My match day squad, barring injury looks like:
1. Robinson / 2. Polota-Nau / 3. Ta'avao / 4. Skelton / 5. Mumm / 6. Dennis / 7. Hooper / 8. Palu / 9. Phipps / 10. Foley / 11. Horne / 12. Beale / 13. Folau / 14. Robinson / 15. Guildford
16. Latu / 17. Tilse / 18. Ryan / 19. Lousi / 20. Dempsey / 21. Lucas / 22. Hegarty / 23. Carraro
I see the 4 players with the greatest potential of edging their way in as Roach, Hanigan, Holloway and Kellaway. Roach could come in for Tilse, with Latu playing loose-head, Hanigan in if either Skelton or Lousi are injured, Holloway for an injured Palu, and Kellaway to the bench if Carraro has to replace Folau. Injuries to other players would obviously require players lower on the pecking order to step-up, the four I selected seem the stronger contenders to me.
Back to the starting XV and bench, and controversies therein... trial form will dictate the starting tight-head, so it's a guess for now. Dennis and Palu at 6 and 8 might not win everyone over, but the option is Holloway who I don't yet rate - based on inconsistent workrate from the games I've seen for Southos and the Rams.
I've also chosen Beale at 12 and Guilford at 15 despite early talk of Beale at the back. I really like the dual ball-players in attack, though Beale may end up at 15 in defence anyway in a 2- or 3-way rotation including Horne. By including Robinson with the extremely reliable Carraro as back-up I've excluded Kellaway, though his time will come and it will be this year.
It looks like experience over youth, though I feel Gibson will want to get results ASAP and develop youth later rather than sooner. I've heard Hanigan compared with Al Kanaar, the unlucky wild man who could've been anything if not crippled by injuries so early in his career - if that's accurate I'm excited to see him rip it up. I'd also like to see both Latu and Roach in the same match-day squad over time, the former is class while he's not pulling penalties and the latter seems so bloody enthusiastic - reminds me of a young Taf and Freier combo.
Go Tahs!