Wildcat26. I have an opinion, and the idea of the forum is to express it. I am sorry that Steve Southern has not lived up to expectations after a third of the season and I bet those paying his wages may also be concerned. The raps for him are few and far between. The point is, he costs a lot more than a UK player. On another thread someone suggests he has a beer belly.
It would not be the first time an overseas player has arrived in the UK carrying a long term niggle and who knows if this is the case. If his main attribute is defensive then it is just my view that this is not enough to justify the expense.
I hope he has a blinder on Friday against Cas.

this, by a mile.

Playing some one out of position when they are undersized to play that position is rarely going to get the best out of a player

Defensively I'm happy with Southern,

I do agree that a captain is some one that will play 80 mins and perhaps he will play 80 mins once he's playing in the backrow on a regular basis

Its also a well know fact that some new players and in particular overseas players can take time to settle in, as in any job for that matter

Only time will tell but I personally after only a few games wont be jumping on his back

I like Frankie, but our real problem has not been scoring tries, it's been stopping the tries. Over the last few weeks we have been competing with sides scoring like for like and nearly winning, but this has covered over our real problem which is defence. Now that we have been kept scoreless it stands out as our real problem and is something that needs to be addressed.

Southern can certainly do this, and this is where (IMO) we need to work more on, and have the right people in the squad to be able to do all the hard work just as much as you need the people on the field to score the tries. You keep a team from scoring, your half way there to winning

Southern is class and showed that in the early games - his defence is outstanding and in his natural position, he runs good lines and causes problems.

As for the captain issue - that could be easily solved by introducing a vice captain; I'd use Mathers, as a senior player and someone with experience in big games. More urgently however, I'd get the prop situation resolved so that Southern isn't forced to play as a battering ram and end up bashed up and spelled for long periods.

i think he's solid, but class? not on evidence to date. like many have said, playing him at prop is doing him and us no favours at all. if we're going to pay top dollar for an import, we should at least seek to get maximum value from him and not use him out of position.

We do have a vice captain, isnt it kirmo ? Didn't he lead out the players in London ?

Do you know how much he is earning? I would imagine we will be paying Ali for example, alot more than him? i dont know for sure, just guessing. I may be wrong and so be it, i just wondered if you know for sure as you seem pretty certain he is on "top dollar"

Defensively solid players always get the stick. His tackle stats dont lie. I would also like to see him on the field more, but if you are going to use him as a battering ram down the middle, that is what you will get.
For me he is doing exactly what i thought he would before he arrived just for less minutes.He doesnt look as fit as i would like, but maybe they are trying to bulk him up??

If you were expecting a Clyde, Watmough like player you will be dissapointed. If you were expecting a solid defensive second rower who has then been asked to play out of position, i think he has been there or there abouts.

I heard an interview with Southern on Radio Leeds a couple of weeks ago and he said that he was struggling a bit to settle.
He said this was not due to the club, whoe were doing everthing to help, but mentioned that his partner was struggling to settle abnd he inferred that
this was not helping his rugby.
Je seemed pretty genuine and also said that it was up to him to sort himself out.
In fairness he went well against Catalan and along with the rest of the team was poor on Saturday night.
We just have to hope that Saturday was a blip and that Southern will find his form.
He is a quality, no nonsense player and he can certainly do a great job for us. Lets hope he can sort himself out and in turn this will lift the team.

fair comment. i'm not having a go at him, i just think that if we're paying over £80k for a player, then it should somebody game changing - or at least somebody that gets more game time.

i fear that we've seen this before, and that we have an nrl player that won't see his contract out because of personal reasons. how many women would want to travel half way round the world and have their first child away from their support network?

You entitled to your opinion as is everyone on this forum and im not saying your wrong im saying that i think different and im sure alot of people agree with you just as some will agree with me.Sorry if i came across abit rude, The point i was trying to get across is is a forward really known for been fast and scoring tries ? Not many people really appreciate the work these guys do and it often goes unnoticed, Yeah southern is nothing fancy but hes there to make the hard yards, Tire the oppositions pack, and tackle like a machine. The guy is hard as nails and never takes a backwards step and very rarely comes up with an error.Nothing fancy but gets the job done.

If you want to question player payments try Wilkes and Ellis first.

The Wilkes one crossed my mind too as i know he left to go to London for alot more money, more than double what we were offering. He may have taken a drop to come back, i dont know??

As for Southern, he was playing reserve grade over there. I cant see him getting mega bucks. Wont be the highest earner, but wont be at the lower end either. I would imagine that the players that had other offers ie, Ali, Mellars, Wilkes, Ellis, Fox & maybe Smith will be the higher earners. With maybe Raleigh & Kirmo not far off having come from Ken Davy's payroll.

Like i say, its all guess work. Irrelevant of what any of them are paid. Saturday was not good enough.

Trying to guess wages is not very helpful - they're paid somewhere between what they and the club thought they were worth when the negotiations took place.

All that matters is that Saturday's display is proven to be a blip, when they go out on Friday night and play with effort, endeavour and sufficient enthusiasm to play a jaded Cas side off the park; if not, I'll worry.