I understand that there will be a need to play players out of position in our current predicament however it seems pointless to continue in this to play a centre and full back as our half back combination when we have a young half back in the first team squad.

If we continue with Kearney and Sykes as our halves then we will struggle to create as we saw in the second half when we had repeat sets on the line but lacked the player who could unlock the defence. It may well be Southerwood may not yet be that player but I feel it is certainly worth giving him a chance rather than trying to win games without a recognised half back on the field.

I also remember having to play a young half back in 1998 when Shaun Edwards left, and he didn't turn out too bad

Couldn't agree more.

It certainly worked last season.

I say give him a shot but we need to make sure we don't ruin him. He may be ok in attack but where do you put him in defence when we have some pretty average defenders out wide? You can bet the opposition would try and target him if he was defending on the fringes, and in the middle you don't a lightly built kid in front of the likes of Lauaki, Puletua, Morley etc. Even so, I'd give him a few runs off the bench to begin with to see how he goes.

Can I pass Macca your number?

I'd wait until we have Platt back in centres, or shift Menzies there. Then I'd play Southernwood there because he would have a more experienced head next to him plus Platt and Menzies are both good defenders.

If he has Menzies on one side ok, but Platt's not a good defender!

Platt is pretty soild in defence.

You could always try and grab Danny Orr from Harlequins before he goes to Cas.
We might even let you have Burrow when he is fit till the end of the season


Other than that you must play Southernwood and at least give him a chance.
He has got to be better than Sykes at SH.

He's getting better at playing centre as the position lends itself to fewer bloopers but he's not "pretty solid". He's just about adequate. If I were the opposition I'd target Southernwood all the more if he defended next to Platt.

There are no easy fixes. It'd be easy to throw the kid in but the coach needs to carefully work out where and when.

11 missed tackles in 9 games isn't too bad, plus as you say, he's still learning the position and its certainly better than if Sykes was in the centres.

Menzies would be best option, but we can't affor to take him out of the pack till one of Langley or Lynch are back.

If Southernwood is on the light side and is in danger of getting hurt because of that then don't play him, otherwise give him a shot.