That might well be true LWF but yet again, we would not have won without him on Saturday night.

I think the word your looking for is continuity, Briers does have off days but he has at least another season in him yet. I firmly believe he has flourished under Smith. Look at the Bradford game which we won well and them look at the MM loss, where if Briers was fit we would have won without question. Come on, say something good about the lad.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of Briers but I do feel sorry for him.

When he plays well so do Warrington and when he has a bad game the team generally do too. Unfortunately he's rarely had a half pack partner to help him.

With the exception of Johns for a couple of games, the last decent scrum half he played with was Alan Langer. Since then he's had Nat Wood, who for all his qualities could not boss a team around a field, the Micheal Sullivan fiasco and now Monaghan.

We've never really had a quality Loose Forward either (in the style of Sinfield or Farrell) who can help out with the plays.

But none of them are British.

Prop - I wouldn't offer Rah a new deal unless there is no-one available on similar or lower money to be honest. If Rah takes a pay cut, and it allows us to bring in better player in another position then so be it. He has been solid and dependable as usual this year.

Centre - Personally, I'm quite happy with Bridge at RC if he continues to play well, he can offer us just as much in attack as Gleeson did. Hopefully him and Hicks can get their combo going again this year at some point. Left centre, I'd like a new one, unless King plays well in the second half of the season with Riley playing left wing. If not, then stick King on the left wing and purchase a good left centre (Shenton please).

Halves - Dunno what to make of Monaghan, at time he is playing really well and looks alot more confortable under Smith. However, he has had alot of skinkers in there as well. I'd like Myler instead but it depends on money and if Monaghan wants to stay or go....
Briers, alongside Myler next year would be ideal for me. (Myler please).

Loose Forward - Happy with Harrison there at the moment, although we could do with someone more experienced, with better hands and with good organisation, something we haven't had at 13 in like...ageees. (Sinfield please).

Johnson/Vanderson - To be honest both players are similar as they are coming towards the end of their careers and both have struggled with injuries throughout their time at the club. However, they provide great utility to the squad and provide good experience in a professional manner. Personally if both went I'd be happy, if one stayed and the other went I'd be happy, if both of them stayed I'd be a tad disappointed.

Ideal Squad next year would be:

Mathers
Hicks
Bridge
Shenton
King
Briers
Myler
Moz
Clarke
Carvell
Westwood
Harrison
Sinfield

Bench:
Higham, Wood, Rah/New prop, Grix/Landerson.

That would be nice.

Not too sure about your MM comment.The reason we lost in Edinburgh was poor defence. I dont think Lee Briers in the defensive line would have improved things.

Ideal Squad next year would be:

Mathers
Hicks
Bridge
Clubb
King
Long
Myler
Moz
Monaghan
Carvell
Westwood
Harrison
Sinfield

Bench:
Higham, Wood, Scarsbrook, Grix/Landerson

This is one possibility gone for the loose forward spot.
[urlhttp://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12196_5333604,00.html[/url

He would have brought a better kicking game though. We had several chances to put in decent kicks - like he did against Hull - but we blew them. Also, the game was there for the taking when we were 16-6 up, but blew it with several daft errors. I just felt with Briers, we would have taken control of that game.

Where does this obsession with Michael Shenton come from? With no promotion or relegation why on earth would Castleford let him go? Their gates are solid and their financial plan will still be on track as their new stadium plans are for some years down the line. This is the difference between Shenton and Myler, as, in the latter case, Salford must be hurting for cash with their tiny crowds and big delay to their new ground.

Would have been a good signing but hey lets not dwell on that!

If the rumours are true, the loose forward position in 2010 has already been taken by kevin sinfield.

Go to the magic weekend game against Hull KR and put the game on 59 mins, forget that Bridge was playing at stand off for this game because in this particular play he made a classic centre run where he had Chris Hicks on his outside with Briscoe left to beat, he tried pass to Chris Hicks but because he had held onto the ball for a second too long the pass wasn`t on and it ended up going behind Chris Hicks and straight into touch. By the time Chris Bridge had decided to let the ball go Chris Hicks had caught up with him which meant the pass wasn`t on, that was only on the 3rd tackle and we were close to their line.

The point here is that you are blinkered to any faults that Chris Bridge has, its like you don`t want to see them so that he remains Mr Perfect in your world. You said that Chris Bridge has never thrown a ball behind Chris Hicks or Matt King, i knew you were wrong, ive seen him do it on the left to Matt King as well. Don`t bother coming back with "he was at stand off that day" which i know you will try to do or Hicks over ran him etc, this particular play i`m referring too was a classic centre run and he held on to the ball for a second too long which meant when he decided to let the ball go the pass wasn`t on as Hicks had caught up with him.

I can post screen shots if you don`t have the game saved to prove the point, thats no problem at all. Its you fella that isn`t watching the games properly, Chris Bridge is a talented player when he is on his game and is interested but that isn`t the point here.

