assuming no further injuries what team would people go for?

I'm thinking the following

Platt
Halley
Sykes/Crookes
Nero
Semi
Jeffries
Menzies
Scruton
Newton
Lynch
Morrison
Langley
Burgess

Deacon
Kopczak
Cook
Crookes/Sykes

Might be a little light on the bench though. Think we need to try something different in the halves as the current combo isnt clicking and at least jeffries is showing improvement. Take some of pressure off deacs and let him be 2nd hooker/ cover for halves. Menzies has played plenty of standoff and Jeffries is a halfback not a standoff. Prefer Burgess at loose to prop and would use langley to spell the props with Cook filling the 2nd row when langley goes to prop. Only one I'm undecided on is wether to start with Sykes or Crookes. Sykes deserves dropping to bench on last few weeks but Crookes is a bit suspect defensively and we did tighten up on our defense when Sykes shifted to on sunday.

I've just changed a few round to what I would have. Macca won't drop Deacon though, unfortunately.

think halley would be more use on the wing in place of sheriffe as platt has genuinely looked a lot better at FB last couple of games. Other than that I wouldnt argue with your changes too much

Yeah I see where you're coming from, I just think we need a bit of fresh blood at FB, Platt's been a lot beter in terms of defence, but his attacking has still been poor and he has made a few bad handling errors.

Who would take the in-game kicking responsibility?

Jeffries, Newton, Menzies Morrison. It wouldn't be that bigger problem, Deacons in game kicking was pis$ poor in that last match anyway. As for conversions Burgess, Sykes, Jeffries have all got a fair boot on them.

Although not covering himself in glory by his own high standards in the last couple of matches, Deacs has historically been a great tactical kicker. I can't speak for Menzies or Morrison as they have kicked so little in the past (which may be telling in itself) but Newton has only ever kicked low and bouncing off the pitch on the last tackle, fine for a hooker but not what you need from a first receiver kicker, and Jeffries has a proven track record of being a dire kicker.

The issue at half back is who should partner Deacon with the only real contenders currently being hit 'n' miss Jeffries and NRL grand final winning 5/8 Menzies. Personally I don't know how to separate them....

That's in the past at the moment he isn't doing it. Should we continue to pick just because he might do it again.

I don't think we'll need to worry about that!!!

I agree with Mat's line up but as said doubt Deacon will get dropped.

Who's the half backs for reserves? Give them a whirl instead of Jefferies and Deacon.

Shake up the team, break players out of their apathetic comfort zones.

Kick some f'n !!! Gnar Gnar!

And now I'm off back to the bar

Colton Wray and Stuart Proctor both part time.

The reason Deacon's kicking game appears so poor this season is precisely because there are no other players in the team capable of good in-game kicks. The opposition know the ball is going to Deacon and pressure him accordingly, bolting out of the defensive line on the fifth straight for him. At least Harris gave us another option in this area last year.

you want to drop sherriffe when he's scoring tries.

You would have to go back to 2005 for Deacon to match Jeffries stats from last season, where the latter was universally condemned for the quality of his play. Nostalgia aint what it was.

yes, we can't boo the players if they're scoring tries.

That's just not true, he's had loads of kicks in plenty of space and with no pressure which he has completely messed up, he couldn't even make touch from a penalty the other week. If he was being pressured on kicks he needs to adjust his position, all the other kickers in super league manage it.

I'd say it's partly true. Both things have been happening.

It is blindingly obvious who our kicker is so pressure is always going to be on Deacon. it's about time McNamara came up with some alternative options that don't include ust giving it to anyone to hoof downfield.

For instance both Burgess and Sykes have a big boot so could help out in the kicking dept, esp for those going for distance. Sykes may be positioned a bit wide for this but Burgess is central. Why not have him as a kicking option in the middle of the field? If not him then perhaps Jeffries if he can be relied upon.

