After Lee Briers and Michael Monaghan i'd say that Brett Hodgson is our best threat with ball in hand as far as creativity goes, if Briers is going to be out for a while or gets injured in the future i'd go with Hodgson at 6. Both Grix and Bridge have been tried in the halves but its not really worked out with either, Clarke would just slow us down with his very basic game.

Bridge played well at full back away at Wakefield but lets face it they aint the toughest opposition, personally i think Bridge's best position is right centre where he's a genuine threat.

If Chris Riley is fit again and were able to recall him then he's about our only option at fullback after Hodgson unless one of the youngsters is ready to take the step up.

Other than that, Hodgson at stand off and move Chris Bridge to fullback with Joel Monaghan at right centre then have either Riley or Williams on the wing, out of those 2 i'd go for Riley all day long.

Has Hodgson ever played in the halves before? I agree that he's one of our biggest threats after Briers and Monas, but moving him to 6 would mean playing Bridge or Riley at fullback. In the games this year when Hodgson hasn't played that passing sequence from the halves out to the winger (one of our main attacking threats) hasn't been nearly as effective. Whether Grix, Bridge or Hodgson plays in the halves, another area of the team will be considerably weakened. I suppose the ideal solution would be if one of the under 20s was ready to make the step up. I wonder if TS will be tempted to throw one of them in in the next couple of matches?






I'd like to see Rhys Evans given another go as well, a little bit more pace in the three quarters would add another dimension to our attack. Presumably he's fit again as he was named in the 19 last week I think. I can't really blame TS for not playing him ahead of Blythe against Wigan though. It would have been a tough ask for someone who's been out injured for a couple of months.

I agree, but drop him in next week against Bradford see how he goes. He were brilliant for us at the start of the season, let's give the lad some game time now he's back fit - he's got heaps of potential.

Sometime Hodgson is a world beater, and sometimes he just reminds me of Richie Mathers .......... all within the same 80 mins.

Couldn't agree more. I'm struggling to find how and where we are gonna replace him from within. But ISWT n'all that

If tomkins was out then richards would go FB, who while not as good an attacking FB as sam, is probably a better defensive FB and pos one of the best defensive FBs in the league even though it is not his primary position.

If both were injured at the same time, which would be unlikely, we have more than enough cover as Roberts can also step in, failing which we have Goulding who can go ok at FB, and a young lad called Matty Russell in the 20s, who is a 20s England international and will go on to have a big future as soon as he gets a call up. We have more than adequate cover in every position on the field.

Thought according to you men mathers was a good player!!!

We have two perfectly good centres in Monaghan and Atkins - what we need are pacey wingers outside them.

Rhys Evans is quick.

So is Riley... why don't you try playing Monaghan at centre and Riley on the wing next season? He was scoring tries for fun last year. Blythe doesn't look good enough in some of the games i have seen Wire this season.

Blythe is not good enough end of story.

I am struggling with why he keeps getting picked.... he has no rugby brain, and can't pass for toffee so why he is being played in the centre in anyones guess, I don't rate him defensively either.

.. you cant try and claw back a 20 odd point deficit against Wigan without running out of steam.

in my opinion our back line should be:
hodgson
riley
monaghan
bridge
atkins

simple you got the pace of winger in atkins and riley and the class in the centres with bridge and monas. evans ready to step in with injuries.

when briers is injured i would like myler to change his style to more organising and kicking game and have grix who will always run the ball well. but next season it won't happen as GOB will be back and be good cover hopefully.

At the moment it seems like I've got more chance of getting a game than Riley. For some reason he seems to have slipped down the pecking order below Evans (fair enough, really), Blythe (hmm...) and Williams (nope, can't explain that one).

Next season, I'd like to see Joel stay on one wing and have Rhys Evans on the other. Good mixture of height and pace with that combination.