My original point is that we let Martin Gleeson go and if Chris Bridge is to become our right centre then we have not improved the right centre position with a player thats at least on a par with Gleeson or is of better quality, Chris Bridge is a talented player and a bit of an enigma but he isn`t a patch on Martin Gleeson and never will be, if you believe otherwise then your watching a different game.

Are you going to acknowledge that the key moment in the game against Hull was the try saving tackle he made and stop looking at the negatives all the time?

No player is perfect.

I don`t look for negatives in us as you put it, i`m just making the point that if Chris Bridge is to become our right centre then that isn`t an improvement on Martin Gleeson which isn`t really strengthening the team. Chris Bridge is a talented player but a bit of an enigma, he is classy when he turns it on but he seems a bit of a mood player just like with that poor effort on Danny Tickle where even though Lee Briers was at fault Chris Bridge got himself into a great position to make the tackle but it was a lazy, feeble attempt.

Yes he made a great tackle like you mention and i acknowledge that but its pointless to make a great tackle one minute and then a can`t be bothered effort the next which ends up costing your side 6pts, i`m not here to put him down, i`m just saying that in my opinion he isn`t an improvement on Martin Gleeson which was my overall point earlier.

You need to look at a balanced view and in my opinion his positives outweigh his negatives. There are precious few game-breakers in the game and players like him should be celebrated instead of the mistakes he makes being constantly put in the spotlight.

Exactly.

Last year, Rob said he was made of biscuit. Now, he's moved onto picking up on any slight imperfection on his part because the injuries have gone away. RL is a game where you're likely to make mistakes, it comes with the territory, he's made one, wow. The fact that Rob_Wire has taken himself away from here for a few days, gone through the archives, pinpointed a mistake and come back on here to use as proof just staggers me, well it doesn't really as it's Rob, but where you fall down Rob is that you claim that I think he's perfect, yet choose to ignore than i'm critical of him on here, like the rest when he plays badly.

Honestly Rob, you need to get out more mate.

The reason i havn`t posted since my last post on the subject is simply because my laptop has been away at Sony having something repaired under warranty, not that i have to justify anything to anyone on here, ive got far better things to do than troll through games looking for Chris Bridge mistakes. The Hull KR game i mentioned previously was one i had on sky and i watched again recently while my laptop was away being repaired hence why i pointed out him throwing the ball behind Hicks in that game.

You said previosuly that Chris Bridge had never threw a ball behind Chris Hicks or Matt King, it seems your not big enough to put your hands up when you get things wrong, just accept you were wrong and move on.

I'm big enough to accept anything Rob, you're the one on here who's a nightmare for exactly what you say I do, he passed a ball badly once, Wow. I apologise for doubting that he did. Check page three, I've assessed Bridge this year Rob, FAIRLY, quite comfortably, praised him & criticised him in equal measure, yet you still churn out the party line that I 'think he's Mr.Perfect'. That's what I find bonkers.

All you do Rob is pinpoint negatives, rather than concentrating on the vast amount of positives, I've seen Martin Gleeson throw heaps of passes into touch, heaps. So by your rationale, with Bridge only doing it once he must be miles better than him, miles better. Centres are judged on productivity, be it tries, assists & tackles, try savers like. I'm saying that in his two or three performances there, he's scored tries, his winger has got-tricks & we've won, conceding few points, that's pretty good from where i'm sat Rob. Thing is with you, you only do it with certain individuals, because it fits around your agenda.

Honestly mate, you're the only person I know who could be stiffing Kelly Brook and look gutted because you'd forget to tape Wolrd In Action.

Just a quick point in terms of comparisons to Gleeson, their defence % success is identical (Bridge 2009 v Gleeson 200icon_cool.gif, their error count is very similar, and Bridge has 7 assists in 10 games this year, compared to Gleeson's 8 in 26 last year.

I think it is fair to assume that Bridge has plenty of improvement in him yet, whereas Gleeson had probably reached his peak.

I did something similar once. Took a nice girl from Worsley home only to be watching Question Time over her shoulder. Damn Peter Hitchens and his no nonsence debating style.

Love the belief in Bridge (I'm a Bridge fan) but I don't think we will ever see him trotting out in the GB jersey at centre. Do you?

simple. sign myler.

It isn't out of the question. It is early days yet but the competition isn't blessed with a huge amount of centre talent.

He did play as an England schoolboy international at centre.

What Rob overlooks is that old saying 'the best is the enemy of the good'. No team, given financial, contractual and salary cap restrictions can have top international standard players in every position. Bridge appears to be a good centre with the makings of getting better, so why ditch him when we should be strengthening where we have not-so-good players? Moreover, if we really must have someone 'better than Gleeson' that has to mean another expensive Aussie - as there are still no better GB centres that MG - with all the concomitant cost implications, plus another 'short-term' contract, against a talented, young, English player who could make his whole career with Wire. No contest in my view. If Wire were free to pick the best 13 in the world would Bridge be in it? No, but we are not in such a position and never will be.