I'm really not sure about the other options. As it stands they are;
Kearney - below average at SO and as it stands our one back with real class at FB.
Addy - A second rower with less experience than Briggs
Ah Van - Never played SL and not a stand off
Royston - Ditto

The start of the season is a month away. Briggs has plenty of time and friendlies to learn the plays.

Well, if you want someone with 'experience' then there's always Paul Sykes

Oh...wait.....

To say ah van isn't a dedicated standoff he certainly did the business on sunday. Plus he played in halves most of last year in Toyota cup so he's definitely a backup option

A point well made Paul.

The fact is that any discussion of SO options very quickly reveals a distinct lack of options. He's the only genuine stand off in the squad and the only thing that will get him settled in is playing.

Ah Van is a back up option but no more than that.

at what point would he stop being a backup option? if he's played in the halves last year then surely he'd fit better into that position than any other?

To be honest, if he's training in the squad as number 6, with the intention that he should be the number 6, then I can't see any point in not playing him at 6. It would be an unnecessary disruption with little, if anything, to gain and as I said before he's not a kid anymore. For sure he may well need a bit of patience (from us fans as much as anyone) but the only place to learn is in the middle.

Agree with that, plus for the first few games he's going to be bit of unknown quantity for the opposition.

Thats fair enough and he's not a kid you're right, and if Potter agrees with you (and most other people it seems

The thing is, Briggs has got a month before the game against Leeds. Which includes a week of warm weather training. There's no reason he won't be up to speed with the rest of the team.

I'm sure MP will know if he's ready when we get to Cardiff.

For those suggesting that Briggs plays a few U20's games before he plays in the first team. The U20's season doesn't start till the 21st of Feb that would mean 2 first teams games have already been missed.

Well yes, cheers for the info, that could well change my view, no point having the lad not playing at all.

and isnt it the situation pretty much across the league that most teams only have 1 dedicated standoff and then have have to resort to other players playing out off their natural positions?. We have reasonable backup for standoff with kearney,ah van, addy and southernwood (who wakey fans told us when we signed him is equally at home in the standoff role). Note I said backup. Of course Briggs ideally would be available and starting. Im not convinced we should rush him in against leeds and wigan but If he goes well in remaining friendlies then my opinion on that could change.

I'd personally be more worried about our squad depth for the scrumhalf position. As it stands we have herbert, southernwood then at a push maybe l'estrange. According to fev fans briggs is an out and out standoff and cant cover scrumhalf

There is generally less and less difference.

agree in principle but in practice you tend to find one half is better at organising and the other is better at support play. Typically the scrum half is the organise and the standoff is the support player although the exact opposite can be the case. Ideally you'd have two halves who excelled in both areas but that doesnt happen very often and there can be an issue having two organisers in the same team anyway.

Whilst I am absolutely delighted that we have a genuine SO recruited now, I can't help but think why wasn't he signed earlier ???

Area that we were in greatest need ?
Can't imagine he is the highest earner we have signed (so not affected by the Awful situ)

We then wouldn't be having these discussions about if he's ready / knows the moves etc