I really hope they move Woods into Cup soon. I understand that they want to bring him through slowly for his own development. But the kid is simply too good not to be playing open age footy.
O'Neill's HIA seems bad enough to miss at least 1 week.
Hutch, Taaffe and Turpin played reserve grade.
We had a centre as 18th man, Tia probably started in the centres.
The same set up could accommodate Woods, Smith starting in the centres and moving to second row or lock. Woods playing halfback but starting on the bench.
Woods partnering Hutch, Taaffe and Turpin in the spine with Tia at centre is a pretty soft entry into reserve grade. Can be for limited minutes, perhaps the last 20 first game.
I hope Underhill isn't injured and we were simply putting him on ice because he might be needed for NRL. Given the conditions I expect, and multiple games with short turnarounds, I think that Underhill could be very useful in the Roosters game.
If Underhill plays well and we are winning we can cut down the minutes for some of the other middles. Also give Hopoi more minutes.
The safest option against the Roosters is Turpin, not a star but neither was Salmon. I would like to see Underhill.