Agree with that, plus for the first few games he's going to be bit of unknown quantity for the opposition.

Thats fair enough and he's not a kid you're right, and if Potter agrees with you (and most other people it seems

) then I'm happy to trust his call, it'll just prove why he's a super league coach and I'm not



I'm just a bit more cautious having talked to a fev season ticket holder I know who thinks he might take some time adjusting (but is certain he will, just a question of timing) and having seen him myself. We do have quite a start, he's joined us late, but I really do understand your logic of if he's our starting 6 for the year then he plays asap and either swims or sinks in the opening games, and normally thats exactly my thoughts too....all I'm saying is its not what [uI'd [/udo in this instance, without seeing him yet in a Bulls shirt. I'll be seeing him at the wakey friendly and maybe at the dewsbury one (hopefully) so I might well change my mind.

[size=85#waits for next person to tell me I'm wrong

#[/size

The thing is, Briggs has got a month before the game against Leeds. Which includes a week of warm weather training. There's no reason he won't be up to speed with the rest of the team.

I'm sure MP will know if he's ready when we get to Cardiff.

For those suggesting that Briggs plays a few U20's games before he plays in the first team. The U20's season doesn't start till the 21st of Feb that would mean 2 first teams games have already been missed.

Well yes, cheers for the info, that could well change my view, no point having the lad not playing at all.

and isnt it the situation pretty much across the league that most teams only have 1 dedicated standoff and then have have to resort to other players playing out off their natural positions?. We have reasonable backup for standoff with kearney,ah van, addy and southernwood (who wakey fans told us when we signed him is equally at home in the standoff role). Note I said backup. Of course Briggs ideally would be available and starting. Im not convinced we should rush him in against leeds and wigan but If he goes well in remaining friendlies then my opinion on that could change.

I'd personally be more worried about our squad depth for the scrumhalf position. As it stands we have herbert, southernwood then at a push maybe l'estrange. According to fev fans briggs is an out and out standoff and cant cover scrumhalf

There is generally less and less difference.

agree in principle but in practice you tend to find one half is better at organising and the other is better at support play. Typically the scrum half is the organise and the standoff is the support player although the exact opposite can be the case. Ideally you'd have two halves who excelled in both areas but that doesnt happen very often and there can be an issue having two organisers in the same team anyway.

Whilst I am absolutely delighted that we have a genuine SO recruited now, I can't help but think why wasn't he signed earlier ???

Area that we were in greatest need ?
Can't imagine he is the highest earner we have signed (so not affected by the Awful situ)

We then wouldn't be having these discussions about if he's ready / knows the moves etc

The little matter of finally conceding defeat on trying to sign Pryce, maybe?

And about time, would you not agree? It was getting almost as tiresome reading about the second coming of Pryce as it was reading about the toerag Orford's ongoing soap opera.

I'm just happy we've signed a SO who comes highly recommended, is young and British, and we did the deal in the right way with Featherstone. As well as the fact he has some great potential.

Not so sure, as I still think we could have them both (Price & Briggs). Still reckon Price's best position is FB, but we're not exactly short there are we !

Briggs might not be the highest earner, but the live salary cap would prevent us signing a player if we don't have space to pay for him. There's also the fact Briggs was contracted for another year with Fev. It's only because Fev likely resigned themselves to losing him for nothing at the end of the year so possibly spoke to his agent and asked to try and get an SL club to come in and taking him for a fee.

salary cap wise your probably right. but not sure we could afford to pay transfer fees for both.

Knowing that Leon was like before he left about wanting to play Stand Off, I don't think he'd join any club that meant he was playing any other position.

Depending on how his head is, Pryce's future should be at 13.

It's an interesting thought, and there's no doubt he's got the skill. The only caveat I would have is Leon's habit of drifting in and out of games; you can get away with that a little at stand off but at number 13, particularly in defence, I would suggest not.

Been saying this for years.

We probably won't get Pryce this year.

I've heard that we definitely might.

Someone at the club told me you might.

also whilst we dont have an obvious standout candidate for loose forward this year, going forward into 2012 addy,donaldson and maybe bateman will all be potentially vying for the spot (just not sure any of them are quite ready this year). So do we really need to be bringing in a highly paid 30 yr old to play 13.

Same reason as why we don't need to be bringing in a highly paid 30 year old to play SO, when we have just signed an up and coming youngster with great promise to play there. Let's see what this season brings and where / if we need to recruit (depends a lot on OOC current players at end of year also !).

I know I'll be shot down about "The Prodigal Son" not returning, but hey-ho, just mjy thoughts...............

If Briggs is up to the job I hope we leave Pryce where he is. He's not going to want to play anywhere but no6.

He won't want to play anywhere but 6 and if we play Briggs from Game 1 he and Herbert could form a lethal partnership (they are same age well near enough as well). Bring Southernwood into the mix in case of injuries and we will have a beat of a team