Simpkin has to be in 17 and preferably as the starting 9. I can see the concerns with his defence and it was probably one of the reasons he dropped out but he was pretty hard done by given we won 4/6 with him starting, one of those losses being the Souffs game where we had no one. I’m convinced Croker got his spot back because he’s a popular member of the team and there’s an illusion he helps hold the middle together defensively (with Jake) but it certainly hasn’t looked like it. Gordie showed some good flashes a few weeks ago but he’s also too flawed to keep in the team at this point in the season, I’d drop him solely for that horrific pass he threw at Brown on Thursday.
Really missed Talau and Lawton as well, two consistent performers with little differences between their best and worst games. The gap in quality between Lawton and Burbo seems to widen with each game they do or don’t play, Karl is going to prove a huge loss if we don’t pick up a decent back rower on that edge before next year. But adding these 3 back into the side makes us a much better team right now IMO