The thing is, Herbert seems to be a 2nd fiddle half back. Not meaning that to knock the lad, but he seems to need a main play-maker to take the creative load off him and to provide him space and time to play his own game. And I think this is the problem with Briggs as well.

How can he play good footie behind a pack that's losing the collision? We are always on the back foot

On the Mason thread you claimed the pack wasn't an issue?

yes marc maybe a 2nd fiudlde half but cmon ....it would take some doing to take Terry Campese's spot in a team.
respect to the lad for coming acros the world and trying to better his game etc and im sure he will put in some game winning performances in the near future

It is, and it would be the same with Leon Pryce who is similarly a six rather than a seven, and whilst he's very good taking on the line etc, anyone who thinks he's an organiser that can direct a team around the park is being overly optimistic. Similarly whilst Kearney is a good substitute six, he'd be a lot better playing at fullback and chiming into the line as an extra creative player. A good quality creative half back is difficult to come by and I think Leon is another gamble that is unlikely to pay off. Weren't we interested in Sutton at Souths not so long ago, if we want a replacement at six he'd be a much better option, although I'd prefer Chris Sandow, now there is a creative player and a great kicker - seems he's going to the Eels though.

Sutton re-signed with South until 2014 a couple of weeks ago!

We'll not get a ready made NRL player in his prime. We'll either get a player coming to the end of his career or someone who's either not getting a game or a youngster. Shame we didn't pick up Scott Dureau who's just the sort of player we need.

That said we could have Andrew Johns at halfback and he'd struggle behind our pack at the moment.

Exactly Bullseye. It's the pack that's the problem.

While it's been a while since a decent pack needed a psychopath in it you do still need a few genuinely tough scary forwards to cart the ball up aggressively and to dominate the tackle. We're lacking in that department.

I never thought I'd see the day when Koppy was our most aggressive forwards in attack and defence. Versus Wire he was, shame the rest of the forwards couldn't match his, adequate and nothing amazing sort of performance. Without Elima our backrow is way way too lighweight. Lynch seems to be lacking any aggression and Hargreaves, while seemingly ready to take the ball up quite often lacks the ability to bust a tackle and get us on the front foot.

When is Langley due back anyway? The club seem a bit quiet on that.

Two weeks time I read today..

Slightly off-topic, but I think Marc Herbert's hair cut is becoming one of the most annoying things about our present malaise. My wife says you could tell he'd be no good just looking at that floppy fringe and up until yesterday I'd disagreed strongly, wanting to believe in the equality of male grooming. However, after every mistake I'd look at him and think, 'yes, it's that bloody haircut'. Do you think Deacs could pop back and give him a number one all over (in the politest sense of that term)

No half back can have an impact unless there is go forward and the opposition is on the back foot. The problem is NOT the attack. The problem is the DEFENCE !!!!
if you take into account the fact he has created 12 try assists and scored 3 tries in 10 games means he is good for almost 2 try's a game. How many points do you expect him to score !!
Oh - that's right he has to score / create more than an aveage of 32 points a game to get us over the line !!

He probably doesn't have enough energy to beat the opposition by himself after he does more than 20 tackles a match.

Lets have a good look at the defence and the go forward then we might be giving the halfback some chance to show what he has got.

Last year the North Queensland Cowboys ran last with the best halfback in the world - in the off season they sacked most of the forwards ( including Mason ) and got some real workers. This year they are top 4 - says it all really

Being without Scruton, Langley and now Elima isn't going to help our defence in the forwards