Having spoken at length to SS on this subject he told me that he had had a few personel problems (which I wont divulge on here) but he is now sorted and wants to get back to playing his best rugby for the club. he is also on a 3 year deal and has never walked out on a club and has no intension of doing so.

It can be a hard with a young baby at times sleepless nights and anything else that comes along.To have the support of family is a massive help but lets not forget his and his partners are a few thousand mile away.It might be Agar is giving him time to ease into things.We also have Kirmond to come back into the side and the way hes played who could honestly say he shouldnt get a spot.Yes I would like to see bluey get more game time and Ali brought on when the opposition tire instead of from the off.Then when Kirmonds back who gets taken off to bring someone on and would that someone be a youngster.

I don't rate him and i'd rather have Johnson / Mariano

Is it just me who thinks that Southern is being overated? Yes he can put in good tackles, but hardly gains any meters and is very easy to tackle, whereas I saw on Monday night our other forwards (Amor, Lautiiti, Raleigh, Wilkes, Walshaw, Trout) make more meters and at least 3 Leeds player had to tackle them. It seems to me that we only use Southern for defense.

I feel fairly aware Agar has no idea

no. you're not alone. his tackling is very good, but my subjective view is that he goes in third man in to the tackle an awful lot a la monty "can't play for toffee but look at my stats" betham.

i don't see the point in bringing a plodder half way round the world. it's no more complex than that. whether he plays 20/40/60/80 minutes isn't the point, the point is that he's a plodder from what i've seen.

It's not just you but having said that I don't agree.

I think Southern is still being played out of position but if you watch him running the ball in he does that harder and faster than any of our other props IMO. Still think he would be better utilised a bit wider out playing second row and you would see more from him in that case.

As someone else said the problem really is we don't have enough props and we have too many options at second row for him to get the game time he needs/deserves in his favoured position. I still think there is a chance he will prove really valuable but the problem is with positions/rotations in the pack.

Totally agree we have a wealth in the back row and a dearth in the front row fix this by offloading some back rowers and get a couple of big props in.

I would also consider the back line next season, if we dont sign Sykes we need a goal kicker (Foster for example) but that would probably mean a shuffle around and some players again released or not extended.

Should be an interesting few weeks where we as a club can lay our intentions down to the likes of Aiton and Smith.

Really?? Amazing how people see things differently and I cant remember his stats ever getting mentioned??

If the rest of the team tackled like him one on one we wouldnt be conceding the mass of points we currently are. He hits hard and low and his tackling technique is by far the best in the side. Its just a shame we arent seeing it for more minutes.
In attack, he may not make the yards of others but he finds his front on most occasions. 15 yards and an age to play the ball or 10 yards and the chance of getting a roll on. I know which id take.

He's a good player, we just need to get more minutes out of him and looking at him i think he would like to be doing more.

On a similar theme, playing Ali for 70mins a game is great in the short term, but long term he will be shot. At his age, with his physique and previous track record he needs managing better surely??

I have to say I disagree with the 'plodder' and 'third man in the tackle' comments.

His tackling technique in my opinion is excellent. When he is a in a one on one he always sends the guys straight to the floor, and clearly makes it hurt too.
Being third man in to be honest is just as important. We were poor in defense for a long stretch and it was one of Agar's changes to have a player hover outside the tackle and then grasp the legs to complete it rather than let the guy rumble on with players wrestling with the ball carrying arm.
That tactic has changed the efficiency of our defense considerably.

I have to to say his attack isn't as effective when making hard yards but it is for yards and quick play the ball. Although you need both a crash ball guy who just monsters a few extra yards every time, you also need players who can start a roll. Less exciting but more effective if the team all play that way.

I do however agree that we really shouldn't use him as a prop. He'd be much better in second row, but that's been forced on us in the past.

I disagree he hurts players in the tackle but we do need to see more of him.

Maybe he can teach his tackling technique to Mathers and Cockayne then, they get knocked off in the collision far too easy for my liking.

Southern has a fantastic tackle technique - he goes in low and hard and is a hurtful tackler; the only other WTW player who compares is Aiton, who also hits really hard and drives them into the ground.

When the balance between props and Sr's is sorted out, I'm sure we'll see more of him.