I see Yates as a loose forward more than prop, and a defensive asset more than offensive. He is a very strong defensive player.I'd like a disruptive impact forward for when we need to change games. 




Vaughan, Bryne, 
New Prop, 
Harrison



Backup 
Philbin
Wood
Yates
Thomas
Green etc 


We also need at least one strike centre. 

We have made a mess of the recruitment for props / middles over the last couple of years. We started the 2024 season with Dudson, Kassiano and Bullock all given squad numbers and none of them made it through the season. Luke Thomas unfortunately suffered an injury that meant he would be out of action for the best part of a year. 
We signed Yates and I assume we gave him squad no 13 because that's where we thought he would play. 
So we end up with a 13 playing up front. Our best second rower playing 13 (although Currie has done a great job) all because we are a few props short of a picnic. 


It rarely works out well when you shuffle players positions to fill a gap. Look at Catalan. They lost McIllorum but I assume they couldn't find a hooker so moved Ben Garcia to 9. Whereas all that has done is weaken them at 13. 


So since the start of 2024 we have lost 4 props and you can question the performances of Musgrove, Bullock, Kassiano and Dudson but given that Yates was signed as a 13 then I don't think we have replace 1 of them. 


I would be happy with Yates and Crowther rotating at 13 and Currie back in the second row if we had signed a full on prop forward. Not sure Stone is the answer to all our problems. 


I just wonder if Burgess can only deal with forwards in his own image (a bit like Briers frustrations coaching halfbacks that don't have the vision that he had). I also wonder how much planning was put into getting his brother to sign for us rather than Huddersfield. It might explain a bit

It depends how you play the game, Burgess seems to prefer a ball playing loose - Currie fits that bill perfectly as do players like Asiata.  In the event of your 13 being an 'extra middle' then Yates is perfect as he can do long minutes and do all the defensive dirty work, as it is he doesn't have the ball skills in my view, so he is a prop in our system - for as long as Burgess plays this way.


I see Yates, Harrison and Byrne as more defensive props, Philbin and Vaughan as more offence - if I was playing fantasy rugby league I would probably be swapping Philbin out with a player of more impact.

I would still prefer to see Yates at 13, like said above, He's a very good defensive player with a great Engine, but he's not a Prop and doesn't have the size to get the team on the front foot.
Satae does fit that bill, but i wonder if Burgess has put all his eggs in one basket to try and get papali'i as we're in for him by all accounts. Although his Wife has just been convicted of Assault and given a good behaviour order, not sure how that affects a visa or work etc over here?
But yeah i get the mention of being overloaded with props, but again like said above how effective are they getting the team going forward.
Also does anyone know if Vaughan has now actually re-signed with us? If not there is a possibility he won't be here which would leave us a hell of a lot weaker in my oppinion.
Also i understand the Crowther re-signing as he's a decent utility player, covers hooker, prop, 13 and Second row. Not a world beater but a consistant steady player.
We could also still lose Wrench this season as it's his last year and not had much game time, with Lindop getting injured he may get his chance of more Game time....but he might not.

Dudson, Kassiano ,Bullock were all big lads who didn't really do us a lot of good ,although i thought Bullock was improving in his last few outings & Kassiano was a ball player who wasn't used in the right way to create gaps. 
What we have now ,apart from Vaughan , are lightweights by comparison & it is no good expecting them to barge through defences. Creation needs to come from our engine room to create gaps to use our lightweight forwards as a viable options to the threequarters. Either that or stick our forwards on bulking up in the off season.