There's a number of issues at the minute for me.

Walsh has not come back the same player he was prior to the injury, he's out of form and isn't directing the side around.

Burns is not the player that was described when we signed him (others will probably say 'I told you so'), but whilst he appears indestructible, he's next to useless in directing the team around (and to think some on here wanted him to be captain at the beginning of the season because he shouted at Vea in a scrum). He's been a poor signing so far.

Wilkin is injured, it's not a coincidence that we've fallen to bits during the period he's been missing. He's the only other player, bar Walsh, that can effectively direct the team around the park.

Confidence looks shot, especially in defence. Players are second guessing themselves, hesitating, trying too hard, etc. all over the park and it's leading to easy tries being conceded.

The first three things Cunningham can do little about, I'm one of those that doesn't like kids being chucked into weakened sides unless it's necessary, but the last one, the confidence is his (and the coaching staff) job to change. It's not working at the moment, and changes need to be made, but I don't think that's necessarily him being sacked. He needs to learn from this experience.

Look, I'm not exactly jumping over the moon about Burns, either. But unless we are going to cut the guy loose (expensive) we're just going to have to learn to live with his limitations.

Right now he's fit. Which is more than we can say about Walsh. And we know that Burns & Wilkin can function as an effective partnership. Indeed, Saints' best form was with that pairing.

Sans any other suggestions I think we should go with those two and take Walsh out of the firing line. Who knows - maybe a few weeks away from the pressure will be the spur he needs. I bloody hope so.

To be fair to Quinlan - he was always on a loser coming into a club at such short notice with the kind of creative difficulties we are experiencing.

Most oversees players need anywhere between six and twelve months to find their feet. Given that no-one in Australia seems all that sure about whether he's a half or a back it's lunacy to expect him suddenly to start tearing up it up.

On a wet pitch his size is a real problem, tho. Personally I think he should have come forward a bit more often and provided some kind of variation out of the dummy half. He is pretty quick over the first twenty and he has very good hands. At least it would have made Huddersfield think twice about stacking up to defend against Roby all the time.

The funny thing is against Warrington he did precisely that. And it worked. Whether he was told not to go forward - or he just couldn't be d, who knows?

I don't disagree with what you say apart from the size bit. It doesn't bother the likes of Matty Bowen, Lomax etc

Just a thought, and probably not for this season but the following two years of his contract: might Burns give us better service as a rotation hooker? It would suit his competitiveness and would take pressure off his decision making in defence. Then we could slot someone else into 6, whether that's young Richardson or a signing (*cough*Eastmond*cough*).

When you think about it Burns started to lose form when Walsh returned to the side, the first 6 weeks of the season Burns went OK not fantastic but kept the team ticking over. Walsh returns with mental doubt about his injury, could,t get back to last seasons form and Burns no longer knows what his role is in the team, so who is responsible for this situation were our halves play like total strangers with each other.

I don't think the answer is terminating their contracts but to get it fixed, Walsh and Burns can't really play any other position than in the halves. Richardson could be 2 seasons away from being a first team player, the only cost effective option is to go lower league, could possibly go for the much improved Gaskell from Bradford who could play fullback, centre, stand off and scrum half.