vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 7:04 pm  

So with the first leg of the Transatlantic Challenge a few days away what is everyone's thoughts on the game against our new DR partners? If I am being honest it's a friendly and I expect a pretty big loss. However I will accept that it will be a very very good test and a decent opposition to get under our belts before the season starts.

I'm not sure how bad the injury to Keyes and Milnes were against Dewsbury but either way I would not risk them for this friendly anyway and see how they are for Keighley next week.

Personally I would go with:

1. Gregg McNally
2. Ethan Ryan
3. Ross Oakes
4. Ashley Gibson
5. Alex Brown
6. Lee Smith
7. Elliott Minchella
8. Liam Kirk
9. Sam Hallas
10. Steve Crossley
11. Matt Garside
12. Liam Johnson
13. Mikey Wood

14. Vila Halafihi
15. Reiss Butterworth
16. Dalton Grant
17. Ross Peltier
18. James Davies
19. Brandon Pickersgill
20. Jamal Goodall
21. Evan Hodgson
22. Oliver Wilson

Possibly Danny King and Harvey Burnett too.

I'd start Brown as I think we've seen enough of Grant for now to see he's good so I want to see Brown get a full game. Smith/Minchella in the halves to account for having no halfbacks and gives them more game time in those positions to help them in case Chisholm or Keyes gets injured in the season. However if Keyes is 100% fit have him in alongside Smith and have Minchella as a ball playing loose forward.

We had 7 on the bench against Halifax, 10 against Sheffield and Dewsbury. Keep a high number on the bench for this one too to make sure everyone gets a little more game time against a good opposition but try keep the spine the same all game. Having all the lads have a crack at Toronto allows Kear to see who is up to facing a quality side and who may need a bit more work before playing against better teams.

Again it's just a friendly. The result means nothing but I've seen our defence against two Championship sides and I think it will be good for League 1. I just want to see us a little bit more in attack if possible. Will be hard against what should be a good Toronto team.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 7:10 pm  

I think Toronto may go with something like this:

1. Quentin Laulu-Togaga'e
2. Jonathan Pownall
3. Greg Worthington
4. Tom Armstrong
5. Liam Kay
6. Ryan Brierley
7. Josh McCrone
8. Adam Sidlow
9. Bob Beswick
10. Aston Sims
11. Andrew Dixon
12. Richard Whiting
13. Joe Westerman

14. Andy Ackers
15. Jack Bussey
16. Gary Wheeler
17. Ryan Burroughs
18. Joe Eichner
19. Quinn Ngawati
20. Jacob Emmitt
21. Coery Paterson
22. Olsi Krasniqi
23. Blake Wallace

Providing they are all fit. Look a lot weaker without Fuifui Moimoi and David Taylor. But still a bloody strong squad. Can see them going with 4 subs like they did in their only friendly last season too. However at the same time I can also see them fielding their whole roster of players as they have a tougher opener this time around and will want everyone to have had some game time.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:05 pm  

Phenomenal pack for Championship.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:34 pm  

Bulls Boy 2011 wrote:

I think Toronto may go with something like this:

1. Quentin Laulu-Togaga'e
2. Jonathan Pownall
3. Greg Worthington
4. Tom Armstrong
5. Liam Kay
6. Ryan Brierley
7. Josh McCrone
8. Adam Sidlow
9. Bob Beswick
10. Aston Sims
11. Andrew Dixon
12. Richard Whiting
13. Joe Westerman

14. Andy Ackers
15. Jack Bussey
16. Gary Wheeler
17. Ryan Burroughs
18. Joe Eichner
19. Quinn Ngawati
20. Jacob Emmitt
21. Coery Paterson
22. Olsi Krasniqi
23. Blake Wallace

I'm sure Tom Armstrong is injured and due to miss the start of the season. Think it was in one of the articles about the sacked trio. I don't think Joe Eichner is listed on their squad page either.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:51 pm  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

Phenomenal pack for Championship.

Aye it is. Good mix of old and middle aged (for a rugby player). No youth coming through though or any young lads in there to push for places. Would look even more devastating with Moimoi, Taylor and Bailey. Even though there loss has weakened the Wolfpack they still have more than enough to do some real damage in that league. Better than some lower Super League teams in my opinion.

