First post so go easy on me.

I think thats a very fair assumption. We have lacked a good halfback since Sean long got crocked at saints two years before he left and it's no great shock that weve not won anything.

I also agree with saint Petes comments, it's all well and good saying go with lomax and Gaskell but to je honest they ain't matured enough and ready to lead a side looking to win cups. If we do go with the youth in the halves then we need to give them 3 years to mature and develop into super league class halves.

How many on here are patient enough to wait another three years in the shadow of Wigan?

I don't think anyone doubts lomax and Gaskell have good potential but it's glaringly obvious we are in dire need of a good experienced halfback and I don't think lance hohaia is the man.

I'm sure time will tell.

Id love to see Lomax and Wheeler In the halves against Quins.
Untill he was taken out by the thug against the goons Wheeler was running the show.
Deserves another opportunity for me. It wont happen because he wont drop Pryce but he should In my opinion.

I can not see wheeler being risked at stand off unless we have injuries. He's more than not going to get injured and leave us having to switch halfbacks around which is very disrupting.

Better to do It against Quins then.
I know his injury record but for me he's the most talented half at the club.

I would put him on the bench next week, won,t be match fit anyway so rotate him with Pryce.
Reminds me of Nigel Wright full of potential but always injured, just hope his bad luck will ease off now, agree about him being the most talented, just needs a good run of consecutive games.

He played at 6 in the u20s game before the match on Friday. He was very good. And he kicked all the goals too. I really enjoyed watching him.

Good to hear,what was the result?

We slaughtered Salford 60 odd points to 12 I think it was. But Wheeler looked good out there.

For me I think tactically Simmons is a good coach but not sure if he has a great strategic overview. His back on the bench policy is pants. We have many back up options and multiskilled players who can cover positions. Wilkin is a ball playing loose and the third prop at loose is not required. With TP. LMS . Perry. Clough rotating the front row and Sia. Laffranchi. Flannery and Flanaghan rotating the back row. This would give us a huge pack for the likes of wilkin to play behind and pick holes that are created. Gaskell and Lance for me next year with Lomax at FB. Makinson and Foster Meli and Shhenton. Its a cracking side when lined up properly.

How has Simmons been able to even consider a 'strategic overview' when he's had to change everything around every week to facilitate injuries? Hopefully next season will be totally different and we can get to see more of what he can do simply because he will have the staff to do it with.

I think Simmons is very, very good with the young players.

I did not say he was poor but he has two policies that are just not helping. He can be great with the kids and great at tightening up defence for certain matches. But if he insists on tying up two patrts of our game I am not going to defend it come what may.

If you listen or read Some of Royce Simmonds, pre match/ post match reviews he is very much operating with constraints due to the season long injury situation. He mentions he has to dumb down to basic plays, when a few young players are brought into the team especially in the back line.
I,ve mentioned it before I think you should judge him when he has a near full choice settled team for 4 or 5 matches on the bounce. I think Simmonds has managed to keep the wheels on the wagon to achieve 3rd,n my opinion if Potter was in charge this season I reckon we would be outside the top 4.

Really I'm not trying to talk Simmons down, I think he has done well but can't agree with everything.


I seam to recall Simmons saying he wanted a defensive average of 16 this year. Well he's got 19, best he can hope for is 18 over the whole seaon if we nil quins next week.

This would be a defensive improvement on last year.

As it stands only Wigan and Warrington could match this target of 16. Warrington managing to average a very good 14 for the season.

In the first half, lomax went in under the sticks and I thought he'd scored, but no try was given and the result was a drop out. I was too far away to make out what happened - can anyone enlighten me?

One very encouraging thing about Friday's game was that in the 2nd half, Lomax came up with 3 excellent long kicks, hopefully they weren't flukes and he's been working on that side of his game..

He had the ball stripped over the line. Looked like he was going to score, but the Salford player stole the ball in a one on one as they were falling to the floor. Lomax completed the tackle by falling on him so it was a drop out.