What worries me most about our current 17 is the lack of pace and versatility of our pack and at 5/8 with The Shoe.
For starters, I'd pick Bully as a starting second rower. He is faster and a different body shape to our big Pacifika boys. He can attack whereas currently our only creative forward is Froggy. Kelma has been disappointing, and Gucca has gone from the best second rower in the comp in the first few matches of the season to a flat-footed, ham-fisted steamroller. I love Jurbo and he is a must have for his defence but he hasn't broken a tackle since 2020.
The Cowboys' forwards ran faster, harder and more often than our blokes.
The Shoe is not touching the ball enough; it is up to him to get more involved and have a few runs. If he can't spark our backline then I'm afraid he may never have the glittering NRL career we imagined.
Koala has the speed and talent but he is ineffective as a centre. As our season is almost cooked it may be worth swapping him and Sandwich around. Koala looked much more dangerous when he filled in at fullback. Sandwich has been outstanding wherever he plays, so why not give him a run at centre? We need to do something. Let's see if the selectors try to mix it up a bit, or will they fall into the Despicable no-change selection policy we all railed against last season.