Halves

[welsh wizard]

I think most people knew this but it showed up glaringly last night how short we are in the HB dept

We only have hanbury who is genuine HB

White,watts have mostly played at interchange 9,Clarke is natural 9 but will mostly play 13,and started at 7

Craven,gore and gilmore are natural halves but cant be thrown in too early

Its going to be a long season unless watts gets back soon and stays fit

Theres always the chance that phelps can play HB,that would ease the problem

[MT]

I think Stefan Marsh would be a better option at stand-off rather than having Clarke in the halves.

[Ratboy]

I think Craven should go at halfback if Watts is injured.He is doing well at full back but do worry when he gets peppered with high kicks.He has a good back up game and clever kicks like his try.

[Mr Widnes]

By all accounts Clarke didn't look fit in the warm up. May suggest why he was off all second half - hopefully just as a precaution.

[Hugo]

The guy who started the thread is on the money! John Clarke at stand off??? Please!!!

[Peter]

I think Craven should go at halfback if Watts is injured.He is doing well at full back but do worry when he gets peppered with high kicks.He has a good back up game and clever kicks like his try.

I thought that Craven was in the squad as the automatic cover for Watts. I would have been inclined to play Craven at Stand Off, keep Clarke as loose forward, put Isa at Fullback and either Brown on the wing or Haggerty/Cahill at centre.

Having said that I don 't see the players in training nor do I attend team talks.

[The Horses Mouth]

I think Craven would have been stand off last night had Briscoe and Flynn not been out injured.

Betts' only real option was to move Craven to full back to cover, leaving him short of a half back, and with limited options I think Clarke was the right choice.

If Phelps had been available he would have slotted in at fb.

It's a starting point and, as others have said on different threads, once players become available we will be a totally different team.

"Live The Dream".

[swansea babs]

I saw enough last night (via tv) to give me grounds for plenty of optimism.  I agree half back was the main problem area.
Scrum half at stand off and loose forward at scrum half.  the team was unbalanced. I am certain the return of Watts will
correct that problem and the others who missed last last night will make considerable difference.  Discipline needs to be
tightened and there was a tendency to panic at times.  However. I feel there were a lot of positives to be taken and I
am looking forward to the arrival of Phelps and Kite and the next games in Super League where widnes will  re.establish
this historically great team/

[Glynn]

I saw enough last night (via tv) to give me grounds for plenty of optimism.  I agree half back was the main problem area.
Scrum half at stand off and loose forward at scrum half.  the team was unbalanced. I am certain the return of Watts will
correct that problem and the others who missed last last night will make considerable difference.  Discipline needs to be
tightened and there was a tendency to panic at times.  However. I feel there were a lot of positives to be taken and I
am looking forward to the arrival of Phelps and Kite and the next games in Super League where widnes will  re.establish
this historically great team/

roll on the challange cup they might even win a game.

[baby-elvis]

roll on the challange cup they might even win a game.

Our foremost expert scrounged a cheap ticket then   What a pathetic comment to make after one game

[tommy arra]

Agree with this. Halves wern't quite good enough in their half. Though I do quite like hanbury. Plus Clarke was going OK as a pivot until he went off. White was a waste of a shirt when he came on.  Let's hope Watts can stay fit and play regularly alongside hanbury and form a decent partnership. He has the skill level to play 6, but as has already been said, he has mainly played 9 in the past. I hope he can make the 6 spot his own.

Overall, I was quite happy with last nights performance. We matched them up the middle and it could have been a totally different scoreline with a few key decisions going the other way along with literally the bounce of the ball. (failing to gather the ball from kicks through on 2 occasions when we looked certain to score)

I think we should be happy with that as our first super league game, especially with us missing a few key players. Things can only get better.

[Glynn]

Our foremost expert scrounged a cheap ticket then  What a pathetic comment to make after one game

no paid £22 doorhandle,

might be a pathetic comment but most the spangles you post is pathetic