You could always try and grab Danny Orr from Harlequins before he goes to Cas.
We might even let you have Burrow when he is fit till the end of the season


Other than that you must play Southernwood and at least give him a chance.
He has got to be better than Sykes at SH.

He's getting better at playing centre as the position lends itself to fewer bloopers but he's not "pretty solid". He's just about adequate. If I were the opposition I'd target Southernwood all the more if he defended next to Platt.

There are no easy fixes. It'd be easy to throw the kid in but the coach needs to carefully work out where and when.

11 missed tackles in 9 games isn't too bad, plus as you say, he's still learning the position and its certainly better than if Sykes was in the centres.

Menzies would be best option, but we can't affor to take him out of the pack till one of Langley or Lynch are back.

If Southernwood is on the light side and is in danger of getting hurt because of that then don't play him, otherwise give him a shot.

I think his time has come he's surly seen to be the future it worked for Saints.

TT for England?

Southernwood (5'9 - 70kg) is too small to play first grade. Look at what happened to Wigan when they played that slightly built Tomkins lad - 5'9 - 79kg (Sam not Joel obviously). Way too small he is!

Tbf, Tomkins is one of the smallest, so if Southernwood is even smaller it may be risky.
Having said that, Rob Burrow is only 66kg and he's done alright.

Yeah but Tomkins has been playing first grade for a year. He would have been a similar size when he made his debut.

I suppose.

I'm in the give him a shot camp. A young half back has got to do better in his normal position than a senior full back/back rower/centre/hooker being put in the halves.

Rob Burrow isn't 5'9" so his muscle mass in proportion means it's less of an issue.

Without being to hard on Southernwood I'd say 70kg and 5'9" means he's a bit of a shrimp, he's just 11st 2lbs .

I'd not fancy his chances if he got isolated in defence.

Add to that Southernwood is much younger than Tomkins when he made his debut.

Size didn't stop Donaldson tackling that fat prop from Wigan with the silly name all on his own a year or so ago though - but I get your point.

Southernwood's not exactly on the stocky side is he? For a full game he'd be targeted for sure and that would drain him for when he did have the ball in hand.

I think the key is to break Southernwood in gently and I'm sure the coaching staff know it. If he gets a run this year I'd put him on off the bench at a time when the opposition have their least damaging runners out there. For example, say when Hull take off Lauaki and Manu I'd stick Southernwood on!

Eastmond is still only 75kg now, he's been ripping SL up this season.

I remember Leon Pryce being fairly skinny when he made his debut (but he was tall which makes him look skinnier).

Danny Brough is only 76kg aswell.

I don't reckon he's exceptionally small, he'd manage imo and if he's in he squad then he can't be too far off selection.

Eastmond and Brough are both shorter than Southernwood. 11st on someone 5'9" is quite skinny.
Pryce is 6ft 4 and was more than 11st when he debuted on the wing.

Ask around at the club and you'll get told that Southernwood was brought in with an eye to 2011+. They'll also say that he needs to put on some muscle.

I don't doubt that he needs to, but the club also needs someone to play scrum-half, and I'd suggest that he's getting closer to his debut. If we keep playing like last week McNamara will have no other alternative.

But are we playing so badly because we haven't a scrum half or are there other more fixable ways we can improve? I agree he's nearer a debut but he's a long way from being the player to transform the team.

You never know with the young 'uns though do you?

If we try out all the options in the halves (Addy, Kearney, Menzies, L'Estrange) then we're going to have to give him a chance. We don't have much cover for the halves, hopefully whoever gets the 7 spot this week will play well and keep their place, but if not Southernwood may be getting himself prepared.

Personally i'd try Menzies 6, Sykes 7. Sykes plays best in the halves when he's got a more experienced, solid player next of him.

you cant wrap them up in cotton wool for god sake. there rugby league players!

.

Frankly that's a load of balls.

You can't just chuck kids in to play without putting some thought into it. Sometimes they're not ready. Obviously given Southernwood's size he'd have to be some player not to be a weak link in defence. Given the other weak links we already have in defence we need to be careful.

It's not a black and white decision.

How difficult is that to grasp?

It's a good job that not everyone has that sort of defeatest attitude we'd never have invented anything like the oil well, never set up multi national companies like BP, never tried to drill for oil at amazing depths and most importantly never won the war.

I agree in an ideal world you don't throw in youngsters because you need to give proper thought to their development.

But lets be real here, we are not in an ideal world - far from it. I don't think its being melodramatic to say we are in a crisis at the moment so to me these considerations are largely irrelevent. I really think in this instance we do need to throw the lad in.

Off camera of course you say to him that we have faith in his ability, yes it will be tough and yes he will be exposed but this is a fantastic opportunity. Handled right, even if he struggles at first it doesn't automatically follow that his development will be harmed.

For too long we hold back our young lads waiting for them to be perfectly ready and before we know it they're 23 and are buggering off elsewhere. Other clubs have a more progressive and sensible approach to just letting them have a blo0dy go occasionally!

Does anyone know whether Southernwood has a good kicking game?

We have been woeful in this area during the last few weeks and neither Sykes or Kearney are particularly great kickers of the ball. My thoughts on Southernwood are that we should probably stick him on the bench and give him a chance. I don't reckon it will happen this week though.