I’m not basing it on one game. I’m basing it on who we already have signed for 2022. There’s four spine spots. Ideally you have one extra player for each position, maybe two for hooker since it’s so physical, with those players being a mixture of specialists and utilities.
We have 11 spine players and utilities on the books in 2021, which is possibly a little too many, while 1-2 injuries to the outside backs or the pack leaves us looking a bit skinny - big legacy of the Brown years is that we’ve been left with a lot of versatile “do a job” players but a little short on quality specialist depth. I think probably this off-season the club will look to find a bench/depth forward who’s a bit of an upgrade on the likes of King, Sue etc, and a good first grade ready outside back on a short term deal while Adzy continues to work with the prospects we have (apparently we talked to Staggs per Toohey’s News), just to create a situation where a long-term injury to Best, Klemmer or a Saifiti hurts us a little bit less.
Ponga, Hodgson, Clifford, Pearce, Sasagi and Brailey are already signed for 2022. Watson, Hoy, Mann, Crossland, Randall, Green unsigned. The club is apparently already trying to re-sign Hoy, who covers 6 and 1. Sasagi is a half and I think regarded as a bit more of a prospect than Phoenix. I think Green will retire and there’ll be interest in Mann from other clubs and he’ll leave. That leaves at most 2 spots between Watson, Randall and Crossland, assuming the club doesn’t sign someone else. Watson I think the club will want to keep, he’s in our best 17 no matter who we have available. So that leaves likely one spot for Randall & Crossland, noting that the club doesn’t really have a specialist back-up hooker to cover Brailey. I haven’t even mentioned the likes of Luke Huth & Mitch Black yet.
It’s not that I think he’s got no talent and will never make it; it’s that I think the coaching staff are pretty set on Clifford as the future 7, and it’s difficult to see where Phoenix fits as either a long-term prospect or even as a depth player going forward...