Wider Squad Patrick Ah Van, Lewis Brown, Malo Solomona, Joel Moon, Brent Tate, Simon Mannering, Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Ukuma Ta’ai, Daniel O’Regan, Herman Retzlaff, Isaac John, Aaron Heremaia, Denan Kemp, Aidan Kirk, Sam Rapira, Leeson Ah Mau, Russell Packer, Jacob Lillyman, Mataupu Poching, Kevin Locke, Stacey Jones, Wade McKinnon, Ian Henderson, Steve Price, Micheal Luck, Jerome Ropati, Evarn Tuimavave, Lance Hohaia, Siatonga Likiliki, Alehana Mara, Elijah Taylor. My team: 1. Wade McKinnon 2. Denan Kemp 3. Brent Tate 4. Kevin Locke 5. Manu Vatuvei 6. Lance Hohaia 7. Stacey Jones 8. Evarn Tuimavave 9. Ian Henderson 10. Steve Price (c) 11. Ukuma Ta'ai 12. Simon Mannering 13. Daniel O'Regan 14. Lewis Brown 15. Russell Packer 16. Sam Rapira 17. Ben Matulino
Fullbacks: Kevin Locke, Wade McKinnon, Patrick Ah Van, Denan Kemp I'll probably be going with Kevin Locke because he provides a ball playing option, compared with Wade McKinnon who essentially is only an awesome support runner off the forwards shoulders and outstandingly "safe" at the back.
Yeah, particularly important that your fullback's a bit of a ball-player IMO, given who your lock options are. I'd consider Hohaia as well I guess.
Wingers: Patrick Ah Van, Aidan Kirk, Denan Kemp, Manu Vatuvei. A bit obvious, there isn't really man options but in my opinion these two are the best options by a long way. Manu provides a power game, returns well, finishes well and contests bombs well. A possible weakness is his dummy-half running, hopefully he doesn't have to do that too often . Kemp is one of the best finishers in the game, he just needs the opportunites to actually finish. He provides speed which is essential in todays game. Another weak dummy half runner..
I absolutely despise Aaron Heremaia, so I wont have him at hooker either starting or on the bench. Lewis Brown goes to the bench for the hooking role, while Daniel O'Regan is my lock. He's a ball-player too, not sure if you have seen much of him Cribb?
I've seen him play about three games in my entire life. If you give me a good description of what sort of player he is, though, I'll let him in.
He's a pretty good defender when in the middle of the ruck. It's just that he lacks pace and therefore misses tackles in the centres.
Righto: Daniel O'Regan, 20 years old, 6 foot and 97kg. Played primarily at five-eighth for the Warriors in Toyota Cup last year, but is definitely more of a lock. Similar to the Feleti Mateo, John Sutton mould (perhaps a bit smaller though). A great ball runner, makes a lot of breaks.
Fair enough; I'll put him in as a watered down version of Mateo then. Picking him would mean you probably wouldn't need a ball-playing fullback as much, though - you might be better off picking Locke on the wing or even in the centres so you could utilise McKinnon.