You have signed him on loan to the end of the season should get released today, lee briers and Ben harrison confirmed on twitter and a few people congratulating gaz and he's thanking them hope he does well for you

Good move I suppose, although I think we'd all rather see what Danny Yates could do for us.

What? Saints use their own halfbacks? Never! We just dispatch them to other clubs!

How dare we shield some kids that are deemed to not be ready yet and risk exposing more kids too soon. Give it up

It reads on the Warrington Guardian that he's joined on a months loan and not as the OP has quoted as "Until the end of season".
He's a good player Gareth and you will see the benefit in your results immediately.

Saints have just confirmed the signing, a month's loan with immediate effect. I'm not sure whether this will help us or hinder us as we have had so much disruption this season that adding a brand new player to the team just as we are meeting up with Hudds who trounced us last time out may well be asking a lot of O'Brien and the team.

I hope he's been on the tackle bags. When I saw him play for Swinton he was poor in defence on the line!

Except I wasn't talking about our under 19s. I was talking about the Saints raised halfbacks we have scattered around the Superleague. I think it speaks to our poor retention that we have been left with no option but to beg off our near neighbours.

Good short term fix, what we need for now and it's good for all involved

The only one who might have been worth keeping is Matty Smith, the rest aren't up to it

Jamie Ellis doesn't seem to be doing too badly.

Its a move that will be good for all parties, I'd say.

Gareth will get good SL experience, Wire will get good development for one of their youngsters and, most importantly, we'll get a decent scrum half.

Even if its only for a month, it will allow us to set up better and get some solid patterns down which would perhaps make it easier for Danny Yates to then step in?

Wigan have shown that when you have a strong structure, it allows players to slot in more easily. We've been a real mess for a time now, even before injuries, so that's made it harder for new guys to come in. Hopefully this can be a good step towards developing our play.

Jamie Ellis is doing very little for arguabley the worst team in the league.
He was also released from his contract early and, if rumours about the Grand final night 2010 are true, not for rugby reasons.

He isn't a scrum half. He's a stand off.

How can a genuine half back helping the club out be a hindrance. Allows Wheeler to get match fit for a start. Unfair to throw even more youngsters into first team games, we obviously feel likes of Charnock isnt ready & Yates has only just returned from months out. For those taking about O'Brien's tackling, have we not watched Hohaia's efforts recently or the missed tackles from Ashe who's clearly not good enough.

If Wire sign the Leigh scrum half as mooted & have the likes of Ratchford, Myler & Briers whose to say O'Brien would fancy a permanent move?
Gauls me when people talk about developing our own, FFS how many debutants in one season do people want. They don't drop off trees & develop at different rates.

With regards retention I don't see any saints outcasts ripping it up elsewhere. Gaskell wasnt trusted by Rush, KC or Brown & the rest were nowhere near good enough.

Didn't look like that at Magic weekend. And they have a decent squad. I'm quite sure their present coach will bring out the best in them. Wouldn't mind Clarke for a start and Shenny is looking like his pre-Saints self again too.


I never take any notice of rumours as they are just that. And even if true, since we kept the likes of Longy on in spite of all his off-field and well documented troubles it is hardly likely that off-field antics would result in him being released.

Correct

A brand new player who hasn't a clue about our systems (assuming we have any!) and doesn't know our players (to play alongside I mean) and they don't know him, is thrown in at the deep end against the team who smashed us in the first game of the season. I could see that being a hindrance. We haven't done well with all the mixing and matching that has been going on and this is yet another halfback combination. If he was very experienced then he would probably be able to minimise the pressure of being a new team member at a stressful time (ie we are hardly winning a match) but he isn't and so it could be very difficult.

Hopefully it won't be but it might be.

Jamie Ellis has been woefully inconsistent this season & was released for non - rugby issues. If he's the standard you think would solve Saints issues god help us.

From a Wire point of view I am not really happy with this. Regardless of what your current position is you WILL be one of the teams challenging us in the play off's. I have said this before Saints will be in the last four of the play offs & the higher you get in the league table the more of a risk to us you will be. I am okay with us loaning players to Cas, Wakey Broncos & Salford. But not to one of our main play off rivals.

The whole of the Cas team has been woefully inconsistent. They're now on their third coach in a season.

I'm wondering whether anyone will define this mythical standard that people on here are always banging on about. I see we are in 8th at present and Cas aren't that far behind us, now with a very good coach installed.

And who is to say that O'Brien will be any better? Hopefully he will do fine but he's under pressure from the off so I don't envy him his role.

You have a player on loan at Hudds don't you? They're above you in the league so I guess rivalry isn't really a priority in the minds of your coach/management.

A sad day for the club IMO. Having to go to a rival that until recently was a joke figure to us, cap in hand for a handout of their fourth choice halfback shows how poor a state we're in.

We have mixed & matched as Brown is looking for a pair who could guide us around the park short term. Hasnt worked & nobody in club good enough, with Wheeler constantly injured.

Whether he knows "our systems" or not he is a genuine half back. Unlike many others he has a kicking game & is a far better & more accurate passer of the ball than the likes of Ashe.

We have players playing in the halves who clearly aren't halves, knowing when to take on the line, a straight forward run around & ability to pass both sides of the ruck dont require years of gelling with youre team mates. A bit of organisation on the 6th tackle would at the very least improve our field position.