Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 2:03 pm  

If GOB and Bridge work out with Ratchford at fb then better still.
Sorry FMC.
GOB is always in my plan, R&B may be a short term solution for a 18 month old problem.

What is for sure hb combinations with Myler other than that of Briers haven't been our A game.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:21 pm  

Wire Yed wrote:

What are people's gripes with O'Brien, other than he isn't Briers?

OK, Yed.
I can't make my mind up whether this is a gripe or not, BUT.....

I think we are all forgetting, O'Brien is now 23.....yes, that's TWENTY THREE. Not still a "wet behind the ears" 19 year-old.
He's understudied (and learned off) Briers. He's been loaned out to other clubs to get first team experience. (IIRC) He's had training sessions involving Andrew Johns. He's being coached by a GF winner, and we STILL say he's learning/developing. HE'S TWENTY THREE, FFS. He should have learned/developed by now.
At 23 we should have the finished article.

Don't get me wrong, he's a good lad. Is he at the level we need him to be (consistently playing great/MoMs)? I'd say no.

The next 6-18 months are going to be interesting at The Wire, half-backwise

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:22 pm  

Wire Yed wrote:

What are people's gripes with O'Brien, other than he isn't Briers?

Without wanting to be too harsh on the lad, its just that he's a bit ordinary, isn't he??

If I go through my time following Wire, its fair to say we have had some cracking half backs over the years.... Parry Gordon, Ken Kelly, Andy Gregory, Keith Holden, John Woods, Phil Blake, Greg Mackey, Kelly Shelford, and quite a few more, the list is a pretty long and impressive one.... Unfortunately, O'Brien (and all the others trying to do the job at present, with the possible exception of Ratchford) isn't a patch on any of those.

I accept it isn't only a Wire problem - the quality of half backs in general in the British game is pretty lousy - but seeing the side continue in such a one-dimensional, tedious manner will not be good for the club, not just in the hunt for honours, but in the long term job of getting folk through the turnstiles and actually being able to entertain them with some rugby that people will actually want to watch, rather than endure.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:31 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Without wanting to be too harsh on the lad, its just that he's a bit ordinary, isn't he??

If I go through my time following Wire, its fair to say we have had some cracking half backs over the years.... Parry Gordon, Ken Kelly, Andy Gregory, Keith Holden, John Woods, Phil Blake, Greg Mackey, Kelly Shelford, and quite a few more, the list is a pretty long and impressive one.... Unfortunately, O'Brien (and all the others trying to do the job at present, with the possible exception of Ratchford) isn't a patch on any of those.

There, ladies and gentlemen, is a very good theory, and possibly, the truth. He is a bit ordinary (too many times)

If there are any Wakefield/Widnes/ both Hull team's fans reading this, then I apologise, but that's the level of club, where GO'B is currently at. He's not playing at the kind of level, for a club that should be challenging for honours, come August and October

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:03 pm  

Gareth O'Brien reminds me of Rocky Turner. An OK player. Good goal kicker. But not quite good enough.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:20 pm  

I'm a great fan of Ratchford's but in my opinion he isn't a half back because he doesn't pass the ball enough although he is great at finding gaps, & as for Bridge ,he tends to get pretty long term injuries at some time during the season so leave him where he is at centre,where he can still do plenty of attacking, & let Myler & O'Brien develop together. They do need to practice their kicking game though.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:31 pm  

It would be good to let Myler & O'Brien develop together. But Myler is beginning to become a "Tampax" man.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:34 pm  

As long as one of them can partner Cronk effectively next season that'll do.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:42 pm  

Builth Wells Wire wrote:

Gareth O'Brien reminds me of Rocky Turner. An OK player. Good goal kicker. But not quite good enough.

Ah, come on, he's better than Turner, FFS. He can run at more than 1 mph for a start.

Re: 7 Ratchford & 6 Bridge. Lessons Need To Be Learnt. : Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:21 pm  

I like O'Brien. I think he has the ability to become a very good player.
I think the turnover of playing staff over the last 16 months has caused problems on the edges.
We had a fairly steady left edge of
Riley, Atkins, Waterhouse and Myler
A right edge of
Monaghan, Bridge, Westwood and Briers.

Now the only player remaining on the left edge is Atkins, When Waterhouse was injured Laithwaite played on that side but Laithwaite is now playing right second row with curie filling in there. Myler has moved to the right edge.

Then on the right edge for the first 4 games this year only Bridge and Monaghan in the Catalan game have played in their standard positions from 2013.
A lot of these changes have been forced by injuries in recent games
We look lost when we shift the ball to either side and I dont think that is all to do with the halfbacks. Some of the lines the runners are making are giving little or no option for the halves.
If we managed to play Westwood at Right second row with Bridge and Monaghan outside then the only change from 2011-2013 is Myler for Briers, At least there would be a bit of understanding on that side.
Laithwaite back with Atkins on the left edge (OK Evans is out for a while) would give a bit of consistency from last year.

If we keep some of the players where they have been playing for a while then there maybe a bit more understanding, I still think we will continue to look clunky when we shift. We have often tipped the ball on pushing the player towards the touchline with nowhere to go.
To me we have the players to do a lot of damage down the middle (See the build up to the try away against Hull or OBriens try late last year away at Cas) now we have Clarke but we don't use this anywhere near as often as we should. We look our most dangerous when we have players like Clarke, Atkins, Russell, Ratchford jumping out of Dummy half or having runners cutting back in behind the markers but I appreciate that Hill, Sims etc need to have done the hard work down the middle first.
I say start with Harrison at LF, Westwood back to Right second row, Laithwaite to left second row and Currie coming off the bench.
None of this solves the kicking game though but I dont think Ratch and O'Brien are as bad in that department as we are making out, I wouldnt let Myler near a kick on the fifth tackle unless it was a kick to the corner for Monaghan.
The halves come up against another set of NRL standard halves this weekend - Should be interesting but I would be concentrating on punching holes behind the marker, at least we would be playing to our strengths.