It's very hard to argue againt what you say TrueSaint and so I am not about to do that. All I can say is that this is the hand we have been dealt by Millward and Mary and so we have to do our best with it.
I'm banking on the new assistant coaches, Sheppard and Flanagan, making a difference to the coaching plan and the coaching quality of our squad as a whole and players individually.
If Lomax does not perform, and I believe he will, then there is always the likes of Dufty and Sailor to replace him with Lomax moving to 3.
Saab showed this season that he is up to first grade standard. All that needs to happen now is for him to continue to gain first grade experience.
I would dearly love to have a young tall and speedy winger take the left wing position. For now Pereira is all we have.
I'm sure most on here would agree that Aitken and Lafai are our weakest link and so the sooner we replace them in the centres, the better chance we have of making the 8.
Providing Merrin plays as the run-on bookend to Vaughan, we have made some good improvement to our forward pack. The uncertainty regarding De Belin is a major problem however, if he becomes unavailable, I'd say Frizell to lock and Ford to our right edge.
Our bench with T Sims, Graham, Lawrie, Ford, Kerr and Luke available, is strong enough to maintain the on-field intensity or maybe even step up a little when they they enter the game.