But are we playing so badly because we haven't a scrum half or are there other more fixable ways we can improve? I agree he's nearer a debut but he's a long way from being the player to transform the team.

You never know with the young 'uns though do you?

If we try out all the options in the halves (Addy, Kearney, Menzies, L'Estrange) then we're going to have to give him a chance. We don't have much cover for the halves, hopefully whoever gets the 7 spot this week will play well and keep their place, but if not Southernwood may be getting himself prepared.

Personally i'd try Menzies 6, Sykes 7. Sykes plays best in the halves when he's got a more experienced, solid player next of him.

you cant wrap them up in cotton wool for god sake. there rugby league players!

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Frankly that's a load of balls.

You can't just chuck kids in to play without putting some thought into it. Sometimes they're not ready. Obviously given Southernwood's size he'd have to be some player not to be a weak link in defence. Given the other weak links we already have in defence we need to be careful.

It's not a black and white decision.

How difficult is that to grasp?

It's a good job that not everyone has that sort of defeatest attitude we'd never have invented anything like the oil well, never set up multi national companies like BP, never tried to drill for oil at amazing depths and most importantly never won the war.

I agree in an ideal world you don't throw in youngsters because you need to give proper thought to their development.

But lets be real here, we are not in an ideal world - far from it. I don't think its being melodramatic to say we are in a crisis at the moment so to me these considerations are largely irrelevent. I really think in this instance we do need to throw the lad in.

Off camera of course you say to him that we have faith in his ability, yes it will be tough and yes he will be exposed but this is a fantastic opportunity. Handled right, even if he struggles at first it doesn't automatically follow that his development will be harmed.

For too long we hold back our young lads waiting for them to be perfectly ready and before we know it they're 23 and are buggering off elsewhere. Other clubs have a more progressive and sensible approach to just letting them have a blo0dy go occasionally!

Does anyone know whether Southernwood has a good kicking game?

We have been woeful in this area during the last few weeks and neither Sykes or Kearney are particularly great kickers of the ball. My thoughts on Southernwood are that we should probably stick him on the bench and give him a chance. I don't reckon it will happen this week though.

Wrong thread..

I'm all for protecting young players coming through and for them to develop properly. But sometimes you just need to let the lads have a crack of the whip. Worst case is that Southernwood has a stinker and it knocks his confidence a bit but he's a young lad and can bounce back and from what I'm told has more than enough confidence in his own abilities.

On the other hand, best case is he plays a blinder and is instrumental in leading the team round the field and resurecting our season which, i think most of us will agree, is at best floundering at the moment. Some may even go so far as to say this season is done for us and they may not be far wrong

I've not seen Southernwood but am surprised if he is 5'9" & 70kg. He would be significantly taller than his dad or uncle & fair less stocky. IIRC his dad would have been playing regularly for Cas by his age. Tomkins must be the skinniest kid in SL for some time & he has done ok, Southernwood would struggle to be 9kg lighter. Get him in. Tackling for a HB is all about technique, not size.