True but the combination Avua'a and Hoffman are starting to show looks good for mine and I wouldn't look to change it for a debutant necessarily.
Very fair point, mate. I threw Leleisiuao's name in there because he is getting some noise from media pundits (Andy Raymond and NRL.com) about a potential NRL debut this year and that jumped out for me. He has been far more polished in the Holden Cup than I expected. His power running and tackle busting is drawing all the plaudits but he has been committed in defence and tidy under the high ball in both attack and defence.
I readily concede to you about Auva'a. He made a big leap forwards against the Tigers and any sort of healthy consolidation from there would make him very hard to leave out.
An alternative to my proposed backline that keeps Auva'a at centre would be switching Gutherson to 5/8 and then either finding Takairangi a home in the backrow or as a bench utility (or leaving him out entirely I guess).
I think regardless of which way we end up going (with or without Semi) we can field a decent backline. Radradra is a game-tilting influence when he is anywhere near his best but we have only seen that in rare glimpses this season so in some ways his potential loss is being cushioned a bit.
If our forwards can lay any sort of basic platform in both attack and defence I believe we can acquit ourselves well enough out wide in most games. There-in lies the problem at the moment though.