Fixes for the team

[Wintergreen]

Last night cemented my opinions. I offer these to Shaun free of charge. No need to pay my normal commission

1. Bateman to 13 PERMANENTLY. He is way off his best and chopping and changing can't help.

2. Lockers is at that stage of his career that he really can play wherever you put him. I see him ending up as a ball playing prop and a very good one at that.

3. Williams is a talent but ONLY if you play him alongside an organising 7. If you don't then don't play him- he needs the freedom to play 6 off the cuff.

Hamlin needs to play every game. See how he goes but he could remove the need for another prop.

Fix this and given the standard of RL in this country, we will be challenging for pots.

[old hooker]

I agree with most of what you say apart from the Williams bit.If a play maker depends on having a certain type of player along side him to play well he is not good enough.He should be able to take a game by the scruff of the neck and run the show, unfortunately he cant do that, just not good enough.

[Caboosegg]

Williams at 7 lockers at 6 ????

[medlocke]

Williams at 7 lockers at 6 ????

Worth a try

[old hooker]

Williams at 7 lockers at 6 ????

Williams at 7 yes, for St Pats if they are short

[ian.birchall]

But didn't Williams play all his lower age rugby at 7 with Hampshire at 6?

[DaveO]

We play split halves so often the 6 and 7 work independently of each other.

So goes the perceived wisdom but given just about every play just moves towards the left why are we bothering with that?

[moto748]

Even teams that play split halves tend to have a 'dominant' half.

Watch the North Queensland Cowboys, and the ball goes through Thurston on the left more often than it does Morgan on the right.

[DaveO]

Even teams that play split halves tend to have a 'dominant' half.

Watch the North Queensland Cowboys, and the ball goes through Thurston on the left more often than it does Morgan on the right.

To the extent we do? I am not convinced.

[morley pie eater]

3. Williams is a talent but ONLY if you play him alongside an organising 7. If you don't then don't play him- he needs the freedom to play 6 off the cuff.

We play split halves so often the 6 and 7 work independently of each other. The team might play better if we have a certain type of player at 7 but Williams should be just as capable of playing well at 6 with any type of 7.

What matters more when you play split halves is the combinations between players on each edge.

There's no room in the modern game for outdated ideas like 'organising halves' and 'running halves'. Players will always have certain aspects of their games that they are better at but these days those terms are just used to try to mask obvious weaknesses.

Every half should be able to organise an offensive play. If they can't it's not because they're a 'running half' it's because they can't do part of their job well enough.

The team will obviously do better if our 7 possesses strengths that cover Williams' weaknesses but Williams needs to improve aspects of his game to become a more well rounded player.

I respect your insights, cp. I’d love us to have a Sneyd or even Gale/ Brough (!) - who seem to be in control, able to dictate the pace of a game. Is this because of a superior kicking game, “rugby brain”, or what?