.

We continued to play straight up the middle when their forwards will out muscle us every time! We should have made more use of our speedsters to get us up the field. When one of our ‘middles’ got the ball they hardly made any hard yards.

Zak needs to be man enough to relinquish kicking duties too. I said on the other thread we have two possibly three kickers who have been more accurate than him at the moment.

That’s our best five with what we have got available. The return of Gildart and Marshall will give us much needed pace.

With manfredi back in a couple of games we should see more effective early tackles in our outs sets getting us on the front foot and allowing our younger forwards easier yards. Marshall was great at this and makes a huge difference to our metre making.

That's not going to help our lack of effectiveness in the opposition red zone; but hopefully gildart and Zac in the centres with french at FB will.

Mike wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 7:47 pm With manfredi back in a couple of games we should see more effective early tackles in our outs sets getting us on the front door and allowing our younger forwards easier yards. Marshall was great at this and makes a huge difference to our metre making.

That's not going to help our lack of effectiveness in the opposition red zone; but hopefully gildart and Zac in the centres with french at FB will.

I agree with that. But the more we get into attacking positions the more points we should post.

Yesterday, I would have gone with French - Manfredi - Hardaker - Isa - Bibby. It looks like we will have Gildart back for the next game, and so I would replace Isa (who has done a great job) with him.
Then, when Marshall is fit, I would probably slot him in ahead of Bibby...
A fit and firing Manfredi makes a massive difference, out of defence and in limiting the areas opposition kickers are happy to kick. Gildart will improve our cutting edge, and a fit and firing Marshall makes a big difference in returning the ball. It seems odd, but a knock on effect of having Dom and Liam at full throttle is that they may compensate for the relative ineffectiveness of our props, as they will be more likely to be getting the ball with momentum and better positions?

Mike wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 7:47 pm With manfredi back in a couple of games we should see more effective early tackles in our outs sets getting us on the front foot and allowing our younger forwards easier yards. Marshall was great at this and makes a huge difference to our metre making.

That's not going to help our lack of effectiveness in the opposition red zone; but hopefully gildart and Zac in the centres with french at FB will.

. Agreed, French is wasted on the wing with no centre. Just as important loose forward is not working for JB put him back to 2nd row playing wider.Faz back in 2nd row he’s doing two jobsHanley at present..So who would be Loose forward?Isa ticks most of the boxes or even Faz. Hanley left wing.The 2nd row have done a great job but let,s get back to people doing what they do best.

French has to go to fullback for me because it’s the best thing for the team. I don’t think Hardaker will like it but we can’t keep shunting out to the wing an attacking weapon like French. He came to life in that spell at fullback on Saturday, looked threatening himself but also brings others in to the game better than Hardaker does.

At Leigh I’d go-

French
Manfredi Hardaker Farrell Bibby

NICKYKISS wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 9:22 pm French has to go to fullback for me because it’s the best thing for the team. I don’t think Hardaker will like it but we can’t keep shunting out to the wing an attacking weapon like French. He came to life in that spell at fullback on Saturday, looked threatening himself but also brings others in to the game better than Hardaker does.

At Leigh I’d go-

French
Manfredi Hardaker Farrell Bibby

He puts the fear of God in defences Zak doesn’t, no brainier as far as I am concerned.

NICKYKISS wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 9:22 pm French has to go to fullback for me because it’s the best thing for the team. I don’t think Hardaker will like it but we can’t keep shunting out to the wing an attacking weapon like French. He came to life in that spell at fullback on Saturday, looked threatening himself but also brings others in to the game better than Hardaker does.

At Leigh I’d go-

French
Manfredi Hardaker Farrell Bibby

Why move Isa away from Bibby when they are so in tune with each other?