Smith and Green are and always have been fall guys, Wigan will want to get their young guys in there at some point soon i.e. Powell, Hampshire, Williams.

From an England point of view it is actually quite exciting having some quality young halves playing for the same club.

Saints on the other hand are just after anyone who can play in the position, we have neither an experenced veteran or quality young half back at the club. It does highlight the difference between the two clubs at present.

To be honest it's not a fair comparison. We played a pair on young half backs in 2 games, one we won comfortably, one we just about won. If Wigan had all those players out for the next 7 or 8 games I've no doubt we'll be struggling. It's far easier for any young player to come into a winning, confident side playing the same structures as they are used to.

At the same time you have had a new coach, presumably introducing new structures.

One of the points I think the OP was trying to make is an interesting one. Is it better to move experienced players into a half back role or blood youngsters in their natural position when covering long term injuries? For a game or 2 it's probably fine to chuck a pair of kids in but if covering long term absence to expect 2 kids to cover for a large number of games is too much.

For all the doom merchants on here remember what Leeds have done over the past 2 seasons. At times they didn't look like making the play offs. If you have your players back rested and fit at the business end you may well surprise a few.

Being out of Billinge for such a long time has certainly mellowed you.

Gareth Hock likes this.

Well you did, and I don’t think they did so bad, or is there some else you can bring now?