Now just get rid of HUNT....Will he even make wenty?
Forty20 how would your backline in Wenty stack up? I would think Crooks gets a spot somewhere.But assuming Robinson taka and champion play firsts, you have toutai-hunt-faraimo-crooks-goodal-lavaka-hunt-falou. 8 guys 5 spots?
This will be an overly long post that is probably better suited to the Wenty thread but anyway...
With Robinson in first grade and Hunt sticking around I would probably go something like:
1. Hunt
2. Goodall/Lavaka/Folau/Crooks
3. Morgan
4. Toutai
5. Goodall/Lavaka/Folau/Crooks
Faraimo did a good job for Wenty this year (NSW Cup Player of the Year, no less) but he has a few major weaknesses in his game like poor acceleration and a sluggish turn rate that put a ceiling on his potential. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he was the first winger picked for Wenty in 2015 but I think our 3 NYC graduates can offer more while Crooks is held in good regard by one of our assistant coaches, which makes it hard to see him coming over here to play in the Ron Massey Cup.
If Hunt gets rissoled I would probably play Robinson at fullback for Wenty and promote someone else to the wing in first grade (Toutai probably the favourite before pre-season results). I don't think Robinson really offers that much on the wing and I'm not really a fan of his in general. He is alright as far as a backup fullback goes but I have no faith in his ability to cart the ball up or defend his edge.
If the club are still keen to keep all of our backs in the NSW Cup Faraimo and Goodall could slot into the forward pack without too much trouble, while Folau also has a smidgen of experience in the back row.
With that said the pack is also over stacked with eight or nine slots open (most likely eight assuming De Gois and Pritchard both play for Wenty) and the following players available:
Eric Newbigging
David Gower
Daniel Alvaro
Richie Fa'aoso
Tui Kamikamica
Darcy Lussick
Shannan McPherson
Tepai Moeroa
Cody Nelson
Pauli Pauli
Joseph Paulo
Peni Terepo
Joseph Ualesi
Danny Wicks
Kenny Edwards, Manu Ma'u, Tim Mannah, Junior Paulo, Nathan Peats and Anthony Watmough are nigh certainties for the first grade squad, in my opinion. That means that four of the above will play in the NRL leaving ten players for Wenty. Moeroa can still play in the Holden Cup so that potentially takes it down to nine but that is still too many forwards available to simply jam spare big wingers into the pack.
Barring injury there will be a number of players who will have to play Ron Massey Cup simply due to our massive squad size. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if any of Lussick, Morgan or Terepo were moved on this coming season in light of this and also due to the fact that they are the only players left on the roster that he neither recruited or has chosen to re-sign.
