Agree…TPJ for all the sh!t he’s copped on here was our alpha-dog and actually bent the line, Pele was the only other player capable of bending the line but he rarely ever made it onto the pitch, no current middle in our squad bends the line or strikes any ounce of fear in the opposition… unless Ciro has an incredible game plan focused on speeding up the ruck and play “fast-ball” through speedy backs, I’m not sure where the meters are going to come from (maybe he adopts the Penrith model where fullback and wingers combine for 30-40m in the first 3 hit-ups of a set?)
Hughes is probably the guy that may give us some grunt up front with his sheer size and decent leg speed, Booth is a massive unit but I heard someone on here mention he’s a cat in a big body so that renders him ineffective - I feel like Gus has done some calculations and figures a rival team will need to buckle on Cap pressure before a ball is kicked in 2024 (likely comes from Cowboys and Tigers or a disgruntled player somewhere)… 1 quality middle changes everything, we become very competitive… 2 quality middles and we are then talking top 8