To be fair he did start at prop on saturday.

we definatley need a loose forward,ben harrison is definatley a prop forward imo.i think che will certainly look into recruiting one,who would people like as lf?i'll go with kevin sinfield,a ideal lf,and can goal kick imo.

Unfortunately it seems to me that the days of the ball playing loose forward are gone. A lot of the time they adopt the roll of a 3rd prop. I like Grix there as he does have craft and a kicking game. The more players you have who can ask the opposition defence more questions the better side you are. Ben H is a reallly good prop/2nd row for me not a LF but we need him somewhere in the 17.

No. Not needed. Next.

The 2 most successful SL teams in recent times have both gone with ball playing loose forwards, saints with Sculthorpe and Flannery and Leeds with Sinfield. I`d hardly say the days of the ball playing loose forward are gone.

Both Saints and Leeds down the years have had pace, speed and ball playing hands in the back row which is where i think we fall short a bit. Between them they have had the likes of Wilkin, Gilmore, Ellis and Ali Lauitiiti at his peak of whome all had pace, ball playing hands and could create and score tries. We are very workmanlike in our backrow, it will get us by in some games but you just feel that we could be a lot stronger in that area.

Sums up a prop forwards job in my view.

Whats a LF's job then?

I don't think Rob_Wire is far off the mark in my view.



Put simply a LF should be seen as an extra pack member in defence and an extra back in attack.

Would you put Sinfield and Flannery in the same bracket as Hanley or Mike Greg. I wouldn't but times change I suppose.

if only there was such a thread to discuss ben harrison and the LF role.....

I think first & foremost he's a developing player, developing rapidly and who knows what level he'll take his game too. If you looked at him over say the last two years, he's gone from bit-part to integral, so he's doing something right. He's probably long term a prop isn't he, but he's performing a role at loose forward for us, and he's doing it pretty well. I've actually been mildly disappointed with him this year but it's a long season with a fair time ro run yet so his best times may yet be to come.

I reckon sometimes we focus a bit too much on what folk can't do rather than talk about what they can. In Ben's case, i'm not always so sure it's about what he can't do, but more what about he chooses not to, or perhaps is told not to do. He probably isn't the best passer of a ball in our side, so he's instructed to leave the bulk of it to folk who are. That said, he'll be improving his core skills all the time, so he'll get better. A year back, he didn't have an offload, at all. Now, he's got a good offload, an offload after collision, and it is an offload, not a fling & hope a la Rauhihi, it's a second phase offload - he'll just get better, and more experienced at when to use it.

I think his main asset is stopping opposition go forward, we have stats galore for metres gained with ball in hand, no stats for metres stopped - if there was, there wouldn't be many if any LF's in superleague ahead of him. If you're looking for somebody to get off the line, meet the opposition and put a shot on somebody he's up there with the best of them. In this respect, he has great body language in terms of leadership, him & Westwood are up & at you, they'll stop your go forward, they make you earn your yards and the same for Louis Anderson too, talk folk about our front row alot, but our back row is pretty uncompromising too.

He's not flash is he ? I think that's good. Too many young ones look the part but deliver little. He's a worker, a real dour workhorse who's got a bit of skill also. In say, four years - I'd be happy with him & Coops as our starting props I'll tell you that much.

theres noo need to buy a lose forward

Stephen Wild is OOC at Huddersfield at the end of this season.

Simon Grix. Next.

Smith said: "Ben was unbelievable and I was enthralled watching him. I would love to have some of his energy levels.

"If you cut him open, you would find a heart as big as Ayers Rock."