He had a spell where he came as a substitute hooker and looked OK. I think we then signed another reserve hooker and that opportunity for him disappeared. Not really quick enough, off the mark, to be a first choice half-back.

Morrisey's between his ears analysis is spot on re Patton as he had some talent just not enough for a top half and that split second decision making is key as it unsettles the opposition buys you and your team mates invaluable time.

I'm not for one minute saying that he's guaranteed to be a top half but that Lewis lad from KR seems to have it that and a bit of mongrel.

Livett's career seems to have continued the same way outside of Wire. He hasn't been able to lock himself down as an integral player even at smaller clubs.

Rhys Evans was definitely spoiled by injuries, and in his case, like Patton, we can't say it was due to a lack of opportunity. When he was fit TS had him as a starter, even when he was in the doghouse from fans. Although I think also Evans was subject to some overhype as a junior. We were always hearing lots of stories about the Evanses before they broke into the team and there were people on here saying he was a generational talent, going to be our fullback for the next decade or so. When young outside backs come into a dominant team they will get chances and look good (Rhys Williams, who was also quick, was another who scored tries regularly when he came through). Having said that, Evans did look pretty good in 2014 but once he started getting injuries in 2015 he was not the same.

There was a time after the departures of the old guard when TS seemed to be trying to transition the team towards younger players: I think around 2014/15, we had Matty Russell at FB and then Rhys Evans and Gene Ormsby on the wing, Gareth O'Brien was coming into the side more, and Currie and Laithwaite were playing in the second row. They all got a good crack, but only Currie took advantage of it. But also although fans on here always say we should give more chances to young players, I remember some of those players getting a lot of stick too.

Natural progression of his career.
He isn't super league standard consistantly, i think he will do well in the championship and could have a decent long career there.
All the best to him

Of the 3 I would have liked to have kept Livett. He's put in some awesome man of the match performances. Probably not enough of them to please Price.

Strange one Livett. I thought he could be the Currie equivalent for the right second row, he can run, dummy, pass, kick… he has all the tools.

It is just an issue with application I think.

Blimey it must be hard work being a player in the modern age.
Everyone has an opinion and a reason why you have not achieved.
Not a pop at you Barbed but I really do have sympathy for our players and coaches.

Ultimately, there are 2 reasons why things don’t happen. It’s either you can’t do it, or you won’t do it. There is evidence that he can complete the skills of the game, even against tough opposition (eg Saints and Leeds when playing for us). Age isn’t a factor, he’s in his prime years for speed, strength and aerobic capacity. So what is it?

What I would say, if he worked as hard as hard as some of the better professionals, there is no reason he couldn’t be an excellent player.

I think it was harder when players had to work a day job, train in the evenings, and play 40+ games a season on quagmire pitches with winning/losing pay to worry about. Smashed about on a Sunday and working on the construction site at 8am Monday morning. A bit of tittle tattle on a parochial forum is not a lot to contend with in comparison. If they had any sense the players would a) know before they embark on their career that this is going to happen in a pro sport b) grow a thick skin to social media. It's no different for any sportsmen or sportswomen in the public eye.

I would like to think that if I was a fit, muscular young athlete, who actually wore the p&b jersey on the field, I would not care less what a bunch of ageing out of shape desk jockeys say on an internet forum.

In reality, though, I would end up being tempted to come on here and see what people were saying and I would get disproportionately irritated when I saw how clueless most of the comments were. Especially the 10,000 word essays from 'sally cinnamon' that revealed he has absolutely no knowledge of what goes on inside a RL dressing room, or anything about coaching or playing even at amateur level.

The main message I would want to say is, sally, just STFU.

If our players' performance is influenced deleteriously by what they read on RLFans I would be amazed. That's the thing with pro sport for all the open top bus parades where your performance is praised there will be times when your performance is criticised and you take both with a pinch of salt.

But Briers was in that latter category. Sometimes a great talent needs a great coach.

I'm not saying he'll reach Briers' level but Livett has just won Salford's staff and fans player of the season.

He's a very good player and we shouldn't have let him go, he's still only 24.

Got me thinking about a wire pack from players still young enough to do a job

G.King Dwyer L.Johnson
Currie Savelio
Livett

Is there a "better" prop than Johnson? Would this pack, even with some as an interchange, help us challenge? I guess we'll not know, but it does look quite dynamic

The front row is quite weak, the back row is good.

Regarding Livett I don't know why it didnt work out for him, he showed plenty of promise but wasn't trusted. Was that because of our coaching setup or because of off field issues? I don't know him, I've never spoken to him or even heard him speak so I am in no position to suggest an attitude or application problem but Something clearly wasn't right there anyway.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Some comments made about individual players are so far wide of the mark! Nobody knows what's going on in a player's mind. Let's see what happens to Lewis. .Scored a couple of good tries but did nothing else in the games I've seen. Too many young players have been thrown in with little chance to .learn their trade at a lower level because the British game is a shambles. I would not advise any young player to become full-time until the game has undergone major changes and every club can afford to run at least two teams plus academy. But that's another story.

From that pack that you have proposed, Savelio plays prop for me and Johnson is 2nd row.

Other exWire Academy props are Dan Murray and Tom Walker currently playing for Halifax and Whitehaven respectively.

To this day I still don’t understand why we let Savellio go. He always impressed me, he’s only 26, Warrington lad, big and powerful. He’s exactly what we’re crying out for.

Allegedly Sav let TS know his thoughts when Patton was at the receiving end of his frustrations.
Sav got dropped, come the fight for play offs, TS drafts Sav back in and publicly seems to make his peace.

I’d have him back in a heartbeat.

PACKS WIN GAMES.

He wanted to go to the NRL if I recall correctly and had always made it clear that was his ambition.

Yes that was my recollection also, that followed him during his time at Saints too I think.

To be honest I've never been that impressed with his attitude even though he's shown he can be a very good SL player.

He has just signed a new 2 year deal with Hull FC.

I thought that he would move back to the NRL, once he had proved that he had recovered from a preseason warm up game knee injury that wrecked his time with Brisbane Broncos.

I would still have that concern that at any time he might leave and have another go in the NRL

Who would want to live in Lockdown Land anyway?

I take your point, and I really do hope he kicks on to be the player we thought he might become. Certainly not Briers standard though. What Briers did sporadically between 96 and 2009 was at a level far above what most can achieve. Briers was, in his day, utterly brilliant. If he could have brought that to the table week after week he would have a statue outside the stadium.

At a recent fans forum, one of our leaving players was asked who is the player he hates playing against and he said savelio. I believe his mum is quite forthright too, so must be something in his blood.