Is it giro day Tom.

We don't need Andrew Johns. A [icompetent [/iscrum half is the difference between losing against Catalans, Huddersfield and Bradford and winning. Turn those three games around and we are in contention. All were lost because we had no option on tackle five. We panicked, the ball was given over cheaply and we lost.

I disagree. A competent [idefence[/i was the difference between us losing to Catalans and Hudds and winning. A competent [iteam[/i was the difference between us losing to Bradford and Hull and winning because the whole lot of them (bar Wello against Bradford, and Hohaia with his spectacular tackle rate against Hull and Bradford) were guilty of crimes against the sport of rugby league once an individual error or two had been made. Our psychological inability to overcome an error is like a contageon in our team at present and IMO this is the primary problem (a secondary one being the unwillingness of our forwards to drive for the full 80). Once one person makes a mistake, a negative reaction ripples through the team and without Jammer there to act as a wall there is nobody to stop the ripple and overturn the chaos in the players' heads.

There was very little wrong with our defence against Huddersfield. Even Nathan Brown admitted as much. The problem was our repeated poor options on fifth tackle. During the last twenty minutes - when we had ample opportunity to win the game - time and time again we failed to put pressure on with tactical kicking. Indeed, our attempts reached tragi-comic levels (including a length-of-the-field, game-changing try). Against Catalans our defence was admittedly poor, but it all began because instead of trying to close the game out after half time with a solid possession and kicking strategy we repeatedly threw the ball away on early tackles giving them the impetus, which they took. A good scrum half would have taken ownership of the situation. We had none.

But, by all means, keep trying to justify your wet-dream Lomax-REALLY-REALLY-REALLY-IS-a-scrum-half fantasy, despite the fact that he has no kicking game and no long-passing game.

I would probably say 100% effort and 10% Attitude and 10% Communication. Surely its the coaching set up to ensure the latters.

Exactly. Like I said, it's Groundhog Day. The difference being that Saints will doubtless resolve their issues quite quickly, unlike what we had to endure.

Jesus.

Yeah, if he is available, let's give him a go

For once I totally agree with your post, we just need a scrum half that can lead us around the park, give us direction and have a good kicking game.

You clearly didn't watch their final try then. The one we gave them with the generous grubber kick.

Pretty much all tries can be attributed to defensive errors. But if you think there wasn't a significant improvement in our defence vs Huddersfield over our shoddy Catalans' performance you are either blind or mad.

Looks like we Bulls did you Royce-baggers a favour then?

Looks like your wishes have been granted. Not as if you've been hammered. Wonder who you will get mid season. A high risk decision IMO