Sorry , Berrigan is living on his reputation from Oz. He isn't giving us value for money and hasn't done since he came. For those that see something else it's just a case of "the emperors new clothes". When he first arrived he said something along the lines of , I'm the sort of player who doesn't say much I just turn up play my game and go home. Well if that was known before we signed him then it was a big mistake. Certainly in a better team he would be better because it would be easier but lets face so would most players. He's been slow and ponderous and looks so disinterested it's untrue. What we need from a marquee player that takes up so much cap is a leader on and off the field that does open his mouth and doesn't look like it's all too much trouble especially as we have three other hookers in the squad and we could find no end of average , solid , good defensive hookers in this country at a fraction of his money. If he's injured he could still be influential drawing on that vast experience and ability or at least try to be , demonstrating his committment to the fans wouldn't do any harm either. If he doesn't like Agar and his tactics ( I sympathise there ) tough , he's a professional player and should get on with what needs to be done or if it's that bad , go. His reputation set a high standard of expectation with reward to match. He hasn't delivered , it's about time he did.
He isn't of course on his own.

Not a bad post there.
I would simply say, if injured then go get sorted. We actually don;t need him now but will next season. Go rest

If Berrigan is injured then he should go and get sorted now, this season is completely fooked up (again) so lets at leats have him right for next season.

And if he is just injury prone and carrying knocks that will keep re-occuring do we pay him off? Weve carried him for 2 years and they have been 2 of our worst seasons of rugby of late. Coincidence?

A tad unfair to suggest that we 'carried' him last season TBH. At least he managed to be on the pitch more often than not, and generally performed well. Even if fully fit he wouldn't have been able to shine given our general injury situation. We were playing him all over the pitch, sometimes in multiple positions during a single game.

This season he's been disappointing. He's had a long run at his supposed favourite position and has failed to impress in anything other than small patches. If he's currently injured and needs an operation he should go and get one now, not faff about. If his prognosis doesn't indicate a complete recovery in time for next season then we should seriously consider whether his salary could be better spent elsewhere.

Thats unfair...he carried us last season on the back of being played here,there and every where.......we carried Dykes,Radford and a few others last season................Berrigan hasnt hit the heights i expected him to tbh but he is a class act and should come good.

We are carrying Berrigan this year, whats the difference.

For me at least when Dykes was on the pitch you actually saw the class, it stood out like a sore thumb, Berrigan's class does not stick out like a sore thumb. Nor can we use the average players around him argument as Dykes played with those average players yet his class still shone.

Agree with all.

100% agree. Berrigan seems immune from critiscism though because he once played for Oz.

Disagree that he generally played well. He gave maybe 1 glipse per game of something class but then vanished for 79 mins as he does currently. He has not been a class act for FC and i've said before, he gets regularly outplayed at 9 by Lee and Houghton.

Ive seen very little in the 2 seasons he has been here to suggest he is a class and and even less than he should come good. For the salary he must be on he is one of my most disappointing fc signings of late.

If you could point me to where I suggested that he's been a 'class act'?

I think you may be projecting his performances this season back onto what he did last season. He put in decent performances in the majority of games that he played, despite being injured, being played all over the park, and lacking quality players to play with. Occasionally he showed flashes of clash. I don't recall him going missing particularly, especially in defence where he was one of our best.

Overall his time here has been disappointing considering the expectations we had of him, but TBH he's hardly had the best of times with what's happened to the rest of the club. This season he's been well below par.

A cursory read of this forum clearly shows that not to be the case.

I wasnt meaning you had said he was a class act. Others have. FWIW he should be a class act, thats what we signed him for. I also cant knock his defensive commitment from last year or indeed this year, but we didnt sign him as a defensive orientated hooker.

Im not allowing this year to infuence my views of last season at all, i had the same conversations about his underperformance last year as i am this. Huge disappointment for me. (ive always noticed him going missing too if that makes sense)

I agree that he's been disappointing overall, but then so have many other players. Last season he had mitigating circumstances IMO due to what happened with the rest of the team and how we used him. This season he has no such excuses and I would have expected a player of his ability and experience to step up to the plate for us. He hasn't, for whatever reason.

So, do we do one of 3 things:
1. release him
2. send him for his op and hope he is fresh for next year
3. play him injured and under performing

that is the crux of it...
He is alledgedly one of the higest paid imports in SL, very dissapointing signing.

Most teams would love Houghton, will do the job and a lot cheaper as well, invest the money elsewhere.

We binned Dykes, whats the difference?

It would be interesting to see if he is one of the senior players Agar mentions getting dropped, for me he should because he just hasn't done enough this season, I am beginning to believe the original money for nothing cynics.

He should play Houghton on Friday at least he has some go in him and always looks interested for probably a third or less then what Berrigan is on, I never thought I would say it but at the moment I would take Houghton or Lee over him anyday.

Ive said elsewhere i would. I'd start Lee and have Houghton off the bench. Lee gets better and better. He has better distribution than Berro and does the same if not better work defensively. He is less capable of the moments of genius but then we dont see them from Berro anyway.

Agree..I as my avatar suggests am a big fan of Berros I have seen him create regyular genius moments whilst playing in Aus, however it is a very rare now, and his performances are average (not warranting the salary he is paid)And if we want to move forward and be able to invest in the right players who will produce the goods sentimentally has to go and we have to be realistic..

Just put an 'A' in your username.

Yet again, this is a case of a player being criticised through no fault of their own. The criticism is coming solely from unrealistic expectations from people who are ignorant of how he has played throughout his career. He hasn't really performed much differently from how he did in the NRL, in Origin and for the Aussies. He's obviously carrying a knock or two, but that's only taken a bit of his sharpness away. His general play is of a very high standard still and, considering what he's had to put up with, he's done a good job.

All these 'genius' moments people seem to be expecting just aren't part of his game and never have been. He's solid in defence, distributes well (despite what some seem to be saying) and runs well out of dummy half. That's his game at hooker. Move him away from there to half or 13 and he'll put people through gaps and create space and breaks through his running game. He's not Jason Smith and people expecting him to be are deluding themselves.

We 'binned' Dykes because the prognosis was that his injuries would rule him out for a substantial chunk of this season even after having an operation to fix them.

That's why I feel we should send Berrigan for his corrective surgery [inow[/i and find out what his prognosis is for next year. We can then make an informed decision on his future at the club. Or lack of it.