brilliantly put..judging by what you say on here i take it you have watched the wire for quite a few years so you know a good half back when you see one...at the moment i dont....what andy greg would do to the opposition is frightening

Perfecto, SAM
Gregory would murder any team, playing in Mr Smith's style
He knew how to give out a "killer pass". Just ask Mark Roberts.
And that's where GO'B is nowhere near where we need him to be. All good (or better) halves have been doing this, on a regular basis, since they were 19+. GO'B does this sporadically, and is in his mid 20's.

thought so...maybe its an age thing with me but even paul bishop would have run rings round wilkin and no doubt give him an earful...obriens a very honest and likeable lad the sort you`d love your daughter to marry but to dominate teams like a scrum half should be doing im afraid i wont be holding my breath..prove me wrong against hudds please

Can't remember the last time we struggled in the half back department , was it when matty rocket rodwell was here

Credit where due to Matty Rodwell, he took the shat directed at him. In the right team he perhaps would have been quite useful. He was fronting the worst collection of a squad I have ever seen in p&b.

Thank god for Paul Cullen.

Sorry fella, but you're talking out of your bum on this one, burrow has barely played halfback over the last three years as he's been used as a bench hooker, the reason he's being used as a bench Booker is cos he's not very good as a scrum half.

So your suggestion that he does it week in and week out is way off. Almost to the level ofrubber duckies bridge at stand off propaganda level.

great post.. summed up perfectly i think

How can that be? his halfback Partner was the legendary Lee Briers. .....

Oh I see ......Lee was actually ordinary once and we gave him time to come good. ..

Hmmmm...I wonder if that could catch on.

Briers was never ordinary. Inconsistent early doors but ordinary? Nah!

I was wondering when someone would point out the obvious that Burrow does not play halfback. A third hooker maybe just what you need, but he would not replace GOB. I think Burrow was found out at halfback many years ago, which is why Sinfield has been playing there.

Also everyone seems to be missing the obvious, but you have Wheeler too. How many halves and hookers do Warrington need???

I think some people love to hit the panic button. 2 points covers 75% of the league. Man up people, we've said for years we want a competitive league. Well pressure from below is part of that.

THIS. have we forgot Briers had all the potential in the world but never used it till Smith arrived.how old was Briers before we got the best from him.Granted O'Brien as had smith longer in that respect but he is still a lot younger than when we got the best of Briers.

Not bagging obrien - and he probably will improve but no matter of time will put him in briers' league. Lee was always class just lacked focus.

Agree with this,Briers is your Alex Higgins, George Best moment. You can not compere O'Brien with Briers, O'Brien will never be as good as Briers, well not in my opinion anyway.But he can be a good player and he is no way the worse we have had in that posistion.

Comparisons drawn between Gareth O'Brien and Lee Briers at the same age are completely and utterly worthless.

Lee Briers never had to cope with the kind of in-your-face defence which demands split-second decision-making in his early twenties.

When he was at Saints there were times when Briers (and Bobbie Goulding) could literally amble through games. You just don't get that in SL these days.

I don't know why I need to keep repeating a truism every observant fan of the game knew going back to the beginnings of the sport but ... a half-back's performance is inherently linked to the effectiveness of his forward pack. It isn't impossible for a scrum half to kick and pass well whilst playing behind a beaten pack - but he's much more likely to execute the gameplan if his forwards are actually going ... erm ... forward.

Of course comparisons can be made you clown stop trying to refer to the immensity of your pack in every post. Feb 22nd seems to have been forgotten. Goulding and briers were quality half backs....obrien is...average.

The early version of Lee Briers was our star man in The most good awful period I have witnessed supporting this club since 1979. his teams have seen the sackings of more coaches than I care to count....

believe me he was no George Best. People really need to understand pre Tony Smith before lauding Briers and dismissing OBrien in the same sentence.

It would be a disgrace if fans got on his back in the same way the best fans in the world got/or are starting to get on penny's back.

Briers never won a thing before he turned thirty yet he played with Langer Gee and Nikau. ..

I think we owe OBrien a serious period of grace. ..

Saints got the best from Briers in his first season. He guided us on his own to the CC final.

Not sure what you did with him after that?

And his reward was being benched when Blobby came back.

Briers knew the score when he first got the call. When Goulding's head was screwed on tight he was a first class player. You'd struggle to find any coach who would have benched Goulding and continued with Briers. Shaun McCrae talked extensively about this (alongside, Briers I might add) at Saints a couple of years back.

But, for argument's sake, let's say Saints continued with Briers and made him their primary playmaker. For a start they'd be forced to put up with the 80% (or less) Briers regularly put into games before he suddenly realised it was time to become an adult. But more importantly, there would be no Sean Long. Now, I do have a good deal of respect for Briers' skill-set. Indeed, in more than one area he was undoubtedly superior to Long. But Long was a born winner. He knew precisely what to do and when to do it when Saints needed it the most.

I do have a lot of sympathy for Briers because ... as he said ... he only ever wanted to play for Saints. Unfortunately he is one of those victims of circumstance that inevitably pop up from time to time in RL.

We have Hill, Harrison (who is in our top 5 players imo, very underrated player), Sims, England, Evans (now long term nijured) and Asotasi...we have NO leading half backs with a good kicking game. We need a decent half back as much as any side needs any player in any position most in the entire league.

I'm quite content to leave O'Brien where he is and let him grow there.

You don't need a world-class halfback to win titles, you need halfbacks that know your teams' structures, plays, strengths and weaknesses.

Chopping and changing and knee-jerk reactions will do nothing to help us in the long run. Let O'Brien have a prolonged period at halfback.

I say leave GOB and look for a world class partner.
A more accurate kicking game and most people in here would be off his back.

Anyone want to argue with this thread now ?

We need 2 new half backs! currently we are not good enough! End of discussion!