Last night Mellor reminded me a bit of Nathan Wood

I liked Joe Mellor last night.
A throw back to Nat Wood style.

Still both teams lacked forward power last night. Would Mellor and Fage look so great against a big pack?

Wow yed and the duckie on a par

I thought Joe Mellor looked very, very good and to be fair so did a few of the Widnes backline - the real test of Mellor and the rest will come next week when they play Leeds, I think.

I also through Liam Finn looked good for Cas the other week against Hull KR.

Intelligent kicking, incisive handling, quick-thinking and organisation from a half-back - not much to ask is it?

Now with Russell in the team we left with Ratchford, GOB and Myler for 6/7.

Headache.
One is going have to be benched at least.

I've been thinking it would go back to 'plan A' of Ratch and Myler. But I just don't know anymore. Myler being the one to shift to hooker yesterday and being the least effective of the year so far may see him miss out on Friday.

All I can hope for is that Smith doesn't try and get them all in and put the 'other' one on the bench instead of a back rower.

I think we should have a back on the bench every week.
I cant see a better player for that role than Ratchford too.

Although Grix is more than handy on the bench when fit.

Ratchford should be at 1,6 or 7 for the full 80 not on the bench

...and is precisely why he is ideal off the bench!

Your missing the point. He is wasted on the bench. He is one of our best players, so why should we not play him all the time and let him watch from the bench?

Mellor was good against Huddersfield, and Salfords pack is big!

Mellor was probably another who John Bastion pushed out.
Mellor is Warrington through and through too.
He was Warrington crazy.

I'm not missing your point, I believe that the bench plays a more important role than I assume you do.
Having watch Ratchford as many times as anyone since he came to Warrington I feel he's more effective in the 2nd quarter of each half when defences tire.

So I reckon keeping him fresh would make him double the threat?.

The harsh fact is one of the main reasons we have been a good side in recent years, is that Briers was the best halfback in Super League and he delivered time and again.

Yes when he retired we all tried to be relaxed about it and said don't worry we won lots of games in recent years when Briers wasn't in the side, we've got lots of options for the halves, O'Brien, Ratchford and Myler plus Grix or Bridge could cover there so we'll be ok.

But over this season we're going to have a nice controlled experiment: get a great team, remove Briers from it, and see if its still a great team.

I'm afraid Myler should be the one to step aside. We looked better with Ratch & Gareth at half-back and that is where the debate should begin and end.

If you feel he needs to be included because he's a "big name" or we spent big money then stick him on the bench but to me, it's a waste of a subs spot.

No room for complacency, no room for sympathy, no room for ego - step aside, let the players in form establish some continuity and let's show the competition we aren't spent just yet.

I don't believe for one minute that having Lee Briers in our side at present would make nothing more than an ounce of difference to the results.

This board wouldn't be full of threads debating who should play at halfback or saying there are no leaders in the team if Briers was playing.

Some of our fans have short memories.

Absolute Rubbish, he chose Wigan over us and St Helens... Warrington were desperate for him to sign.

Wigan offered him the best package to sign for them. Thats the bottom line on that one.

and probably pre-dated Bastian? Didn't we get Leatherbarrow in exchange?

I think that you will find that his dad had a fall out with the club over a few issues and took him away to Wigan, i may be wrong but i think it was before he was old enough for money to be an issue?

I said 'probably' meaning I was open to suggestion.

His dad fell out with the club yes, but the move to Wigan was 100% Joe's decision. Wigan tried alot harder than anyone to secure his signature behind the scenes. They painted a very rosy picture for him at the club over the next few years, which to be fair, probably would have materialized if it hadn't been for his injury.

Bear in mind he is 24 now and at the time he was looking to sign for an Academy I don't think Warrington had much to offer. It is rather more even now and Warrington is a good option for a young player.

www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... beneficial Now he loved it in London, test the waters after a couple of years on his current contract, get him at Wire. Couple of years over here, help with the development GOB in a similar way Langer did for Briers.

www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... beneficial Now he loved it in London, test the waters after a couple of years on his current contract, get him at Wire. Couple of years over here, help with the development GOB in a similar way Langer did for Briers.