The Centres and halfbacks banging on the door......Centre Hurst...Halfback O'Brien. Both great prospects.

Good to hear.

I would like to see Bridge at left centre, but there is definately a place on the other side.

As for O'Brien, could maybe start him on the bench and then bring him on at 7 with Monaghan acting as the replacement hooker.

I wouldn't use the term 'injury free' we are nine games in and haven't had a long termer (there goes me putting a hex on things), but we are missing Riley, Anderson and Briers. Players who would be starting, if injuries were not prohibiting that. My personal take is that injuries eally are the luck of the draw, no amount of preparation will stop studs getting caught in the turf and twisting a knee. My take on conditioning is endurance. Do tyou have enough to track back and make that tackle in the 79th minute, although I do accept it is a laymans view on it.

I'm not quite sure I agree about singing from the same hymn sheet. By all means an assisitant should buy into the philosphy of a head coach, but he should also be in a positon to offer a differing opinion if it will improve things. See Phil Neal as reference in the England setup.

PS

I would question our ability to attract people from outside the club, bearing in mind our perilous financial state in the early 2000s.

Totally agree firewire, i do no that smith has attended a session or two of the reserves so i guess he is already on the case. My origanal post was one of annoyance at some fans wanting other journeyman pros at the club. Signing a top nrl player Johnathan Thurston or Paul Gallen then yes please, SBW then no thanks ..

I'm not sure whether endurance is the correct term although i think i understand where you're coming from. I would see the conditioning as more the body's ability to recover quickly. Where i'm coming from is that i wouldn't see a benefit of a group of players who can run around a pitch 10 times without stopping (endurance) whereas i would see a benefit in a team being able to move in then back 10 metres say 10 times (recovery).

That was what i was trying to say, in my cobbled fashion. It is having the ability to make a tackle, get back and make another without missing, ie fatigue not playing a part in making an error of judgment too.

I think it's mental conditioning as well as physical. For example, against Hull KR, all 17 players seemed to be switched on to making the extra effort throughout the game. Yet since then, several shortcuts have begun sneaking back in the game. Players walking when a jog would have got them in a better position, quicker for example.

And two pieces of shocking defending from the weekend which I feel must be as much down to mental "switching off" as physical fatigue. Firstly Hicks embarassingly poor attempt at defending Myler's grubber kick on Friday when he pushed a Salford player out of the way instead of going for the ball and then Johnson on Monday, making a feeble attempt at tackling Wainwright.

Good Idea Firewire. Bridge would be great at Centre and with Hurst in the other Centre roll, it would work well....Monagahan would b a great hooker replacement and O'Brien on the bench coming on at 7 would be a good option, giving the young halfback, some experience at first grade