Shame that Warrington are recalling him as a back up.

I don't think anyone is pretending that. We desperately needed a halfback - and one with the goal kicking prowess of O'Brien was a bonus - and because of that he helped us progress, because it's clear he is an out and out halfback regardless of how good he is or isn't as a player. We looked a better, more balanced team with him in it and I think we will miss him. He met a clear need in the side.

I agree he isn't Andrew Johns but wheeler is a crock. I think with the loss of our only halfback any chance we had of upsetting the apple cart has gone.

We'll miss his goalkicking too as the guys we have are too inconsistent

Perhaps, but when he isn't broken he's a very good hb. There are lots of players who have had horrendous runs of injury's and then come good (admittedly there's a much longer list of players who didn't )

Don't get me wrong I'm hoping he's a Tommy Martyn not a Nigel Wright but gambling on Wheeler to stay fit will probably backfire on us

Gaz may not be up to the level of Andrew Johns, but I hope one day he is, you can see how much he improved and developed in a short time with St Helens while he was given match time. He wont be happy at being recalled to keep the bench warm.

Also you may not have to be the best in the world to bring out the best in the players you have around you and work as a team, looking at the responses from saints players to his twitter announcement, Im certain Gaz will be missed off the pitch as much as on the pitch.

I'm sure he will be missed and I'm certain he won't have wanted to go back when he was playing regularly especially given he will be lucky to even make the bench never mind the starting 13 .

I wouldn't mind him on the books at saints but I can say now with absolute certainty he will never ever be as good as Andrew Johns , in fact Johns is probably still better than him now.

Gareth will play v yourselves and Catalans that's for sure. The injury to Myler will dictate if he plays through the playoffs.

He's a nice lad and a talented player, but the fact wire signed ratchford shows the faith they have in him, if he's a chance at a SL career its away from wire and probably not at a big club

You never see me on here for days after a Wigan loss. That's what he should say!

Quote: Warrington Wolf "Gareth will play v yourselves and Catalans that's for sure. The injury to Myler will dictate if he plays through the playoffs.'" "I don't think he's going to be directly needed to play but he'd be unlikely to play against us in the next match and it's unlikely that we'd head into a finals campaign without him as our back-up" m.skysports.com/article/rugbyleague//8873538

Quote: Warrington Wolf "Gareth will play v yourselves and Catalans that's for sure. The injury to Myler will dictate if he plays through the playoffs.'" "I don't think he's going to be directly needed to play but he'd be unlikely to play against us in the next match and it's unlikely that we'd head into a finals campaign without him as our back-up" m.skysports.com/article/rugbyleague//8873538

Saying GOB is not Andrew John is missing the point. No one in SL is Andrew johns.
Walsh is not Andrew johns.
We are diminished without GOB. Wheeler is a different half entirely. When we are on top he is great. But he is not someone who I see taking the team around the park. More a player who will inject himself at times of his choosing. So we are not replacing Gob with wheeler. It will be Wilkin back to 7. Then Wheeler if fit at six. More likely lomax and wellens to fb.

I think they'll stick with Hohaia in the halves now to be honest. Brown won't want to move Lomax from full back and Wilkin will still be the main pivot in the halves. They may put Wellens in there as a temporary measure but I think Hohaia will get the nod now.

I doubt we'll see Wheeler. He hasn't had enough game time this year and we're approaching the business end. We need players who we can rely on to do a steady job.

I can see us risking Wheeler.

Lance has not built a partnership with anyone, so it's not like we would be breaking up a critical partnership.

Wheeler's fitness is a concern, but whilst he may not be an organiser, he does a bit more than run sideways.

Spot on. What GOB brought, as a natural halfback, was the ability to guide the team round the park and control the ball/runners. That's the area where we've struggled all season prior to his arrival, with only Wilkin showing any hint of this skill, and only then in patches.

What Wheeler aint is an organising, ball-playing half. He could be a running stand off outside a traditional scrum half (like Walsh), but he simply cannot lead a team from half.

Perhaps Wilkin will have learned from playing alongside GOB. Whatever, I think the best combination would be Wilkin/Hohaia. The issue lies on who has responsibility for which tasks - and Brown needs to earn his corn by devising a gameplan based on these two's respective strengths.