LEICESTER TIGERS 2023/24 - KANGAROO MCKELLER: Do you come from a land down under? (Squad thread pt 2)

[RagingBull]

I mean I feel that FTT and Carnduff are already basically the squad depth position they will be for next season.
Woodward will be 3rd choice 12 and Allen t fourth choice 9.

The only one with what I call big pressure is Beets currently.

[Tiglon]

I mean I feel that FTT and Carnduff are already basically the squad depth position they will be for next season.
Woodward will be 3rd choice 12 and Allen t fourth choice 9.

The only one with what I call big pressure is Beets currently.

I'm wondering if first choice will be either:

Henderson into second row, Chessum at 6, Liebenberg at 8.

Or

Carnduff at 6, Liebenberg at 8.

I'd be surprised if we put expectations on Beets to be more than 2nd choice next season, but I've never seen him play, so I could be very wrong!

[Postiger2]

My concern is that, as it stands, next season's squad looks weaker than this season's- and we've had a really poor year....

[longlivethecrumbie]

My concern is that, as it stands, next season's squad looks weaker than this season's- and we've had a really poor year....

To be fair, you could have said that about Exeter's (as an example) from last to this and they have had a barnstorming year because they have had continuity of coaching, play the same way throughout their setup etc etc.

[Postiger2]

My concern is that, as it stands, next season's squad looks weaker than this season's- and we've had a really poor year....

To be fair, you could have said that about Exeter's (as an example) from last to this and they have had a barnstorming year because they have had continuity of coaching, play the same way throughout their setup etc etc.

I hope you're right!

[sam16111986]

My concern is that, as it stands, next season's squad looks weaker than this season's- and we've had a really poor year....

To be fair, you could have said that about Exeter's (as an example) from last to this and they have had a barnstorming year because they have had continuity of coaching, play the same way throughout their setup etc etc.

I hope you're right!

Next season we won't lose 11 internationals for the first chunk of the season and all of pre season plus hopefully won't have three internationals starting the season with long term injuries and another international picking up a long term injury not that long into the season.

Had we had the likes of Dolly, Watson, Henderson and JvP all season then we'd have no doubt been in a better place. We also had a really good run after the internationals came back up to the start of the 6N.

Losing Weise will be a blow but hopefully the addition of an actual attack coach will get things moving in the right direction.

[Rugbygramps]

Be interesting to see what happens with the captaincy next season. Montoya is great but away for chunks and because of his position can pick up injuries. Not convinced by Liebenberg as a captain seems too quiet imo.

Won’t happen but I would love for Mckellar to give it to Carnduff in a similar vein to Jenkins getting it at Exeter, with him playing 6 and Liebenberg moving to 8.
Maybe even making him co captain with JVP, which seems in vogue at present

[AViewFromLe2]

To be fair, you could have said that about Exeter's (as an example) from last to this and they have had a barnstorming year because they have had continuity of coaching, play the same way throughout their setup etc etc.

I hope you're right!

Next season we won't lose 11 internationals for the first chunk of the season and all of pre season plus hopefully won't have three internationals starting the season with long term injuries and another international picking up a long term injury not that long into the season.

Had we had the likes of Dolly, Watson, Henderson and JvP all season then we'd have no doubt been in a better place. We also had a really good run after the internationals came back up to the start of the 6N.

Losing Weise will be a blow but hopefully the addition of an actual attack coach will get things moving in the right direction.

That is also the basis of my optimism too. Realistically how many are we losing to the summer tours? Heyes and/or Cole, Martin, JvP and Freddie with England. Tommy with Wales and possibly Hurd with Scotland? Plus Montoya and Pollard. So we should in theory hopefully have a pretty full pre-season with a big percentage of the squad.

Looking at the dates, we have about 10-11 weeks for pre-season so with a couple of weeks off that is about 8-9 weeks of work and prep, which should be plenty enough to get everything nailed down. Especially with an attack coach fully present and a new S & C coach from day 1.

The new player agreement apparently gets rid of the 10 week rest period for the England players so they should be back in for R1 of the Prem season, with 3-4 weeks of pre-season time behind them.

It is not perfect by any means, but there are reasons to be optimistic.

Montoya and Pollard will be back for R3 of the Prem too, so can be pretty quickly integrated back in.

