I had a look at a few season stats for the potential #8 and #6 candidates-
Mowen - 560 minutes played. 48 runs, 8 tackles bust, 2 offloads, 2 linebreaks. 50 tackles, 10 missed (83%). 6 errors, 28 lineout takes.
Higginbotham - 539 minutes played. 39 runs, 6 tackles bust, 4 offloads, 3 linebreaks. 65 tackles, 10 missed (86%). 1 error, 26 lineout takes.
MMM - 427 minutes played. 62 runs, 7 tackles bust, 3 offloads, 1 linebreak. 33 tackles, 8 missed (80%). 29 lineout takes, 6 errors.
Auleau - 297 minutes played. 41 runs, 7 tackles bust, 3 offloads. 34 tackles, 5 missed (87%). 0 errors, 7 lineout takes.
Palu - 140 minutes played. 24 runs, 1 tackle bust, 4 offloads, 1 linebreak. 22 tackles, 5 missed (81%). 2 errors, 2 lineout takes.
In my eyes Palu is still our best #8, for the fact that everyone seems to overlook- his work rate. In gold it is consistently high (on the EOYT he lead the forwards in runs for every game he played, and was second in tackles made to Hooper in every game).
When it comes to #6, in my eyes it is a three-way race between Mowen, MMM and Higgers. Each offers different things. MMM can also play in the row.
Ultimately it comes down to balance, and I'm not sure how you would play it. We certainly have the quality there though, which is nice.
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