nice backtracking there

I'm in Florence and it's p1ssing down with rain like you wouldn't believe. It's going to rain for three days which coincides with my return to the UK. But you know what I'm still pleased that I wasn't in Edinburgh watching Horne and his mates fail again. Horne has never been a half back , he used to be a strong tackling centre playing in the halves with a half decent stand off , but he's been nothing since he left. he's spiralled downwards at an alarming rate. Probably all sorts of reasons and I'm certain he still tries hard but he's slow , injured , ill , can't pass , tackle or ( especially ) kick there's not a lot of wonder he's struggling. The only stupid thing is that we keep paying him to not be able to do what is necessary AND defend him when he is so so poor. He's not on his own as many have pointed out but he really needs a change of direction or club or job........A new coach may help but he won't get that with us. If he moved he'd end up with an ex Hull coach like Kear or McCrae , no one else would come in for him at the money he would want. Sad but ............

how many times does horne drop the ball off, its the same move about 3 times per set, thats if we complete one, absolutly awfull

i asked tommy lee about that the other year and he said thats the coaches tactics. Horne wont choose to play a boring game just for the fun of it

big dave, i can believe that aswell, but he could somtimes dummy and test out the line himself, try and make a half break and get a quick play the ball, but as we can all see, agars tactics are well passed their sell by date.

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the problem is the board disagree

I would put Horne to f/back...I know Tansey has had a few rough games lately but I would put him in the h/backs, as he is more creative than Horney with ball in hand

And I would put Whiting in the centre as he is wasted on the wing, Oh and I would put Hall in the Under 15s, he will have to start on the bench though..

The only position I can see Horne playing is at stand off along side an organising and creative scrum half. Wouldn't play him full back as Tansey and Whiting are better, not at centre as Yeaman, Whiting and probably T. Briscoe are better than him.

There's a possibility that Long will be fit. If Horne is also [ifully[/i fit then the two of them will be the halves. If Horne isn't 100% I'd leave him out and give Whiting a go at 6 partnering Long.

Leave Tansey at FB, Turner to centre as he isn't a half back. Not sure who to play on the wing - no good choices really.

Well if Long manages to make an appearance, then yes I agree if Horne fit leave him there, or if not I would play Tansey with him, Tansey has been pants the last few games though I do recognise a good player in him so I would be tempted to play him in the halfs, I would put Whiting at f/back and Turner in the centres, I would bring a young one in on the wing or is Jack Brisoce ready yet?

Lets start blooding the youngsters at least they may be more interested than most of the senior players were on Saturday, most of them never even smiled at the fans who cheered the bus in on Saturday... Only Radders who really acknowledged the fans

I honestly don't think there's any point messing about with Whiting at FB when he doesn't want to play there and we've signed Tansey as our FB. He may be having a bad spell but he's hardly a disaster, and Whiting is wasted at FB - he's defensively sound but isn't as effective in attack. He needs to see the ball more and be in a pivotal position.

now where have i heard that before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

turner to centre -agree.

absolute passenger at times...most times in fact,...great respect for horne because he could have jumped ship many years ago but he has been poor for a long time......
in my opinion, if he was an ozzie in the nrl, he would be looking at a bumper pay day in super league at this stage of his career...not fast enough, not creative enough but has got the rep honours to warrent big bucks...
as much as it pains me.....fc should get rid

A lot of very short sightedness here I am afraid.
Players play to a design , not ad hoc , even when it looks poor they are still going through the drills that they learn on the paddock but if your missing half backs you will look dire, as all teams do in that sitrep.
Horne is a very creative explosive player playing no worse than anyone else and out of 10 carries he will look for an offload at least 6 of them but due to lack of speed in the middle there is no one there with him hence he dies on the ball a lot, sad but true!!
This is a new team, give them time to get everyone on the felt at once and you will see a different outcome, RA does not injure players

Horne has NEVER been a creative player,Cooky and Jason Smith were the creative players and Horney used to benefit from the situations that these players created,once the creativity mantle was passed to Horney,unfortunately his failings appeared.
This year I had hopes that after Longy signing he would complement Horney and improvement would be forthcoming,however our inability to field Longy and Horney for any significant period has resulted in the same old same old,CoCo agar telling Horney to lead the team around the park when he is clearly not up to it.
You say players play to a plan and not "Ad Hoc" Teams also Defend to a design and sometimes the improvised play or Off The Cuff sidestep or long pass or dummy is the only way to split a Well Drilled defence,of course you would have to be a creative player to do this,and hence why in my opinion Horney doesn't fit the bill,never has and never will.
This is also NOT a NEW TEAM full pre season and now almost halfway through the season,I agree Agar does not injure players but as Head Coach it is his responsibility to adapt and create a gameplan that will allow the available players to be competative.This is something that he is clearly incapable of.

Horne is not and never has been a explosive creative player....

I'd argue that he certainly has been explosive, but not creative in the traditional sense.

Having said that, Saint Briscoe always claimed that he scored so many tries because he just followed Horne around, and Horne does OK in the Try Assists stats.

You maybe right, it seems such a long time ago when he consistetly played like that though



I hope he is not 100% fit really because before he got injured he appeared to hit his straps again, which gives us heart that he still has it, and i agree with you it will make a difference when Long is back, whenever that may be and for how long god only knows

Horne clearly isn't fully fit, and TBH that is my biggest concern about him now. I remember when he was just about ever present, but now he seems to have become a lot more fragile. I still think that fully fit and with Long as a partner he can do a good job for us - the question is how often those two things will happen at the same time.

The decision to play a badly-injured Richard Horne on Saturday was an absolute disgrace!

To anyone sat near the players' tunnel, it was very evident that he actually limped ONTO the pitch and was in sheer agony when he was thankfully withdrawn just before the hour mark.

To watch him, bandaged completely down one side, hobble and grimace throughout was almost cruel. When he was pitifully unable to bend his back in the lead up to Quins first try, it was just sad!

The fact is, all things being equal, Horne should be approaching his career peak about now.

But, by playing him almost constantly from the age of 16, the club have completely burnt him out at the age of 27.

The word is that, after Saturday's senseless exertions, he is having a scan this week and could miss the rest of the season!

I hope the word is wrong...I agree with you though about players not being 100% fit and being played..pure madness

Got to agree 100% with the above.

Yup, i said the same earlier in the thread. Should have played Nicklas instead.

Wonder if his diabetes has anything to do with his fitness and performance

He looked like he'd got on top of that earlier in the year. I'd say it's more the niggling injuries he keeps picking up and he then isnt rested to recover.