Lack of options is a problem for us this season. If we drop Kyle then at present we could replace him with Gary Wheeler or Jonny Lomax. Except Wheeler was injured until this weekend and Lomax went off injured on Friday. There is no-one else to replace Eastmond (and Kyle will know that).

Jamie Ellis, you utter berk.

I've been very happy with what I've seen from Gaskell and think he would be a good foil for Pryce when he's back.

No, I wasn't calling SaintsFan a berk for missing him, I was calling Jamie Ellis a berk for getting himself binned off (allegedly) by Saints.

There is no point dropping Eastmond for anyone else currently available in the squad. Neither Lomax nor Wheeler would do any better than him at the moment, and would pile even more pressure on Gaskells shoulders as neither have a kicking game.

When Pryce is fit then we have an option, until then forget about it.

I'm also thinking that, although I do agree that he's been half hearted when playing, not all of this is down to Eastmond. Neither half back is really getting involved in play until the last tackle, instead the forwards and the wingers are driving it forward. There is also a major lack of dummy runners causing confusion in the opposition defence. Eastmond has made runs, but only late on in games when gaps have started appearing (him running with the ball led to one of our tries on Friday).

Whilst our attack is stunted from having two inexperiences half backs, there is a lack of defensive intensity and that falls squarely at the feet of the coach. There are no excuses for that.

Wheeler does have a kicking game; I've seen it. He needs to practice it because when I have seen his kicks they have been a little too strong, but he does have a short kicking game. Wheeler also has an element of craft that Eastmond does not. Since this season is going to be a long one thanks to the ongoing injury of our experienced halfback, I would rather see Wheeler get an opportunity to show us his wares at halfback than continue with a half-hearted Eastmond who does nothing but attract the wrong kind of attention from fans and is obviously not going to start doing things like organising, creating and taking on the line. He can be our backline cover on the bench.


It may be the coach. However, it may be that the players have the wrong attitude. They just look like they did last season in defence. Well, they have to change their attitude in defence. They need to put 100% effort in for the full 80 and James Graham needs to stop thinking he is a halfback. They need to be in the faces of the opposition from the first second to the last second. Nothing less will do.

I noticed this on the Andy Wilson blog this morningRoyce Simmons wondered aloud afterwards why the team seemed to be performing so much better in away games, hinting at a lack of professionalism in some of his players' preparation for home fixtures. "When we're away together talking footy we've come out and played pretty good," he said. "When they're at home all week, I don't think the boys are thinking enough about footy."'"

But he'll need more than just knocking a few grubber kicks in occasionally, he needs a long kicking game and that's not somethign I've ever remember seeing.




I'm not sure on that, he does seem to have more of a sniff of the tryline, but the craft of putting people in?



He has taken on the line though, him taking on the line led to Meli's try on Friday. What he isn't doing is doing it when there is little or nothing on and trying to make a half break.

At this moment in time Wheeler and Gaskell would be as much of a failure as a half back combination as the current one is turning out to be, if not worse because at least Eastmond has experience of playing at 7 more than a handful of times.



We look worse than we did last season in defence, we were more intense last year. I think you're blowing the Graham thinks he's a half back argument out of proportion there, that's a cheap easy shot from poor journalists and opposition fans. He's the major metre maker in the team, if not the league at the moment (I've not checked the stats past the Wire game), if he was passing too much he wouldn't be doing that.

Did you watch him in the u20s? I didn't, so I don't know whether he had a long kicking game there. Since I've only watched him at first grade level, I've only seen him play at centre, except in Cardiff. And he kicked a couple of grubbers during that match, but as I said, a little too hard.


I think so, yes. He also has guile. I liked the way he got us a penalty in Cardiff. He has a good rugby brain overall.


That was the only time he took on the line. That is very, very poor from a fullback. I agree with your second statement. However, that is precisely what we need him to do a lot of, especially with a rookie first grader in partnership.


I don't think it would be worse. It may well be better as Wheeler would work as hard as Gaskell, which would be harder than Eastmond is working at present. They will be an incredibly inexperienced partnership but I don't see how that is different from one incredibly inexperienced and one incredibly unengaged in partnership at present.


Elsewhere I've put the averages we shipped in last season and this, for the first five weeks. In 2010 it was 18.8, in 2011 it is 21.2. However, we began 2010 by shipping 32 points whereas in 2011 our highest shipment is 27. We only allowed Salford to score 6 last season; we were lazy in the last quarter this time out which has bumped up our average. So actually, there isn't a whole lot of difference in our defence to this time last season.


No it isn't. I kept noticing Jammer on Friday night. He was doing his hospital pass thing again and it is both annoying and unnecessary. He needs to focus on driving us forward and then, if the right opportunity arises, pass. When he is very selective and controlled with his passing he is fantastic to have on the park.

Did you read the RL press today? In it, Terry Matterson stated that last season Cas had had a problem with drinking at the club. That has now been sorted out. Whose responsibility is it to sort out those kinds of cultures? Coach, paymaster or both?

Besides,rlI think you'll find he's taken responsibility.rl


I would think that also except that he has already publically taken responsibility for Friday night's showing. What he appears to be reflecting on is what is different between being away and being at home, as the players are more professional away from home. Any good teacher/coach will reflect upon these things in order to make changes in the future, to their own approach as well as to those they are responsible for.

Fans have been claiming our attack has been poor since Anderson. We're now under Simmons and fans are saying the same thing. That's three coaches. During that time our back line has hardly changed (as far as experienced pros are concerned). Which proves (not that it should need to be proved to anyone with more than a single brain cell) that any perceived attacking weakness in the backs (as far as TACTICS were concerned) could not be laid at Potter's feet.

In other words - the boo boys were wrong. And they should feel ashamed of themselves.

I didn't watch him that much, however the 7 was usually Eastmond or Smith during his time coming through the ranks rather than him, he was stand off, that suggests to me that he isn't a 7. He also played 7 against Wakey a few years ago and at half back against Hudds in his first appearance, I can't remember him making kicks in either game.



He has, but that doesn't mean that he'll be any good at 7. He's also not reliable enough injury wise to build enough experience at this moment in time.



Halfback?