3 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

They’ve all had their moments and Jeffo hasn’t been the least of them. Checkers and JvR are locks forward for me and if we go with another tall I favour Jeffo. Luca is too similar to JvR and AJ isn’t there yet in my book but it’s line ball. Down back Disco is a lock and I think Petty and Lever are the other two. But you wouldn’t worry if May and Tmac were picked.

To me, Lever and Turner are too similar to play together and I would prefer to have another more defensively minded tall if we are playing three of them. Unless Lever has finally learnt how to defend over the five months.

Lots of injured but only 1 longer term, whether this is bad or not will be decided by if these niggles keep happening or if they clear up over the next month

2 hours ago, Garbo said:

Lots of injured but only 1 longer term, whether this is bad or not will be decided by if these niggles keep happening or if they clear up over the next month

Yep.

Another factor is how many of the players who have had short term injuries have still been able to do cardio work.

For example, it's not great Max broke a finger, but at least he can maintain his aerobic fitness, eg on the bike or running laps.

22 minutes ago, binman said:

Yep.

Another factor is how many of the players who have had short term injuries have still been able to do cardio work.

For example, it's not great Max broke a finger, but at least he can maintain his aerobic fitness, eg on the bike or running laps.

I think we can be confident he will once again be the best ruckman in the comp. I seriously doubt there is much he could learn in the pre season.

On 14/01/2026 at 22:51, DeeSpencer said:

It's really not that bad, and most clubs have somewhere between 5-15 out at any one time. 11 isn't great but is pretty standard and not many are to best 22 players.

We have 1 new bad injury since preseason started with was Bowser.

We've got 4 guys coming back from injuries last season in AMW, McAdam, Mihocek and Matthews. AMW and Mihocek have done a fair bit of main drills.

We've got 3 collision injuries to Gawn, Laurie and Campbell. Those are going to happen. Laurie and Gawn's don't sound serious. Sounds like TC's is, but that happens.

2 guys battling overuse injuries in Viney and Henderson, both since last year. Viney hopefully winning his battle.

1 short term soft tissue in Sharp.

Your first para says it all DS. The fact that Viney might not play till April is no big deal. He is into his 30's and it's a long season I would rather him be in form in June. There are two in that list who will be missed the rest are depth players at best. It also gives a few players who could not get a game under Goodwin and we have bought in players through the draft etc who will step up some earlier than they might have expected. I doubt we will trouble the premiership this year but I think it is not being overly optimistic to expected to finish 8th or 9th