As for the topic at hand, I think we have a good enough back row for the team that Anderson wants. Let me break it down:
11. Hindmarsh - I don't need to say anything we don't already know. He makes the big plays, whether it's a hit-up (an area I thought Hindy really improved in in 2009), an offload or a crucial tackle, Hindy is the heart and soul of this squad and imo our greatest ever Eel despite the fact he (as of yet) has no Premierships to his name.
12. Smith - defensively sound and has a strong work ethic. Hits very hard, too. With a good offseason under his belt I've no doubt Ando and Sharpie can coach him to offload to his outside men on the edges. He worked on his aggression with ball in hand this season, too, and he delivered well imo.
13. Mateo - a freakish talent. Can make metres with pill in hand, offload at will, throw a miracle ball and even kick. If anything he has a weakness with his defense (though he did improve dramatically). A freak,
15. Shackleton - my tip for one of our forwards of the year. A big, fiery ranga with a strong work ethic and a fair bit of skill, too. He adds some much-needed size and aggression to this pack.
And then we have the 'unknown' quantities in Horo, Hauraki and Oake. Oake, imo, is too small to be a prop but would do rather well at lock; Hauraki is probably on his last chance but if Ando can get him firing we'll be sweet (he'd add some much-needed aggression); and Horo would add a little flair and skill.
With guys like Tahu and Grothe making metres out wide and out of dummy-half, a barn-storming back-rower for our team isn't a particular need imo. We can have a back-row of Hindy-Smith-Mateo and Shackleton off the bench and we would still have go-forward and strong defense.
And you could even consider putting Cayless in the back-row - I think now we have Poore, Shackleton, Fui and Mannah we can definitely afford to move him to the back-row. Cayless's ball skills and work ethic would be sublime out wide, feeding Tahu/Inu/Reddy and keeping the ruck defensively tight. It would benefit him, too, because he wouldn't necessarily have to ram the ball up time and time again; rather, he could use his skills and brains and create havoc out wide.
Obviously these are just my thoughts, and people may disagree (and that's cool). But I feel our back-row is looking good.