I think I can sum this up.
Richie Myler looked well off running into the confusion Briers created. Im not saying he's a poor halfback in fact I always thought he Looked Good next to Briers . But until we buy in a REAL Playmaker we are always going to come up short.
I actually feel sorry for Ratchford because come the end of the season he's going to find himself playing off the bench or in the centre , as he is certainly not our best fullback anymore.

The issue with Bridge in the halves is it has been tried a lot and he never convinced there. I don't know where rubber duckie has got this idea that he was brilliant there. There certainly weren't many arguments on here when he got moved in to the centres.

He played over 60 games in the halves for us mostly alongside Briers. Pretty much the whole of the 2006 season and half the 2007 season he was there, as well as a few games in 2005. Obviously everyone remembers the game when he came of age at Odsal and tore them up in the second half but he did not repeat that very often, he had a handful of good games and a lot of the time he was ordinary there.

The same criticisms were made about Bridge as are made about Myler - he didn't look like he could control a game. His kicking game was nothing special, he was a good runner with the ball in his hands and could break the line but that was it. His strengths got better used when he moved to centre and it was at centre he became for a couple of seasons one of the best players in SL, at a time that coincided with us being at our peak as a team.

There was also a brief experiment of Bridge at fullback too, I think it was Cullen's last season. It was the plan to play him there, he was there in pre-season and looked good there, then he played one game and got injured for the season if I remember.

I have a lot of time for Bridge for the same reason I have a lot of time for Briers - there were loads of people writing him off saying he wasted his talent, was a problem off the field or whatever, and then he worked hard to become a top player over time and proved his doubters wrong. But I think you have to use him in the outside backs, I don't think he's a player that can run a game like Briers could. I think he might be past his peak though now.

What is interesting here is to compare and contrast Myler & Ratchford with the halves at the two clubs who have been by far and away the best teams in the comp this year: Leeds & Saints.

Saints first choice halves, though they do tend to rotate, are Walsh & Hohaia.
Leeds' are McGuire & Sinfield.

What these have in common is a superb kicking game (Walsh & Sinfield particularly), and both are playing behind a very dominant set of forwards. Additionally they gain additional impetus from Lomax at FB for Saints, and Burrow as a utility at Leeds. Hohaia was panned by Saints fans all last year but was still considered better than Lomax, and people have been questioning Sinfield's credentials as a stand-off for years (me included) so it's hardly as if they the individuals concerned are light years ahead of everyone else.

What I do know is that on paper Ratchford & Myler are more than a match for any of those. What I also know is that on-grass they are currently a country mile off their counterparts.

Quote: morrisseyisawire "What is interesting here is to compare and contrast Myler & Ratchford with the halves at the two clubs who have been by far and away the best teams in the comp this year Tony Smith believes they are getting better. I'm glad it wasn't just me who thought Myler played well last week. www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... he_season/

Quote: morrisseyisawire "What is interesting here is to compare and contrast Myler & Ratchford with the halves at the two clubs who have been by far and away the best teams in the comp this year Tony Smith believes they are getting better. I'm glad it wasn't just me who thought Myler played well last week. www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... he_season/

Wilkin? I've never seen a SL player touch him with regards to a player being able to put a high bomb up only for it to hit the kicking player on his head on the way down. Pure quality!!!!