TS on guardian says we have 9 out. Who?

Rhys Evans
Ben Evans
Simon Grix
Matt Russell

Who are the other five he is referring to?

Forgot biscuit Wheeler. Other 4 then?

Weak excuse for me. No one in that list would make a blind bit of difference to the side. Grix I can stomach but the rest are also rans tbh.

I think there was talk about Penny having an injury. Toby King and Joe Philbin are as well I think. That leaves Patton, which would also explain why GOB has come back into the team.

And maybe counting Westwood's suspension.

Only Westwood and a fit Grix would have a case to walk straight into the team.
So two not nine.

TS has been waving the injury flag for at least the last fortnight in all interview and press releases.
A sign of pressure if you ask me.

I just seen an England RFU ad on this site...!

I was having a laugh to myself about these comments at the game yesterday, sounds to me like Smith was getting his excuses in early to take the pressure off the players. We actually look like a team that has had injuries and our half backs are out injured so we are making do with what we've got. Alarmingly and unfortunately, apart from Grix and Westwood and maybe Russell, yesterday's team is as good as it gets for 2015

I reckon TS still counts Briers as being out injured, hence why we haven't bothered with getting another half back.

Maybe we should ask Hull KR to try and find us a half back, they certainly haven't had any problems bringing them in over the last few years. Dobson, Green, Burns, Campese, Kelly. Just a shame they can't keep hold of them.

How many trophies have Hull KR won with that array of half back talent?

Not really the point CW is it? The point is that we have a decent team all round bar our half backs and 1/2 props, yet we are told there is an issue because it is challenging finding talent at 6/7

Dobson, Green, Campese, and Burns are far far far better than anything we have had since Briers. Even with Briers we lacked a good 7.

I disagree Wirefan, Briers was in effect our 7 with 6 on his shirt back. The shirt no change was based entirely on the signing of Alfie Langer.

Every one of those players would have made our team but for some reason we don't seem confident enough to bring a half back in. I hope the club have had a plan in place and somebody big in mind to put into the halves next season otherwise the club will have a lot to answer for

Saints were missing 7 vs Wigan with Roby only half fit and still managed to compete. It seems like Tony's fire has gone out these days, always making excuses, poor body language

Always liked him as a coach though so hopefully things will turn around (from a Saints fan)

maybe the club can't afford it for whatever reason?
i think every club would want to go out and bag a world class half back, there aren't many of them around, fortunately we have one of them but he is coming to the end of his career in the next year or two and we still haven't found a partner for him.
it's all very well fans saying to just go out and buy someone etc , although the marquee ruling thing might help, you can't just go and buy top players without making room on the salary cap for them ( unless you employ certain players wives in a role at the club

)although im sure no club has ever done that.

The club can afford it, or to be more precise SM can. And we are currently hunting a half in Oz I understand. What bemuses me though is this; SM likes long term planning, yet even though Briers left early, we have not recruited a ringmaster since he left in 2013. And whilst we wait for ' the chosen one', other problems have arisen - we are short of at least one good quality prop (preferably two) atm. We have had some good youngsters coming through, some of whom will make it, others who will fail, but they need to be supplemented by high quality signings and I think that is where we have not maintained the standards of a top 4 club.

To be fair - lots of people on these boards were saying that O'Brien, & latterly Patton, was the answer to the problem, and given suitable youth development set up, they should have been.

i thought ellis had fit in quite well alongside brough this year. Better than what you've had since Brown left.

It's so frustrating currently because as bad as we are playing, a class half would make all the difference. There is talk of the cronk deal being done, apparently he was set to come last year but that got delayed hence the o'brien to Bradford U-turn.

I hope it's true, we need someone of his calibre. If the club came out and said we have signed him, I could say fair enough this season hasn't been good enough but they have rectified the main problem for the following year and I could probably accept that.

The thought of us not signing a top half back for next season is horrifying.

he was good yesterday but he's been on and off really, same with wood, both decent half backs in their own right but not quite good enough to lead us around like broughy does.

i'm sure i read earlier on in the season that o'brien was the next big thing and that he would come good, then he was out of the picture, and patton was going to be the next big thing and the future?

No. No one has ever said OBrien or Patton were the next big thing.

Many were hoping OBrien could offer a gap fill but be can't even do that at this level. That's clear now.

In Patton, still too early to tell, but compare him with George Williams at Wigan and already you know hes not as good.

I've supported Rovers all my life and those players won nothing as yet. We are happy to be happy to being part of the super league. Given your recent success sometimes a little patience doesn't go amiss.

Being without a quality half in 2014 was understandable, Briers had to retire through injury due to his neck problems. Like you I'm hoping they have someone special lined up for 2016 and decided to hold off recruiting a half for 2015 to ensure we got the better player in the long run. If we are still without a half in 2016 it wont bear thinking about.

i'm not entirely sold on this halfback being the answer meme if i'm honest.