My ideal team would be:
Backline:
1 - James Roberts
2 - Josh Mansour (left winger)
3 - Tyrone Peachey (left centre)
4 - Dean Whare (right centre)
5 - Kevin Naiqama (right winger)
Halves:
6 - Jamie Soward
7 - Peter Wallace
Forwards:
8 - Tim Grant
9 - James Segeyaro
10 - Brent Kite
11 - Lewis Brown (left side)
12 - Sika Manu (right side)
13 - Elijah Taylor
Bench:
14 - Matt Moylan (utility)
15 - Sam McKendry (front row - interchange with Kite)
16 - Nigel Plum (front row - interchance with Grant)
17 - Matt Robinson / Adam Docker (rotate depending on who seems better fitted for the opposition that week)
Notes
Fullback - I love Moylan and think he will have a longer first grade career if we make the call to turn him into a utility now. He's just a bit slow for a long term fullback option. IMO his skillset would allow for him to make an exceptional supersub from the bench, assuming he can bulk up a bit over the off-season and cope with a bigger defensive workload. I think he could develop his game to eventually replace one of our halves if they don't fire, get injured or if he comes along quickly enough that he MUST be in the team. Meanwhile James Roberts is exceptionally quick and as long as we can work on his hands he would be an unreal attacking weapon from fullback. Especially if he learns to support the right players and they get an offload away - no one is stopping him if that happens.
Wingers - Josh Mansour gets through a mountain of work and people thought that was all he offered. But he proved toward the end of the season he has some finishing ability to and scored a few nice tries. But for me the workload he offers is why he is a must select... tries aren't something you can rely on every week. Hitups, offloads, metres gained, tackle breaks etc. Kevin Naiqama is on the other wing as he is an exceptional athlete and I think would be the ideal player to finish off the Dean Whare brilliance. As good as Simmons has been this year, he is still reasonably slow for a winger and not overly strong... and he would have had many more tries if he had one or both of those assets. I believe the Kevin Naiqama does.
Centres - Tyrone Peachey is pretty slim, but the guy is a tackle breaking freak and has some ball playing skills. With our second row depth, I want to see him in the centres. Team him up with Josh Mansour down the left side and have James Roberts support them whenever the ball travels down that side... it's hard to imagine us not scoring a heap of tries. Dean Whare on the right was the best decision we made in 2013. The guy is a gun centre and his winger is exceptionally lucky to have him.
Halves - Picked themselves basically. But part of having Moylan on the bench is so that he can develop his skills as a half in first grade. If he can learn the best of both Soward and Wallace while they're here, he could be an exceptional player. His ball playing skills from fullback were strong, and I just hope that a couple of experienced halves can help him develop into a first grade half. As that's where his future lies IMO. Plus it's a much harder position to find quality players with good heads on their shoulders.
I think the forward pack basically explains itself. I'd have Kite starting so that we have more impact from the bench. The second rower is the hardest spot in the side to fill... as there are just too many quality second rowers who could do a good job. Hence trying to rotate the spot and pick the player with strengths that might be needed against different teams.
