To be fair Mylers performance against Wigan was quite good, he moved the ball ok and did make a few half breaks.His defense was fantastic and he brought down everyone that ran at him, i know some will say not his job to be good in defense, but it is everybody's job. He missed the tackles you would be moaning.

But if the attack is nailed on then the defence is rarely tested, as was the case in 2012.

I'm not a fan of stifling out football.
The game of big defence is boring.
We're gonna end up too much like the NRL. Sitting and clapping occasionally.

Games involving Wigan over the last 2 seasons and Warrington and to some extent Huddersfield this season, I have found less entertaining than others.

In contrast the games involving Leeds Saints Castleford and Wakefield among the more entertaining.

But we have had people on here saying that we should be emulating NRL ! That game last week though became a borefest at times & i was glad when it was over. It does make you wonder though ,how many times the team can be tinkered with before the lack of penetration near the line gets blamed on the coaching staff. Do they actually practice any moves in training ? Maybe one of the training days should involve playing against our reserves ,containing all our out on loan players to create a competitive edge & to try & reconstruct a match day opposition.

I don't think the gulf between the sides would offer anything that closely resembles a match day intensity unless its London.

I don't disagree with you, but as someone who has only followed League seriously for four seasons I can't understand how he's ended up as a half-back and not a hooker - his strengths you have identified would seem better used there.

Well morally it would be an insult to Dwyer and more importantly it doesn't solve our hb issues!

FFS guys, give it a couple of weeks, a few dropped balls / missed tackles and Russell will be the new scapegoat who's shipped out on loan and GOB restored..

With all this heat on Myler (most of which i agree with), I'll pose the question about Ratchford.

Yes he's been playing at FB, but he's not been that 3rd pivot that can split defences. When he did move up to 6 vs Wigan he bombed a couple of chances, the Laithwaite run into the line springs to mind. Ratch either had to hit him or pass behind. He did neither.

Add to that his kicking isn't 100%. I don't think any of the backs are covering themselves in glory at the mo. Russell provided a spark, but you'd expect that against a defence that has been playing 60 mins.

Be interesting viewing on Sunday either way.

All fair enough but as far as GOB is concerned IMO he didn't cover himself in glory v Wigan but seemed to be playing like he knew his time was up...Russell coming off the bench a bright shiney new thing and the coach has his 1,6,7 on the field.

It says it all when Ratchford has had the goal kicking duties this season, when you might think GOB is our best place kicker I know I do Hardly a ringing endorsement that your firmly in someone's future plans

FB at the Salford game said something along the lines of you can tell GOB won't be playing when everyone is fit otherwise Ratchford wouldn't be kicking goals.

Obrien unfortunatley isnt good enough imo. I think he will be shipped out at the end of the season. I think that ratchford and myler is the way to go.

I don't think he'll be shipped out, I think he'll ask to leave.

See if Widnes want to do a swap deal with Mellor.

A very good point. When GOB played in the U20's he looked a carbon copy of Hodgson with his goal kicking, he rarely missed. In contrast, Ratchford hardly inspires confidence, so perhaps your reasoning is correct. Either way I think he will have to rip trees up when he next gets a chance, otherwise he will be viewed as cover for the half back position only.

he just seems to go through games 'doing ok'... he doesn't really seem to have a stand out quality that a HB should have... To be as small as he is i think you need to have a bit of star quality.. you need to be able to bring something to the team that puts the opposition on the backfoot.

The bottom line is he had to make himself undropable and he hasnt done it.... Warranted, playing next to Myler cant have helped him.. but you cant drop them both.

Its the right decision for me.

6 Ratchford
7 Myler

and then sign a quality HB in the summer (or sooner if one becomes available... cheeky Bid for Danny Brough maybe.. 50k and 1000 fans on loan for 3 months)

With Mellor being injured, O'Brien will go on loan to Widnes.

It says a lot about our half back situation that when debating which of Myler/Ratchford/O'Brien to drop, the argument comes round to which one has been the most e.

As several have pointed out, none of them have made a case to actually be picked and trusted, which is particularly frustrating with regards to Myler and Ratchford, who were both brought to the club for when this situation, of being permanently without Briers, arose.

Naughty, but funny.

However, I think you underestimate Mr Moran. He likes long term plans and I would bet a few quid that as soon as Briers announced his retirement we started to look for a replacement. Ok, it would have been a paper exercise perhaps with a list of options, but nevertheless I think the ball was already rolling at that point - I can not see SM saying 'lets wait and see how GOB goes'.

I think you're spot on WO... We're just treading water until a quality HB is brought in.

Thats its boys...thats has to be a contender for phase of the week. Classic.

In reply to halfbacks....
I'll refer you caring loyal fans to the post I made earlier.
I'm not going to waste any more time on halfback topics.
We've got what we've got and dammed.

IMO your assessment is spot on.

GOB has become, like Penny was a few years ago, a player who is better in our fans minds than he actually is on the pitch. When this happens a myth starts to explain away if the player doesn't play well, like remember Cullen 'destroyed Penny's confidence' or it was Matt King being out of position.

GOB does not show the same signs that a young Briers did. Briers from a young age showed he was a potential match winner, he was flaky in defence, when he was under pressure he would kick out on the full or lose his rag shouting at the referee but you could see he had something special that would come through when the rough edges dropped off. GOB is better than guys like Hulse, Durbin and Duffy were, but he doesn't show anything special and I never thought he did when he was on loan at other clubs.

I think he is good enough to have a SL career but, assuming Warrington 'don't make the most of him', where do you think this SL career will be at, somewhere like Leeds, Saints or Wigan or somewhere like Widnes, Cas or Wakefield?

We need to get a new halfback to replace Briers, his retirement caught us on the hop and there wasn't anyone available other than Scott Moore so I expect we are casting our net wide in the NRL to find the right man. Until that point, GOB has a chance to show he's the man but at the moment I don't think he is.

Expect a bit more anger from our fans against Tony "has an agenda against Warrington young players" Smith though about the GOB point.

We already have a half back who we spent 200 grand on - Does that amount of cash not get you quality anymore?...

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.