Would that be the same Ray Wilkins who won 84 caps for England?

The guy has got talent but can't use his brain at times. I would agree with you but TS has selected him for england so i can't see him going just yet

I thought Clarke was good. Like a lot of the team in that there was nothing spectacular in attack but in the main very efficient in defence. He did some good things tonight.
The sweeping passing moves that Phil Clasrke used to love so much are gone but I am buzzing from our sort of workmanlike manner.
I think Westwood could do without playing the full 80 for England next week. As Bradford are without Solomona in the second row maybe we will not miss Westwood as much as we will miss Morley.

Great desire in defence is good to watch. We must be averaging less than 20 points agaisnt per game now (Maybe if you take out the game in Edinburgh).

Anothe good 2 points.

Possibly because he doesn't possess a brain...



His enthusiasm is fantasic to watch, but his tackling technique isn't....I cringe everytime he comes charging in, neanderthal-like, to put in one of his big hits, which usually end up round the opponent's head.

1st try conceded today was down to him solely, he will never be able to get away with that against a more dangerous opponent.

He can be frustrating, but he is also one that other players must hate playing. I don;t mind him giving the of penalty for a high shot, it is more the silly holding down penalties that I don't like from him.

He has a great work ethic, and whilst his penalty count is too high, he does only average 1 per game, so I don;t think it is as bad as you are making out.

off you tool mistake best signing of the year ,bet you still had with the you have you prick

Jon Clarke is suited to the early part of games where the pace is frantic and both packs of forwards are more fresh as he likes to get stuck into a battle, once the early sting has been taken out of a game and your forwards start to get on top then this is the time when Micky Higham comes into his own as he can spot slow markers and tiring forwards trying to take a breather and make those darting runs to keep us on a roll going forward.

Micky Higham also spots things a lot quicker than Jon Clarke especially when close to the try line, its basically how the Cunningham/Roby set up works at saints where Roby comes on to inject some pace into a game when the oppositions forwards start to tire. The pnly problem you will have when Clarke is on the pitch is you won`t have much flair from such a key position, Cunninghan does the grind but he is also capable of winning you a match on his own where as Clarke to me isn`t what you would call a possible match winner.

And suddenly become 'shi[ii[/it'. Funny that.

I said a year or two ago Jon Clarke is our most important player & I tend to stand by that - he controls the early yards for the forwards. He hasn't the blistering pace off the mark of a Roby or Higham, but he is more a Cunningham style do the simple things & do them well. Glad to see people appreciating his worth at long last...

Give it up - you are embarassing yourself now.

The combination of Clarke and Higham is great for the way Warrington are playing now. Clarke can control the play-the-ball when Morley and Carvell are in tamden and eating-up the yardage. All we need then is simple acting-half play and a link to Briers later in the tackle count. Clarke gives us that along with decent defense and an option of kicking from dummy-half.

Once the prop rotation is done and Rauhihi and Wood offer us something different we need Higham scooting from half to continue our go forward, especially against tiring defenses. Higham also gives us great one-on-one defense.

The problem Higham had at Wigan (and to a degree with us at the start of the season) was that he was given the role of the starting hooker. He is ten times the player when playing his correct role as the inter-change hooker (no slight in this as I think both are differnt and equally important roles). Very few hookers, only one or tow in the world, can fulfill both roles to equal effect. I just wonder which role Riddell fills as Higham's replacement at Wigan - perhaps Rogues Gallery can explain seem as signing Higham is a disaster for us I wonder what Riddell's signing is for Wigan.

But Higham is better at coming off the bench and running at tired defence. It works well

It is a waste of time talking about Clarke on here. Some people will never learn.

wigan fans were calling him "one trick mick" fair enough that one trick is winning matches for us

he is the new super sub!

To be brutally honest some of Highams passing from acting half was shocking last night. We looked better when Clarke was on.

well he wasnt on his own then realy ,didnt do bad with a torn biscepe

He's been our best player for the last two seasons. He's for some reason played below his best at present, but I think it's a little disrespectful to start having a dig at him to be honest. He's not a 'neanderthal', he's a grafter, who gets off the line and meets attackers hard and whether his form is tip top or woeful, he gives it all for the cause, you say you'd ship him out, he'd be one of my first picks, purely because he doesn't give an inch. He doesn't do flash, he does rough & tough.

I think his form suffered on the back of the sending off & subsequent ban. It seemed to de-rail him somehow.

Aye he hasn't had quite the 'edge' he used to have before that, am sure he will pick up sooner or later. Luckily, the Anderson brothers are going through a good patch to ease the pressure on him.

My general thoughts are that he is poop. Higham is also a one trick pony but at the very least he has a trick and some pace.

I do not intend to be disrespectful, I am simply pointing out the obvious and that is that Westwood does not possess a Rugby brain....Yes, he's a grafter, I've acknowledged that, but grafters in Rugby are ten a penny...He also does rough & tough, I acknowledge that too, however, there is a massive difference between rough & tough and controlled rough & tough which Westwood seems unable to do.

I am not saying that Westwood is a bad player, I am just of the view that there are many Westwood-type players out there, who are just as good, and more importantly are not as liable to have disciplinary brain-farts in the manner Ben does.

You may think that 1 or 2 penalties conceded won't make much difference, but in reality with the closeness of the competition this season, those couple of penalties could be the difference between success and failure.

Could you give us some examples then. I'm interested to know because I don't think there are.

Westwood himself admitted he felt he owed the team after being banned. I think there is an element of him trying to do too much and consequently making errors he nmormally wouldn't.

I think one or two opposition players make more fuss after the collision because they think Westwood has a bit of a reputation for being indisciplined and thus they can milk a penalty.

I'm with you on this one. I think it is a little disrespectful to simply label him a 'rough and tough player'. He has a lot more to his game, and IMO he is one of the very best 2nd rowers in this comp.

His form hasn't been outstanding recently, but I thought he did a lot of good stuff yesterday despite a couple of errors.

In my own opinion (important point there..

)....Clint Newton, Jon Wilkin, Jamie Jones-Buchannan to name three.

Look, I'm not saying they are significantly better, but what I'm trying to say is that your Westwood's of this world are not irreplaceable. They are important players to any team, but the main difference between them all at the end of the day, is whether they possess any serious weaknesses...I feel Ben's discipline is his downfall in this case.

Not exactly scraping the barrell there though are we. Two Super League and Challenge Cup winning GB internationals and a NRL Grand Finalist. I would imagine all three are paid more than Westwood also.

If that is the company you're putting Westwood with he's not doing too bad.