I think he's had the cheek to show ingenuity & flair whilst playing. He quite clearly doesn't fit in with the ethos of the club & has to go.

our 'new' signings for next season must be wondering why the hell they have signed up!apart from their last big pay cheque i suppose.

I don't agree with Agar dropping Calderwood as for me he has been our best player this season but I would like to ask a question.

Next season, Raynor, Yeaman, Hall, Calderwood. If Briscoe is this big superstar then who makes way for him assuming everyone is fit?

Yeaman. Unless he seriously gets his act together.

That has to be a joke surely? He has performed pretty well this season and has still been our best centre for the past 2/3 years.

I don't think anyone should be deemed 'safe' and that they all should be fighting for their place in the side but I firmly believe that Briscoe/Hall are likely to be fighting it out for the centre spot alongside Yeaman.

As yet we have zero evidence to support Briscoe as a centre, in fact all the good things he has done so far in SL show genuine winger traits. Of course we won't know until he plays there and ultimately maybe Hall/Briscoe will form the centre pairing at some stage in the future but with the little service he has had Yeaman has had a good season. If we were to sign an overseas centre then the picture would change again.

You may be right regards Briscoe, and I think someone mentioned on here that he now sees himself as more of a winger. Whether that's just because he's had the game time there I don't know.

I do know that Yeaman is not a top centre, and IMO he will never be one. He simply doesn't have the skills or, frankly, the brains. He lacks the vision and/or commitment to create his own chances or back up the half-chances regularly. He shows occasional flashes but nowhere near enough.

Whether it's Briscoe or a new signing, we need better IMO.

Yet Hall has proved this?

Briscoe imo will play on the wing for at least another season. Yeaman and Hall will play in the centres (unless someone comes in or Turner plays there). Yeaman needs service, as does any centre and when the ball has gone wide early to Manu/Yeaman's side they have looked very dangerous together. He does miss tackles at times, usually when he is flying out of the line but at the same time saves tries with the way he defends too. It's not Yeaman's fault that it takes Hull an age to get the ball to him. Hopefully next season with Long's influence he will get better service and if he does then I have no doubts he will produce.

I'd go with that, but I would definitely give Yeaman first crack at it over Briscoe. As you say, to some extent he's still living on a good couple of seasons a few years ago, but that's as much down to increasingly poor supply as his own play. He's still a proven try scorer when he gets the chance, arguably the most consistent we have, his only weakness for me is still that he doesn't put his winger away enough.

I'd switch him to right centre for next year and pair Hall with Raynor on the left. Could work well for both of them IMO, as Hall looks more comfortable on the left and has showed good glimpses with Raynor, and being on the right would put Yeaman on the receiving side of the left-handed Long for hopefully better supply.

I have been saying that for two years, you only have to look at the way the both play to see it would benefit them both hugely.

Agree 100%. He's been living on past glories for far too long now. Calderwood has had no service this year and yet he's been one of our best players.

IMO Hall has shown more of the core skill and vision [iin attack[/i than Yeaman. There's still a question over his defence, although that seems to have improved.


Yeaman regularly fails to support attacking play unless it starts right next to him and/or close to the try line. Even in the few games I've seen this season he rarely backs up breaks that start from deep or from further away than his second row or winger. A top centre would be doing this, and would therefore be getting more 'service'. Hall gets the ball more often than Yeaman because he has the vision to do this. Yeaman has failed to show the same vision over his entire career - I'm fairly sure he's not going to start now.

We know Yeaman can score tries from mid to close range if put on the end of a defence-splitting pass. I'd argue that any decent second-row forward could do the same. Maybe a change to the other centre position would utilise his talents better as you suggest in another post, but basically we'd be working around his limitations.