[AViewFromLe2]

In terms of leavers I split them up into category
Starting XV
Wiese
Scott

Match day 23
Porter
Van Wyk
Dolly

Squad
Richardson
Wilkinson
Cokanasiga

Academy
Meredith
Koroyardi
Edwards

In terms of leavers and replacements I so far see it as
Dolly - FTT/Vanes (Feel these two have the similar ceiling in Dolly, shame he's lost 2 seasons but economical move by club)
Van Wyk - Smith (Big upgrade, Smith has been one of the best LH in the URC)
Richardson - Hoyt/AVDF (Never felt like he lived up to the potential promise from Jersey, Hoyt looked good in the U20's and AVDF has been a standout in the championship)
Carmichael - Byrd (I'm hoping Byrd is called up he sounds like a real standout in our U18 forwards)
Williams - Carnduff (Very excited about Carnduff as a prospect)
Carter - Chessum (Hopefully Chessum will develop like his brother)
Wiese - Beets (Big drop off)
Edwards - ? (Suspect maybe Dickens lad will get a call up, could also see a player coming from outside hop Allen will start to step up from the Dev squad)
Atkinson - Brown (Weak at 10, but Brown brings leadership, Atkinson could've been the future but I feel Brown is more needed at the club)
Wilkinson - ?
Meredith - Threfell (I have heard a lot of good things about Threfell, especially last seasons form)
Scott - Perese (On par, maybe Perese will add a little more what we need wider?)
Porter - ?
Cokanasiga - Woodward/Myall (Showed promise when given game time, not convinced he was ever the answer at 13 looks like an out and out 12, Woodward and Myall are the future long term)

I would say that 3 obvious holes are shown still
Wiese
Wilkinson
Porter

Rumours are we have def signed another 12.
But I don't think the squad looks as bad as people suggest, given it's not even June yet in terms of signings.

It’s not bad IF the kids step up like they did for SB and 3-4 of them get to a top level in key positions.

Conversely if FTT, Hoyt / FVDF, L Chessum, Beets, Carnduff, Woodward, Allen etc don’t cut it and pretty quickly TBH then we are going to be facing a long old season.

I’m not saying it won’t work and we’ll have the strongest and youngest squad from which we can build a legacy and long term plan but equally, and slightly paraphrasing, you don’t often win anything with kids.

Of those you mention, none of them are first choice though. They are all back up's and only really Beets or Carnduff as second choice.

FTT is 3rd choice hooker, whilst Dolly is the better player he has not played in two years.
Hoyt is 4th choice TH, and on a par if not better than Richardson, who he's replacing
VDF - 4th choice LH who is going well at Notts
Chessum - 5th choice lock replacing Carter. Has had injuries which has held him back but impressed at under 20's.
Beets - second choice 8. Impressed at under 20's
Carnduff - 2nd choice 6 now? Possibly 3rd behind Rogerson. Already shown he can cope at this level.
Woodward - possibly 3rd choice 12? Gone well at Notts and on a par with Phil C, who he's replacing, if not better
Allen - 4th choice SH

We're not really that reliant on them to step up, but even so, they look pretty well placed to do the jobs we are asking them to do as well as look capable of stepping up further.

[Ian Cant]

I think Vanes and especially FTT will really push both Montoya and Clare for the hookers spot as both are more mobile, have decent hands, can tackle hard but fair and can hook the ball!
Henderson has been a huge loss as he is a sort of Tom Croft and was playing very well in the Premiership Cup.
Beets, from what few bits of game time I’ve seen looks very promising.
Fly half is my worry as we only have the experience of Shilcock for when Pollard is away!
Our main problem again will be fitness and staying relatively injury free: I might be wrong but Quins, Saints, Exeter, Sale and Sarries have had very few injuries to deal with, especially in the run in! No wonder we have struggled when we’ve hardly ever seen a reasonably settled side though with JVP back now is the time for the backs to show more promise.
Must go. Time to set off for the AJBell: COME ON TIGERS

[sk 88]

Sarries have had quite a lot of injuries, particularly in their front row.

Quins have had a very injury free season, Evans has only missed one game before this weekend, Dombrandt the same, Esterhuizen played every game post RWC until this weekend. Managed to start Baxter/Marler & Collier/Lewis in every single match so not had to use their 3rd choice in Kerrod (plays both sides) much and barely used their deeper drops even though they're quite good like Chawatama.

Lock they have had some injury troubles but they've also recruited well in that area so have used Herbst, Launchbury, Lewies, Hammond, Lamb there for 5 really pretty good options.

[kpj tiger]

I see RIL has just posted about him but I had been thinking myself that Lotu Inisi should be a player we are seriously looking at. Looks to have Jasper like power and like Jasper was should be pretty cheap as he's currently at Moana Pacifica

[johnthegriff]

Regarding captaincy I do recall an A League of Premier Cup.match over at Loughborough when I was very impressed with the captaincy of a young Tommy Reffell, not just decision making but the way he moved around encouraging his players some of whom were senior to him.In experience.

[kpj tiger]

Regarding captaincy I do recall an A League of Premier Cup.match over at Loughborough when I was very impressed with the captaincy of a young Tommy Reffell, not just decision making but the way he moved around encouraging his players some of whom were senior to him.In experience.

Tommy was Wales U20's Captain too wasn't he?

[Rugbygramps]

Regarding captaincy I do recall an A League of Premier Cup.match over at Loughborough when I was very impressed with the captaincy of a young Tommy Reffell, not just decision making but the way he moved around encouraging his players some of whom were senior to him.In experience.

Tommy was Wales U20's Captain too wasn't he?

He was, Carnduff, JVP, Ilione all captained England u20s too