I do wish people would stop saying Briers retirement caught us on the hop. He retired in November and we had plenty of time, quota space and salary cap to bring in a top notch playmaker.

We didn't. I suspect that the fact we managed for long periods of last year without Briers kidded some people inside and out of the club, into thinking we could manage long term without him. What is obvious is that the absence of Hodgson, from an attacking point of view, has left as big a hole as Briers. Brett's presence last year when Briers was out clearly masked the shortcomings in Myler's game.

So, let's not kid ourselves that we lost our key playmakers on the cusp of the new season; we didn't, and our failure to act has come back and bit us big style, and should be a source of huge embarrassment to the coaching staff.

Name some top notch halfbacks who were out of contract in November that we should have bid for.

He said playmaker!

To add...

We knew much earlier than Nov about the loss of the playmaker!
Hogdson went before the end of the last season! A right sows ear the club made of scenario too!!

I would wager very large that we also new about Briers condition for retirement much earlier that it was revealed to the public, in order for buying time to sign Russell last Oct. The surprising squad number reshuffle of Ratchford from 1 to 6 adds weight to that scenario.

And why must the "top notch halfback" be out of contract?

If they aren't out of contract then you're depending on their club being willing to sell, fair enough if there's a great option at Bradford or somewhere but a top club will just say no, just like if Wigan came in trying to offer us money for Chris Hill I doubt we would be pressured to selling him.

But also there wasn't major clamour on here for us to sign a new halfback because we had lots of players that could cover halfback. If you scroll back and read the threads from around the time Briers left, the general verdict was"

duckie were you campaigning for us to sign a halfback back then or was this the time you were saying Atkins and Bridge were that good that as long as they stayed fit we would sweep the board this season regardless of whoever played halfback.

I agree with this. During last season Lee Briers visited at least 4 consultant surgeons trying to find one that would assure him and the club that it was safe to play on for a further season. I undersatnd that the search for this elusive consultant surgeon started around the time we played Leeds at home last season, sadly the end of his career was on the cards then.

What has been touched on so far by some but is worth emphasising is the loss of Brett Hodgson at the same time as Briers. Both were superb passers of a ball and distributers. Unfortunately both had to retire. The double wammy is the main reason we don't seem able to move the ball wide anymore. Mind you ... I'm still shocked just how bad we are in this aspect at the moment as other sides lose good players and have lots of changes and still cope.

Thanks for pointing that out. But your misquoting me now and leaving other conditions out of that equation too.

Adding to it, I raised points like we have the best backs and 3/4 line on form of early 2012. (All England internationals. Ratchford perhaps was a knight about then and wasn't playing for us.) McBanana assuming there wasn't a decent enough hb in the country to partner Myler so played a loose forward there Sinfield.

We need Atkins and Bridge to play at that level of form and Asotasi and England not to be crocks and England playing something like Hill's level.

I could see the season would be crucial that Atkins and Bridge hit those heights again, the form of the 3/4s upper body strength and skill adding width, power and handling skills to nullify failings in other positions.
I could see that wasn't going to happen hence we need a quality Prob and halfback and never more has it been so apparent.

To sum up. With a top class prop and halfback we could soften the lack of form out wide by playing up the middle.
Its like swapping one style of play for another.

Preferably I'd want balance.
Structure is a freekin mess this season.

Our only hope is for Atkins especially and Bridge to improve and stay 100% fit.
Bridge has handling qualities of a top class halfback and the upper body strength of a loose forward, Atkins doesn't, but has pace. Their attributes could lesson the need for a forward and hb. We need these qualities in abundance and their running nowhere that level required.

Evidence?

For what its worth.
I think GOB being dropped may work well. Myler and ratchford know each others play well and we get to see Russell start ..

What do you mean by top-notch? Are you suggesting only State of Origin level players are good enough for Warrington?

Castleford (Liam Finn) and Saints (Walsh) have managed to pick up two good halfbacks, capable of effectively moving their team around, organising attack, leading a penetrative kicking game and generally winning their teams matches withing being "top-notch", whatever you mean by that.

I think to be fair, TS was duty bound to play GOB to see once and for all if he could make the grade. After that, his fall back position would have been to move Ratchford in with Myler - which is what we have now ended up with. Presumably, that was the game plan for the year whilst we searched for a organising / kicking half back in the mould of Briers.

Well its relative to what we have got. We have got three halfbacks, Myler, Ratchford, O'Brien so if we're bringing someone in they need to be better than what we've got.

It doesn't need to be Thurston or Shaun Johnson but someone like Blake Green or Matty Smith would do.

I heard a rumour last night GOB is talking to Saints about a move?

Let's be honest, though, neither really arrived with a Briers-like game and neither have developed anything like the abilities to lead a team from the halves. They're both (Ratchford more so) brilliant individual talents, with footwork, skill and enough pace to exploit gaps. Neither have a great short/long kicking game, neither are particularly skilled passers and neither organises the attack as ruthlessly as Lee did. Briers done the same stuff every week for us, but you just can't defend against such a high skill level, it's like Sinfield at Leeds, you just can't beat a halfback with a brain and the skill to match it.

I'd say us lacking this has been obvious for a while, if we could combine Ratch, Myler and GOB into one player, there might be a decent halfback, but individually neither are the right style of player, whilst all being talented.

Not too sure what we can do about it now, but with our centres not being too creative either, we look utterly toothless and grunting our way over the line won't be feasible every week.