2026 Pre-Season Discussion

No Arthars, interesting. Regardless strong squad Maguire definitely wants to win.
I’m going to go with this will be his last year at the Bronx. It says a lot about the quality of players that we have, that he can’t make the 20 man squad. Especially with pre season training being so short, Madge has to give other players a go in a game setting and see what they can bring (Anderson)
 
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Going to be a cakewalk, does this team even make the top 14 in the NRL?
 
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Going to be a cakewalk, does this team even make the top 14 in the NRL?
Wrong squad mate, this is not the WCC team for Hull KR. This squad pictured is for their early Feb Challenge Cup game against community club, Lock Lane.

Their WCC squad will include Test players like Mikey Lewis, Joe Burgess and Jez Litten. So they are not going to be easybeats.
 
I’m going to go with this will be his last year at the Bronx. It says a lot about the quality of players that we have, that he can’t make the 20 man squad. Especially with pre season training being so short, Madge has to give other players a go in a game setting and see what they can bring (Anderson)
I'm not sure it's as drastic as cant make the 20 man squad so he's gone... I do think he'll probably move on, but I hope the broncos dont just release him early... we still need depth and he covers wing and centre very well.

Beyond the 17 that will play is an additional 3 players heading across with them.

To me it indicates that Anderson has jumped Jesse... or they're more confident in Anderson being able to cover wing, fullback and centre if something happens.

Mozer / Paix are there to cover if Bhunt has to move to the halves, but one will miss out.

And then the last spot is probably Jhunt who can arguably cover edge and middle... I'm expecting Aublix to make the 17.
 
Anderson over Arthars makes sense, if Walsh gets the sniffles Anderson has more experience than Jesse at fullback. Even if Madge prefers Arthars as a winger, you take Anderson (or Perham even) for fullback cover. I'm expecting Anderson will be in the #18.

First injury to a winger or centre and we'll see who's ahead in the pecking order between Arthars and Anderson.
 
I’m going to go with this will be his last year at the Bronx. It says a lot about the quality of players that we have, that he can’t make the 20 man squad. Especially with pre season training being so short, Madge has to give other players a go in a game setting and see what they can bring (Anderson)
I think a lot of people are misunderstanding me when I point out it's interesting. It's not that I was surprised by it nor suggesting he should be there or not. More that I think it speaks of where Maguire might think he fits in the side at present afterall not everyone will even feature in the likely side week in and week out. Notbiased might have a point too perhaps Arthars requested to play Allstars and Maguire saw it as a chance for him to get some preseason game time too.
 
The amount of Penriff dipshit fans ive seen blowing up about Staggs comments is hillarious. He wasn't even taking a dig, he was explaining how they expect it to be a hard challenge to win the WCC as even Penrith couldn't win it.. I just dont think anything he said is cocky or arrogant at all 😂

To be expected with that lot I guess. These idiots scream "4 in a row" or "4 rings" as a default.

 
Benches will vary a little bit based on players they have... like wahs have Capewell so are they ok with him covering centre and they have Roger to cover fullback, so do they just pick a winger for the outside backs.

We have Bhunt and later on Billy, so do we need to pick a half.

Excluding all of that I'd say the general thought for a bench make up is something like.

14. Hooker coverage (best if one of the hookers can fulfil a role elsewhere like lock (Smoothy, Bsmith, etc.) or halves (Bhunt, Billy)
15. Middle
16. Middle
17. Pure edge or hybrid middle/edge
18. Outside back (best if they can cover wing, centre and fullback... Cobbo a perfect fit here)
19. Halves

With the halves spot, it can be hard to find a pure halfback that can fill in somewhere else as well.

We've got Billy and Bhunt, another example is someone like Hayward who covers halves and lock, and dogs are trying to make him into a hooker.

I know there are calls this bench will be the death of utility players, but there will still be a ton of value in players that have versatility, because you still cant cover everything.

A winger/centre will be on everyone's bench because that is the hardest spot to cover... but how many players can do both, and even further how many can play all 3 spots of wing fullback and centre without having a huge deficiency at one of the spots.

I think the versatility will be across 17, 18 and 19.

17 jersey for us barely gets on the field. If that 17 jersey is someone that can play centre and second row, then that frees up us having to pick centre coverage at 18... but we also have Mariner starting at wing who can play centre... we also have starting centres that cant play any other position.

I think the two extra are a perfect spot for some out of the box coaching and thinking. I would be taking a "special teams' approach and have two players on the bench that fit certain situations- a Fuller or Faalogo and you bring them on if you have the ball and need 10 minutes of special.
 
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