We are talking about a no 9. I know many rate the present no 9 but for me he is over rated and probably on his way at the end of the season anyway. I think How art will do a job and hopefully show some determination and guts and that will do for me. The whole squads been gutless all season , I haven't even seen them show any aggression or get upset and want a flair up after a drubbing. Let's all smile and shake hands and congratulate the opposition after being trounced. They should want to get down that tunnel ASAP and not show those sickly smiles for all to see. It's taking the ....

Not sure why you have quite such a downer on Howarth, he's not a bad squad player and I think you know it.

Although I personally rate him and as you know I'm a far better judge of a player than you - I do concur with you that he isn't what we need right now and his signing will probably make zero difference should it happen. The team is currently flu of players just like Howarth who in a half decent team can look OK. What we need is a leader and a creator or at the very least a player who at least looks like he enjoys playing.

I guess you have not seen a lot of Howarth because he is not you are hoping for and yes I believe our present number 9 is a good player the problem is the way we have been playing no one can look anything better than average.

howarth will add to our defence. and if riley plays we can expect more shooting in missing tackles etc

When did I say I was hoping for anything, I don't think I could be more none committal to be honest

I was replying to lampyboy's post unfortunately you got sandwiched between.

Not sure about that, he's kept his career average of missing a couple of tackles per game with Hull this year, that record will put him on a par with our worst offenders this year messrs Miller, T Smith and Scruton.

I've not seen the stats but I'd imagine the misses by scruton and howarth pale in to insignificance with the amount they make. I'd imagine the completed tackles average of those two is far higher than that of miller and smith. Smith has been hung out to dry on here but yea had no quick ball and no halfback partner yet still probably creates most of our scoring opportunities. Miller on the other hand is a very good catcher of the ball and that about sums up his talents on the rugby field. To be fair to him out error rate would be much higher with the amount of balls he's caught around his ankles!

My point kind of was yes Howarth's workrate is decent but in comparison to guys who make a similar amount of tackles his miss rate is higher. For me he is a poor mans Danny Washbrook in all departments. But overall its the 18 month thing that bugs me, why not just until the end of the season and see how things pan out.

A player for the championship next year if Trinity go down?

But for now it surely must be to free up Godinet to play at 6 with Miller's future uncertain now possibly?.

Hopefully Howarth will give some defensive presence and size in the middle playing at 9 with him being 6 foot 1 " tall and 15 stone coming off the bench to spell McShane for 20-25 mins per game.

Losing the forward battle has been the common theme and hopefully he'll go well and help stop that. Smith will need to be bring two or three others in addition to Kirke, Ashurst and Lauitiiti coming back from injury in my opinion.

your having a laugh surely?

I'm certain he'll give us effort (a lot more than half our squad are showing) but defensive presence and size? Have a word with yourself.

Playing Godinet at 9 hasn't worked. Too small and not strong enough defensively. He came from New Zealand to play 6 so play him there.

Whether you like it or not Howarth is more of a genuine 9 and has played for St.Helens for a season in that role. He is no dwarf and is the size of a back row forward and according to Trinity press release he has been signed for his defensive qualities.

Why do you think Washbrook on occasions was played at 9 with McShane previously in preference to Godinet?

Wakefield Chairman, Michael Carter is pleased with the signing of Stuart, “I am delighted to welcome Stuart back to the club, and he had a successful stint here in 2011, and will bring some much needed defensive attribute to our squad.

Yes because Washbrook at 9 was a huge success wasn't it? Stifled our attack yet made no difference to the defence either.I don't know why you obsess about size tbh, yiu could be the biggest bloke on the pitch but if you have the heart of a pea...

More of 9 than Godinet? Ha! Godinet when given time at dummy half has proven to be successful e.g against Wigan few weeks ago.

As for his defensive qualities? well I'm sure time and time again Carter has said he doesn't know much about rugby and if he thinks Howarth brings defensive qualities then God help us.

What a bunch of moaners. Give the lad a chance before you start to assassinate him. Just how bad can he be compared to the bunch of gutless sherkers we have now. Seasoned so called professional who if they worked along side you in an everyday environment would be out the door in no time.

Like you I'm frustrated by the team's inept displays this season but Godinet did come to Trinity to play 6/7 and Washbrook has on occasion been played at 9 by Webster because probably because of his defensive qualities. He has been one of the few decent players this season and had a good game at 9 against St.Helens at home when Trinity lost by 4 points.

Let's just give Howarth a chance, he is probably cheap and I agree is not going to be the signing to turn the season around but he frees up Godinet to be on the pitch for 80 minutes at 6 instead of 20 playing at 9.

As I said earlier in the thread hopefully Brian Smith has been involved to some extent in this signing although probably not. I'm not obsessed with size of players the modern game is which is why when we play teams like Catalan they just run over the top of Trinity. Although if Trinity had a well conditioned, coached team the situation may be different.