COLEMAN OR SMITH : Tue Sep 06, 2011 12:01 pm  

Not wanting to throw any moggies amongst pigeons but am i the only one still struggling to have faith in our scrum half . J-mel signed with such high promise but as yet has failed to impress me (even in the reserves) Smith seems the more natural half back with more zip. Will certainly need to sign a better standard half back pairing for next season should we go up and have JD at loose ........ thoughts anyone ???

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:20 pm  

Both!

I'd play JD at loose forward and move Baines in to the 2nd row.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:11 am  

Stealth Comic wrote:

Both!

I'd play JD at loose forward and move Baines in to the 2nd row.

I think we need to run the team.
We would never fall out as we seem to think along the same lines.................not sure if thats a good thing.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:10 pm  

Hellliwell is better than both Smith and Coleman.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:14 pm  

redeverready wrote:

Hellliwell is better than both Smith and Coleman.

When I saw Luke play for the first time last season I thought he had real potential and didn't mind getting stuck in.

He's not had a very good season this time around though. I don't think his distribution is good enough for a half back at this level. His longer passes seem to fall short which either slows the momentum of the attack down or leads to handling errors.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:14 am  

And he seems a tad injury prone ??? When JD and luke have paired up together they looked (at times) like defences havent known what the hell to do with them ....

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:14 am  

It's a difficult one really because all 3 have never had a prolonged spell either through injury or squad rotation. Smith and Helliwell have had more than Coleman. In my opinion all 3 have their individual merits such as pace, flair etc but on the flip side they each have their weaknesses. It's certainly an area to look at next season as this is a crucial position. Every successful team has a quality halfback.

I tend to agree with Stealth that I would play two of the above and let JD do his stuff at 13. Based on Sundays performance which one of forwards do you drop? Illy was defensively sound. Will and Baines were top draw.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:58 pm  

Dominance wrote:

I tend to agree with Stealth that I would play two of the above and let JD do his stuff at 13. Based on Sundays performance which one of forwards do you drop? Illy was defensively sound. Will and Baines were top draw.

Got to admit it's a difficult but good situation to be in. Maybe even too good when you so many good back row forwards all on pay as you play contracts.

Mind you it's a 17 man game nowadays. Someone can be can still be just as important a player coming off the bench as a starter.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:50 pm  

After this season, maybe its time for JD to be a coach only.

Re: COLEMAN OR SMITH : Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:22 pm  

The existing halfbacks all have their own good and bad points, but only one of them (JD) have the confidence and ability to move the team around the park.

If you look at the excellent video of JD's best bits then ask yourself which of our other halfbacks would have scored even half of those tries? JD has an eye for the gap and his determination and mental toughness is second to no one else in our team.

Ideally JD should be at loose forward, but as things stand we are effectively getting an extra forward when he plays himself at stand off.

If we win the next two matches we are up and I hope he bases his selection on this thought alone rather than "team rotation" and "giving everyone a chance".