Saints have said it's in Warrington's court as to how long he stays with us. I think the basics for Warrington are that if they don't get any injuries in the halves he can stay with us. They will pull him for the play offs though, they won't leave him with us to potentially cause them problems, which is fair enough.

Thats depending you get in the play offs

Without doubt I'd try and keep him. He's not been brilliant but he a real halfback which makes the team more balanced. He knows what's expected of him and knows what he's doing.

I'd even pay a small fee to keep him until the end of the season including the play offs but Warrington won't let us have him for play offs (If we make it).

I wouldbt want him at a permanent first choice halfback tho as IMO he's few years off being a really good half.

At least it is comforting to know that we must be better off than Wigan in the half's - they've got Matty Smith, who couldn't even get in our team!

Seriously, thought he had a stormer tonight for the goons against dire. To think, we loaned him out, got him back, loaned him out again and he found new clubs.

Matty Smith is a far better player than O'Brien. Smith was always a decent player and he's maturing into the best English half back there is. (Excluding Rango)

We'd have kept Matty Smith if we didn't have Eastmond at the time. We made big errors from that point on in the halves.

As for O'Brien we should do everything we can to keep him here till the end of the season as we have no other options and Gary Wheeler can't be relied upon to stay fit. The worry will be if we do manage to keep O'Brien and we meet Warrington at any point in the Play Offs. I can't see them allowing him to play against them.

Were not as fussy in league games. We've had Mitchell, Rhys Williams, Mendika all play & score against us in games gone by whilst out on loan.
It wouldn't be right allowing a team member to play for someone else in the play offs in my mind should you play them. Imagine if we had Perry on loan and he actually carried the ball forward more than twice? Your fans would go mental

Reliably informed today (from a friend who works for Warrington Wolves) that Gareth O'Brien will be staying for longer and that Saints are interested in offering him a two year contract.

Aslong as Lomax stays fit at Number 1 then a partnership of O Brien and Walsh would work fine Imo. Split them Left and right recievers and both got decent kicking games. We would lack a running game but thats where Lomax fits in!

This would leave Wheeler in a very tricky position. It really is his last shot at playing for Saints when he comes back after his current injury. Another injury would see the end of his Saints career I reckon.

I mentioned that we needed another signing as well as Walsh. If we sign him to end our woes and then he gets injured, we're back toscratching around.

Realistically, you need 3 players to cover the 2 half back positions - taking injury into account.
So we've got Walsh. That's 1.
Wheeler is always, always injured.
Lomax should be kept at fullback.
Wello is hopefully not staying and if he is, is a poor half.
Hohaia and Swift don't really seem in the coaches plans.
Danny Yates has not been used and Dougie Charnock only once, perhaps they're deemed not ready.
Scully has not yet announced his comeback.
Wilkin - ok back up half if there someelse who knows what they're doing.

So on the above, getting GOB on a permanant deal seems a good move, but I do wonder about the likes of Charnock, Yates and Swift - are we getting (or trying to get) as much from these guys as we could be?

We'd all be in too much shock to make any noise

His Saints career is already over, he's just lucky he's got another year of being paid before he joins the queue at the job centre.

Ah, you never disappoint Saddened.

Maybe it is/was just too soon for Charnock and Yates - Yates had an injury lets not forget.

It seems that Wigan did not think that Powell and the other HB were ready so brought in Green and Smith. Hopefully Yates and Charnock will be ready to provide proper cover in 2014.

I think O'Brien could be just what Wheeler needs to motivate him. The lad must know this is it for him?

Yeah, I agree with that. There isn't a great difference between 6 and 7 in the game at the minute anyway to be honest, but O'Brien and Walsh in the halves would certainly help bring the best out of Lomax. With those two pulling the strings in midfield, Robes at 9 and Lomax at 1, we have a spine there who are all capable of bringing the best out of each other. I think we will see a huge difference in our game in an attacking sense next season, and that's starting to become evident. If you have that, and you have those threats, the likes of Manu and Turner start to influence things that little bit more, and that's what's happened over the past couple of weeks.

He hasn't done anything to extravagant, but he provides an element of 'neatness' and structure to our play. That provides our strike players with opportunities, and we have shown both against Bradford and Salford that we are more than capable of creating opportunities, and threatening teams in an attacking sense.

I prefer having a ball playing halfback like Walsh to play with a ball running halfback. It can work having two out and out ball playing halves but IMO one should be a player that takes the line on. I don't think any of them take the line on.

Suppose that is Lomax's role since we split the HBs

You mean a team system that only has one taker on of the line?

Only a team with a very limited outlook to attack would do that; like........oh hang on, us.

Finch and Leuluai?

If you have potent centres and full back, ball players who can read play are just a valuable as halves that threaten the line all game.

Both lulu and Finch could take the line on when required. Walsh and O'Brian don't

You're on real.

Lulu and Finch are not ball runners, of course they can do it as can anybody with legs. However its not there natural game.

That's why I said they can take the line on when requied to do so. O'Brian basically stops dead if he has to take the ball in and Luke Walsh is famous for not taking taking the line on. That's why IMO we need a running stand off.

horrible performance from O'Brien last night. hopefully his last in a Saints jersey.