In terms of picking a series win I agree it's way too early. We probably wont know much until the first game at Suncorp is over.
Funnily enough I actually think George Smith's selection could possibly hand us the favourites tag. Not that I think he is a better player (on current form) than Gill and Hooper, or that he necessarily should, or needs to, be picked, but his reputation, leadership and presence of the field will make us an intimidating unit. Again I'm not advocating his inclusion one way or the other. I'm sure Gill and Hooper will play their hearts out.
There is some comments above about Hooper's missed tackle count. I think there will be a seriously dilemma facing the selector as to who starts at no.7. In my view Pocock is by far and away the world's best defensive player. He's not as well rounded as either Hooper or Gill, but his work at the breakdown is so dominant that he can single handledly shut down the opposition's attack. He is a massive loss no matter how you spin it. You know Deans is likely to play a defensive style game-plan and pocock would have been key to that approach. Hooper I see as on the other end of the spectrum; he's one of the most dynamic attacking 7s in world rugby, but we doesn't really stamp his authority on the breakdown. We know Hooper can make an impact for the Wallabies, but im not sure its what we are looking for from our 7 in this series. Gill seems to be a happy medium, but a question still remains whether he can make the sort of impact we need from our 7. He is still probably two years off hitting his peak and ideally he would have continued to play a bench role for the wallabies until at least the 2013 EOYT.
Again I'm not advocating Smith's inclusion but he probably suits the mould best in terms of what we are looking for at 7 (i.e. the player most likely to replicate Pocock's presence on the field). At this stage I think its unlikely we will see smith play.
In hindsight 2012 was a very productive year for us in terms of building depth in key positions. It was only two years ago that we were scratching our head as to what to do when Sharpe left, with the most suitable back-up being an out-of-form Rob Simmons. Now the Lock stocks are healthy with the addition of Douglas, Timani and MMM (all with test experience). The loss of Pocock in 2012 seemed disastrous but in 2013 seem manageable.
Most importantly the prop stocks are healthy (touch wood). Success against the Lions certainly rests on keeping our top props off the injured list.