Anything's better than a repeat of the c0ck up against Hull where Lynch was left to have a kick!

sometimes the big men getting a kick pays off though (niel cowie anyone)

You could put Deacon out on an empty pitch at the minute and he still wouldn't be able to kick it where he wanted, he's just not playing well but that will change.

He is under no more pressure than any other kicker in the super league, he has obviously lost his confidence at the moment, he is taking longer with kicks and become more hesitant. The really embarressing thing is when he is kicking that badly at home, when he knows the pitch/wind direction like the back of his hand there really is no excuse.

Yes you are right that we need a second kicking option, but that is not the problem, the problem is Deacon. Numerous times the forwards are working hard to make the meters, the ball is getting to Deacon with plenty of space and he is time and time again putting in useless kicks, more often than not straight to players and relieving all the pressure we have built up in the previous set. This is killing us at the moment and it is one of the factors of why we are doing so badly.

While I reckon you're right in many cases it's not all down to him. Versus Hull the chasers were very lethargic at times and we didn't create any pressure. Jeffries was guilty of a couple of aimless kicks too. As deacon is the main kicker he gets the plaudits and the brickbats.

We need to start playing as a team. If we position players so Deacon gets more time to kick then that's a start, they don't need to obstruct, merely be in the path of those trying to charge down the kicker. Then the chasing team could use a bit more vigour and involve more than two or three moving up to the bloke who fields the ball.

I'd like to see us mix up the kicks too. Deacon's (and everyone else's) kicks have been pretty poor so far in that they've not created any pressure. We either need to be seriously pinning teams back or kicking so that we have a good chance of contesting the ball and forcing the error. A halfway house of the two just turns the ball over and gives cheap yards away.

This isn't rocket science, it's basics, and I'm sure the players and coach know all this. As with everything else it's another area where we'll be looking for improvement.

Good post, I've highlighted the part that really sums it up for me, the kicks at the moment are just 'nothing kicks', as if the players are hoping for something to happen. Lets just hope it improves in France, hopefully without the pressure from the fans the players can settle and play some better rugby.

Hull was not the first game where we've been pinned down by several very well judged precision kicks, other teams seem to do this with monotonous regularity but when we do it, it's like a minor miracle at the moment.

Other teams also seem to find ways to make decent metres from penalties, in 2009 we seem to pretty much settle for making about 10 metres with the ball disappearing into the crowd high up the terracing or the back of the stand.

We used to see regular 40-20's or attempts at them. I was amazed that given the wind conditions we never seemed to try to use the wind for kicks, in particular no 40-20 attempts, and we never put any real height onto kicks to let the swirling wind do the damage. Near the end we did a couple of half decent cross-wind kicks but why only then? I'd have thought the conditions on Sunday were tailor made for a deadly kicking exponent such as Deacon, yet nothing. Puzzling.

OTOH it was nice to see him back in the groove kicking touchline goals, both into and against the wind.

I think a good kick is often at the mercy of things leading up to it. For example a good quick ptb is needed with the ball coming back cleanly so the dummy half can give a quick accurate pass to the kicker. Too often this season our attacker has been put on his back by the defence who slow down the ruck so quick ball to the kicker is rare.

Service from the dummy half needs to be accurate and passing has been a bit astray lately too.

The team needs to be aware of the call too so they know what kind of kick is being made, e.g is it a long kick? So then the chasers can get a shift on or if it's a cross field kick or chip over the top we have people who are ready to contest the ball.

To often it looks as if the team have no idea what the plan is and we're making it up as we go along. The result is we're not playing as a team or to our maximum potential. If everyone was aware of what's going on we can all pull in the same direction. This means all kickers need to have some sort of plan in mind and be able to let their teammates know what it is. I assume that this sort of thing goes on at SL level but looking at our kicking game you wonder whether we just like hoofing it downfield without any thought!

no problem with the tries, the problems with his handling errors in try scoring positions,unwillingness to go looking for the ball and generally poor defense.