PROPS - Sims (33), Sidlow (31), Emmitt (30), Hopkins (28), Krasniqi (26)
SR's - Whiting (34), Dixon (28), Laithwaite (27), Eichner (26)
LF's - Paterson (31), Westerman (29), Bussey (26)

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:54 pm  

seen it mentioned elsewhere that Ryan Burroughs and Quinn Ngawati are likely to spend some time with us as part of dual reg.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:57 pm  

HamsterChops wrote:

I'm sure Tom Armstrong is injured and due to miss the start of the season. Think it was in one of the articles about the sacked trio. I don't think Joe Eichner is listed on their squad page either.

Probably put Burroughs in the centre then if Armstrong is inured. Or Kay to centre and Higson on the wing. I'll be shocked if they have let Eichner go. I mean I was expecting Toronto to at least keep Ngawati, Eichner, Burroughs and Jacks for their North American connection. At least having those 4 in the squad gave the Wolfpack an element of 'home grown' about them. Getting rid of Jacks and now Eichner just screams to me that they don't care about developing talent at all.

Just hope they keep Ngawati and Burroughs long enough to develop them into real good players who start regularly. If I were the Bulls I'd possibly be looking into getting that Eichner. Would do a job at League 1 level.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Tue Jan 23, 2018 9:02 pm  

mat wrote:

seen it mentioned elsewhere that Ryan Burroughs and Quinn Ngawati are likely to spend some time with us as part of dual reg.

I'd love that. I hope eventually they become regular starters for Toronto and especially Ngawati to become 'Toronto's Man'. Like Burrow/Sinfield was for Leeds, numerous people were for us and like Tomkins is for Wigan.

I like Ryan Burroughs. Seen him play all last season with Toronto. Looks decent but I'd struggle to find a place for him on dual reg. May as well use our own players. Otherwise why pay them? With McNally, Ryan, Oakes, Gibson, Grant, Brown, Smith, Pickersgill and Rickett it would take a fair few injuries for him to get a game?

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:03 am  

Bulls Boy 2011 wrote:

So with the first leg of the Transatlantic Challenge a few days away what is everyone's thoughts on the game against our new DR partners? If I am being honest it's a friendly and I expect a pretty big loss. However I will accept that it will be a very very good test and a decent opposition to get under our belts before the season starts.

I'm not sure how bad the injury to Keyes and Milnes were against Dewsbury but either way I would not risk them for this friendly anyway and see how they are for Keighley next week.

Personally I would go with:

1. Gregg McNally
2. Ethan Ryan
3. Ross Oakes
4. Ashley Gibson
5. Alex Brown
6. Lee Smith
7. Elliott Minchella
8. Liam Kirk
9. Sam Hallas
10. Steve Crossley
11. Matt Garside
12. Liam Johnson
13. Mikey Wood

14. Vila Halafihi
15. Reiss Butterworth
16. Dalton Grant
17. Ross Peltier
18. James Davies
19. Brandon Pickersgill
20. Jamal Goodall
21. Evan Hodgson
22. Oliver Wilson

Possibly Danny King and Harvey Burnett too.

I'd start Brown as I think we've seen enough of Grant for now to see he's good so I want to see Brown get a full game. Smith/Minchella in the halves to account for having no halfbacks and gives them more game time in those positions to help them in case Chisholm or Keyes gets injured in the season. However if Keyes is 100% fit have him in alongside Smith and have Minchella as a ball playing loose forward.

We had 7 on the bench against Halifax, 10 against Sheffield and Dewsbury. Keep a high number on the bench for this one too to make sure everyone gets a little more game time against a good opposition but try keep the spine the same all game. Having all the lads have a crack at Toronto allows Kear to see who is up to facing a quality side and who may need a bit more work before playing against better teams.

Again it's just a friendly. The result means nothing but I've seen our defence against two Championship sides and I think it will be good for League 1. I just want to see us a little bit more in attack if possible. Will be hard against what should be a good Toronto team.

Think the bench shows the need for a couple more props

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:30 am  

Don't care about the result, just get through the game with no injuries please.
They've already messed up by playing Keyes last weekend and messing his knee up again.