Och min gerr a grip, It's nae "am goin tae the shop" it's am awa doon the shop

I wonder if Patton is like an English version of Michael Sullivan. Back story of being a halfback in junior grades then became a squad player in first grade, ended up having some success as an interchange hooker....then sought a move to get the chance to prove himself as first choice at halfback....?

Sadly, Patton's definicies are illustrative of the scarcity of good English (particularly young) half-backs, a situation which is getting worse year on year.

At the moment only Richardson looks like he fulfills the job description of a good all-round half-back. Leeds are playing a centre at stand-off, Hull rely on Kelly for creativity and Williams and Powell at Wigan are going backwards.

In comparison Patton is probably no worse that most of his peers, though his defence is weak, so perhaps we are guilty of too high expectations in general. If that's the case, and having been brought up on Britsh half backs like Crompton, Holden, Gregory, Harris & Woods then a litle bit more of me falls out of love with the game.

Well exactly. If Richardson is the cream of the half back crop you can see why we need to take a punt on Eastmond.

And Briers. If we had Briers in the current team I'd be confident that a) we would have easily the best halfback in the game, b) we would be pushing for Old Trafford.

Haven't seen him in the bookies as yet!