Carney is a player not suited for the intense spotlight he is put under in Aus. Over here he would blend into the background and the stresses that come with being in the NRL shouldn't follow him.

Besides Carney has usually been very popular with his team mates.

Todd Carney likes to party and does things that don't reflect well on a clubs image. He is a well liked member of the squad and trains well.

Travis Burns causes friction between players, goes missing and doesn't turn up to training for days at a time. So yes... I'd rather have Todd.

Ok, spill.



Not once have I heard any of the allegations you've just alleged, share the wealth with what you're basing this onplease

Having just seen his performance from yesterdays game against the Panthers, this is a great shout. But would he come back?

You don't need to have known of Liam Finn from watching Championship RL, I remember him plying his trade for Fax and then Wakey 12 years ago in Super League.

Not sure we are a club (given existing personnel) that can afford to wait any longer.

A couple of years in a lower division might be exactly what he needs.

Without wishing to sound rude or forward, how on earth would you know?

Shouldn't Jarrod Sammut be due for a move soon ?

The problem these days with sport (the problem with modern life in general, in fact) is that people expect an instant return for their investment. The days of signing a player, nurturing him through an A team apprenticeship, into the first team and paitiently waiting for him to develop over time seem gone.

These days youngsters seem to have a very small window of opportunity to make a stellar rise to first-team, because the pressures on teams, clubs and coaches is to achieve success instantly, and long-term investment doesn't give short-term payback. You only have to look at the shameful way the A-team/Academy/dual-reg fiasco was conducted, with clubs selling off the future in favour of perennially failed short-term pipe dreams to see where the priority lies.

O'Brien may be 23 but he has never been afforded an extended run in the first team in the way Myler has. I was only half-joing when I said on another thread that going to the NRL for a year and changing his name to Joel O'Brien was the best way to get a guranteed run in the first team, and huge amounts of goodwill and leniency where poor form is concerned. A certain prop forward would certainly vouch for that.

Martin Crompton was always one of my favourite half-backs for Wires, but it was only when Brian Johnson got a grip of him as coach, squeezed an extra yard of pace out of him and gave him regular first team gametime that he realised his potential.

I am pretty sure Harry Siejka at Wakey doesn't come remotely close to the 50% rule, in fact I am sure he didn't play any first grade in 2013.

And was only allowed over with a polish passport...

So, as always, there is more than one way to remove the epidermis from a feline.

It's a difficult one, it all depends on who is available and wanting to play for us, and are they any better than what we already have? Eg last year asotasi was available and wanting to "play" for us but would we have been better off keeping carvell?

I trust tony smiths judgement entirely (asotasi aside), I do think that the future was supposed to be ratchford and Myler but so far that hasn't worked. If the right player is available I would like to see us make the signing to be honest.

O'Brien's loans were when Briers was here.

And he was loaned to Saints. Whatever jokes we might like to make about Saints, it's not a slap in the face to get loaned to them, seeing as they are a far more successful club than us.

You are right, and Briers really kept improving right the way through, Briers at 28 was a far better player than Briers at 22 or 23, and at 30 or 31 he had even gone on another level from that.

GO'B will improve but I also think if he was going to be a player of the highest calibre we would have seen something. The very best (like Briers) had obvious match-winning talent when he was 19 in his first season with us, his game was full of flaws which GO'Bs isn't, but you could see he always had something to work with so it was a case of ironing those out.

For me GO'B has a better temperament and is a much calmer and more mature player on the field at 22 than Briers was at the same age, he doesn't get distracted by events going against him like Briers did, but he doesn't have the ability to break a team like Briers did. This isn't a criticism of GO'B because few players have what Briers does but it means I see him as playing a different role.

I think his career will go one of two ways, he can either be a third halfback for a top club competing for trophies, or the first choice halfback at a club at the lower end of the table. Being third halfback at a top club is like being back up quarterback in the NFL - the role calls for somebody that can understand how a team plays, and when the big gun isn't available, can come in and be reliable and just keep the team ticking over so the other players can do their thing. You don't want a back player that is going to be an obvious weak link and spoil the way the team plays. But if he wants to play every week then he could probably get a gig at Wakefield, Hull KR, Widnes or a club like this. What I don't think will happen is GO'B being first choice halfback at a club like Leeds, Saints or Wigan.