GOB is developing.
I'm not brushing him aside, he has a future here.
He just needs two Sunday dinners a day down him for a month or two with a big weight programme on upper body strength and bigger kicking legs to get some height on them bombs and distance when from deep.

Getting back to R&B, the wheels have not fell the season by any means, but my point was to couple them back together to give us a rock solid foundation at hb and create a winning habit again instead of this trial, error and unstable combinations we are seeing this season that are leading to either very tight wins or losses.

From that solid foundation of R&B we can build team confidence into all areas, from that stability we can then ease GOB back in with little disruption.

I was hoping that we would have brought a dobson type hb in the off season. Ratchford can cover all the back positions but excels at fb.our hb's desperately need sorting.

Assuming that Ratchford and Bridge works as well as you think it will, at what point will you bring O'Brien back in? You're convinced we're going to go an a winning run if Smith agrees with you, so presumably it's going to be rather awkward to break that up and bring O'Brien back in?

There is no doubt in my mind that with R&B at hb we will click instantly. 
We create a winning habit and confidence from which we build.
There will always be opportunities to bring in GOB.

The menace having two big strong guys at hb was the stabling factor.
They both give a presence with their size being bigger than all hbs but perhaps Pryce.
They both have great upper body conditioning and have been able to play as forwards at loose.
They both have a good short kicking game.
But most importantly they both have craft.

My one thing is that his kicking game (out of hand) is very poor, but so is Ratchford's Myler's and Bridge's (can't really judge Wheeler's yet).

Isn't Richie Mylers contract only to 2015. If he is in Tony Smiths future plans I would have thought he would have extended it.

But if they click instantly, and we start ripping up the league, then if O'Brien gets a chance (injury/suspension) you're going to be on here demanding that O'Brien is moved out for Ratchford/Bridge to move back in. That won't necessarily be an unreasonable view to hold, but the reality is that if Smith goes with Ratchford/Bridge then it will be hugely detrimental to O'Brien's career. Again, ultimately, that may be the way things work out. No harm in that. But you can't suggest that taking O'Brien out of the team in the manner you do will be anything other than bad news for O'Brien.

no, but it fits his agenda.

If GOB and Bridge work out with Ratchford at fb then better still.
Sorry FMC.
GOB is always in my plan, R&B may be a short term solution for a 18 month old problem.

What is for sure hb combinations with Myler other than that of Briers haven't been our A game.

OK, Yed.
I can't make my mind up whether this is a gripe or not, BUT.....

I think we are all forgetting, O'Brien is now 23.....yes, that's TWENTY THREE. Not still a "wet behind the ears" 19 year-old.
He's understudied (and learned off) Briers. He's been loaned out to other clubs to get first team experience. (IIRC) He's had training sessions involving Andrew Johns. He's being coached by a GF winner, and we STILL say he's learning/developing. HE'S TWENTY THREE, FFS. He should have learned/developed by now.
At 23 we should have the finished article.

Don't get me wrong, he's a good lad. Is he at the level we need him to be (consistently playing great/MoMs)? I'd say no.

The next 6-18 months are going to be interesting at The Wire, half-backwise

Without wanting to be too harsh on the lad, its just that he's a bit ordinary, isn't he??

If I go through my time following Wire, its fair to say we have had some cracking half backs over the years.... Parry Gordon, Ken Kelly, Andy Gregory, Keith Holden, John Woods, Phil Blake, Greg Mackey, Kelly Shelford, and quite a few more, the list is a pretty long and impressive one.... Unfortunately, O'Brien (and all the others trying to do the job at present, with the possible exception of Ratchford) isn't a patch on any of those.

I accept it isn't only a Wire problem - the quality of half backs in general in the British game is pretty lousy - but seeing the side continue in such a one-dimensional, tedious manner will not be good for the club, not just in the hunt for honours, but in the long term job of getting folk through the turnstiles and actually being able to entertain them with some rugby that people will actually want to watch, rather than endure.

There, ladies and gentlemen, is a very good theory, and possibly, the truth. He is a bit ordinary (too many times)

If there are any Wakefield/Widnes/ both Hull team's fans reading this, then I apologise, but that's the level of club, where GO'B is currently at. He's not playing at the kind of level, for a club that should be challenging for honours, come August and October