It's good that Radford is going in the right direction with respect to getting the younger/less experienced squad members game time as happened at beginning of last year (And a lesson learnt from 2016 and before). However when it came down to it we still were somewhat weakened when they had to play and this was noted by such like Kirk Dixon when he was commentating on our games.
Only Brad Fash really stood up level for me, the likes of Litten didn't get any game time barring literally a few minutes and the rest, well, Turgut hasn't impressed, sure he's an adequate replacement but he's nowhere near Hadley's level or indeed that of Brad Fash IMO. Matongo did ok but limited in minutes and needs to believe in himself (but could really be a big asset if he pushes on), Jack Downs again didn't get much of a look in and really isn't quite there yet so they (all) need to improve another notch and they can only do that by getting game time at a higher level, even more important since the under23s situation.
However the advantage we have this year is that we have three forwards (Paea, JA and Hadley) in exchange for a waning Ellis (who only started 15 games incl CC games) and Thompson, I think this is an improvement in overall quality and importantly depth.
If indeed JA gets to play 13 rather than waiting in the wings and Watts stays in the middle and Hadley as an interchange for Houghton/bolster the 2nd row then that's a really strong option.
The only thing that concerns me is what is happening with Josh Griffin, he really needs to have a strong start because for me he's still not as good an option in the centres as Connor and CT, so where does he play, second row, tbh we have better options there as well.
Shaul
Bureta
Connor
CT
Talanoa
Kelly
Syned
Taylor
Houghton
Watts
Manu
Minichello
Abdul
Paea
Green
Bowden
Hadley
I think that is a ridiculously powerful and talented XVII and is why in the VT prediction I've out us as winning the comp IF we can sort out our defensive frailties/mental preparation.
