Lock over the last 5 years has evolved into pretty much a 3rd prop over the last 5 years, think of guys like gallen, lolo, eastwood, taupau, myles etc. With a reduced interchange, smaller more durable locks may become the fashion again. With the way Tom was being dominated in tackles at the 9s is cause for concern, if that doesn't change in the trials, it may lead to Sam or Grevsmuhl partnering with tyrell for round 1 until george gets back
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I think Sam is one of those players that will benefit from the change due to his mobility. The players you mentioned don't have the same lateral ability as Sam.
I do think however that Carter will benefit from the reduced interchange and would make an awesome ball playing second rower.
My best team at the moment is;
1. Greg Inglis (c)
2. Alex Johnston
3. Kirisome Auva'a
4. Bryson Goodwin
5. Aaron Gray
6. Luke Keary
7. Adam Reynolds
8. George Burgess
9. Cam McInnes
10. Dave Tyrrell
11. Kyle Turner
12. John Sutton
13. Sam Burgess
14. Damien Cook
15. Jason Clark
16. Chris Grevsmuhl
17. Tom Burgess
- GI, AJ and speak for themselves and are our two best backs. Very unlikely they will be dropped.
- Goodwin, Auva'a Gray have performed well in the rest of the positions but will be under pressure to perform from the likes of Oldfield, Hunt, Olive, and Nielsen, which is exactly what we need to ensure we have our best possible backs on the field.
- Reyno appears to be safe but Keary will have a lot of pressure on him from Cody, who should definitely be our 5/8 come round 1. Of course there is hype around Cody but his defence is yet to be established, so Keary will need to perform well in that area as well. Definitely an interesting competition to see who gets the 6
- Our starting props should be Tyrrell and George. I know the verdict is out on Dave, but he is a very solid front rower who does a lot of dirty work and has great handling and has great defence, and with pressure from Tom, Clarky, Brown and Musgrove he will be doing his best. Tom will be doing his best to take his brother's starting spot, which happened a few times last year.
- The battle of the hookers is gonna be a good one, because no matter who gets the no.9 jersey, we know they're gonna perform, and we only just got a taste of it this weekend. My preference is to have McInnes start and go through the motions, then put Cooky on when the opposition is tired so he can capitalise using his blistering speed and direct running. It's gonna be a great combination I reckon.
- Sutto and Sam will definitely have two positions in the back row. The right side second row position is up for grabs, with Turner, Grevs and Carter contending for it. At the moment i'd have Turner starting with Grevs coming on for impact. I can't elaborate how important impact is going to be with the new interchange rules, and just in general.
- So many times in the past we had strong starting sides with benches filled with workhorses that wouldn't really be able to capitalise on the work the starting side had done. If we have most of our workhorses on at the beginning of games, the impact players can make their mark at the end. Tom and George are a direct swap, as are Clarky and Tyrrell, while Grevs and Cook bring impact in for Turner and McInnes.
