No-one gets a free ride these days, unless Craig Young has another son in the wings.
You don't like Leilua, I get that but he's been given a shot and he should get more than 1 game to settle in and show what he's got. You'd want the same for Lomax or Kerr or anyone else. I've seen nothing wrong with him so far and as I've said a team needs a ball playing forward in their pack, preferably an edge forward. We have JDB in the middle and now we'll have Luc out wide working with Wids or Hunt linking our backline. Despite what you say, he is a very skillful player, he put in some great performances in the Cutters and I believe he'll go even better in a top grade team.
I know you prefer Host but he failed to step up last year and spent most of it on the bench used very sparingly. If he was as good as you and others think he would have replaced Thompson but he's not and he didn't. So now Luc's getting a shot and I wish him all the best.
I dont not like Luc. I think he may have a future as a competent first grader, best utilised as an impact forward from the bench. I think he is dramatically overhyped in this forum based on his time in NYC when he was a very, very big fish in a small pond, and I think he's got a lot of work to do to get up to first grade standard. I also think he is missing so many core skills of an edge backrower. His fitness is down, his lateral movement is poor, he seems to lack the ability to run good angles and his leg speed is barely there. I cant see him causing any damages running an unders line of a short ball because he's just too easy to pick off. And for such a big guy, he really seems to lack drive, just seems to lumber and take the tackle. On top of that, he seems to have quickly become a target in defence. A few good offloads (none of which we've seen in first grade) does not a backrower make.
We do have other ball-playing forwards, Sele being the obvious one (next to JDB) and he fits the bill for a middle forward/lock.
Real edge backrowers are a rare commodity - the ability to consistently pick the right line to run (into a gap or an opposition small man), keeping one eye on the guy about to pass you the ball and one on the defense, is something that's tough to teach. The top backrowers - Cordner, Gillet, Hoffman, Proctor, Creagh in his day - are masters at it. The rest of it, including defense, is something to be learned. I think we've got a good one in Host (and another in Jackson Ford playing ISP this year) however he's been messed around and shoved into the middle/prop for most of his first grade career. Given extended time on the edge twice last year, he was impressive. And right now, he's out injured. He's definitely underdone but his ceiling is higher than Leilua, IMO.
And dude - I wouldnt go falling back on Mary's team selection ability as some sort of validation of opinion...