After the match drowning my sorrows someone mentioned moving Mort to stand off and putting Donlan at fullback.

That try from the bomb was knocked forward by a Barrow player but although I don,t like saying it I thought they deserved the win.

Not much point today in criticising one player in particular cos he,ll know anyways but this team will get better as the season goes on.

Now Watson. Did we miss him when he went off ?

Far too many guys playing out of position or not playing well enough in their positions.

Guys in the reserves that need to be considered as I've pointed out on a previous thread.

very much so

Think Mort could make a good No6......worked with Turley.

F/B has to be Donlan.......so that means that Mort has to go wimg or be given a shot at 6.

Hate it when people say that as well as (at the end of the day)ggggrrrrrrrr

saying that Turls played 99% of his career at full back?

Can only remember one game Turley played at 6!

Played a lot more than 1 game at 6 before the season in SL.

The year before SL? I could have sworn we had Tommy Martyn and Craig Weston and Phil Jones alternating at Standoff that season! How many games did Turley play at 6 and who played at full back?

Turley played hardly any games at stand off it just looked like he did because he was always in the attacking line sniffing for trys........
but then again theres another player who regularly got slated?!?!? could never understand why...wish we had him now .

This seems to have now become a massive problem, and as such as now become a weekly debate. I now feel obliged to air my view...

Mort as a junior player predominately played hooker, upon gaining height he moved into the full back position, a position which he played in until his transgression to stand off.
At the age of 16 he played in the Service Area squad as a 9, and that team imo was awesome, with the likes of Scott Moore, Sean Gleeson, Dean Hatton, Thomas Coyle, Chris Hill, Mike Morrison, etc.
How do i know this? Because i was involved in this particular era of Leigh Miners and thus took an interest in the Service Area Team.
Mort signed academy forms at the age of 15 with Leigh, and played his first game with the 18's at the age of 16, they put him in at full back due to the abundance of talent at 6. In his position of full back he very much impressed. As such this tag as stuck.
As an active observer of Rugby League, i am always interested in the development of these young players, and as such i am particularly amazed at thier constant achievements in this game. It's called seeing the big picture ( and believe me..I have no wish to patronise )
Now back to the origin.....Either develop Mort as a full back, or drop him through no apparent reason?
Play him from the start as a stand off....And if he bombs? Well..Then drop him.
Play Donlan at full back, Mort on the wing.......Not his position.
Or move him on?

Quite a problem really isn't it? Or is it? Kid who scores for fun, and who loves the club, takes pride in the club, and wishes to play for no other club......Once again, how do i know this? Because i was involved in thier development, not just Mort, but all the above mentioned and more.
Very Difficult indeed......

Thats the point with Mort that I`m trying to get across...........he is allways coming into the attacking line looking for the ball, and he is very quick with good hands.
Give him a shot at 6 and see what he can do for us, wont do us any harm and he may shock us TBH.

Totally understand what you,re saying.....However the Leigh supporters do not have the patience...If the lad pays at 6 it would take time for him to develop at this level. Refer to any of my previous posts....I for one will be patient, for i know we shall reap the rewards.

Like any young player coming into any team they must be given time to develop, the problem being here is that there are too many terrace coaches who offer criticism without it being constructive mainly because they know sweet FA, another problem with Morty at HB at the moment is that it is a problem position and some fans want an instant fix and if they dont get it then they label that player as no good.
Plus most are missing the best anology of a full back into a stand off in the great man himself, Woody went on tour as a full back and came back a star.
Watching his play ATM I feel that for some reason he has dropped a yard of pace over the last 12 onths now whether thats due to injury? certainly at the minute he lacks that explosive pace that a good 6 needs or the organising ability that is required if not a speedy 6, but playing alongside Watson doing that role could bring him on, but if it didnt work instantly then he would be crucified by the public he loves, plus IMO we dont have a coach with the ability to bring it out of him.
people a couple of weeks away were banging on about having patience becase we are a young side are now on thier backs for just that reason, ohh who would be a Leigh rugby player we have some of the fickiliest fans in the league.

Totally agree.

Even if we did play Mort at 6, the usual suspects will be out calling for his head and Leigh to sign an Aussie stand-off with the money we don't have.

I have to say I dont think its a bad idea giving Ian a crack at standoff. He seemed to break the line a couple of times and came close to about four or five times.

Well despite my moaning, which I incidetally don,t do unless a player consistently underperforms I am going to embarress Optimist now cos his is a top class post.

Lets get real we have no brass,a lot less money than most and can,t afford to buy stars. Morty loves our club like our star man who excels every game.

Every Leyther who goes regularly to our games, and I see at least 500 every away game needs to put a fiver a month into Lisa.

So ok Mort at 6 Chris Hill I think he could play anywhere. Donlan fullback drop Madden Smith to replace him. Rudd and Higson centres. Bench Hobson Morrison COOKSON and Reay.

Now hooker for me O,Connell although Durbin is exciting......................usually...................... in the opps 20 metre area.Not today though.

Not at all frank. My ascendency into middle age means i'm no longer prone to


Actually a very good point regarding L.I.S.A.

What is obvious is that the lads are playing with great heart and little skill.
Barrow dwarfed us yesterday and it eventually told, but only after a very dodgy forward pass, a crazy interception and that bomb turned the tide.
We won the game then lost it, our tactics second half were stupid at best, we had nobody controlling the game and leading the team. Kelly made some daft subs just after HT, which ensured we were dead late on.
The game I watched saw us hurt them playing short up the middle, forcing their big forwards to turn and work hard. Our best ball would be 1 yard either way, we dont have a 6, why try turning Marsh into a Wally Lewis - he cant do it. McConnell made more breaks yesterday than the entire season. 2nd half we started throwing the ball about - why? We dont have strike players wide and we are flat and static.
IF we have signed Pryce then that gives us a wide player who can score, IF we can find a 6 we will compete with anyone.
Anyone fancy chucking a ton in for a 6? 200 fans would get a good un for the rest of the season.

Well I would Maurice but regular fans, who are not members of LISA, actually joining LISA would ensure we had a better team and more importantly secure the services of our outstandingly best player.

My best mate joined after I pestered him and he,s really tight. A fiver a month and you wouldn,t miss it if you missed a packet of fags or a couple of pints a month.it,d do you good too.

Yesterday at the match a couple of season ticket holders told me the turnstyle operators stopped scanning the entry of season ticket holders so maybe there were more people there than announced.

This team isn,t far off becoming a good side, we all know what we need, joining LISA is the best way.

Mr Chairman recently posted AT might pack it in at the end of the season. For regular fans,and we haven,t got enough,they should take that on board.

Well if AT's packing it in we need to be ready now. He has bankrolled us these past few years so without him we havent got a club unless we secure new revenue.

we need a new standoff all together reay and donlan never get a pass in open play if they do its a suacide pass you can see there frustration when all we do is keep it in the forwards

Playing players out of position interesting debate. I don't think Marsh should be at 6 - infact at the moment he shouldn't be anywhere near the team until he gets fit and picks his game up. He hasn't played well this season and every aspect of his game seems to have dropped from last season.

His defence is poor he's too slow in attack and slows us down and his kicking game has gone right downhill. Ridyard or Rourke should be played at 6 and Marsh try Marsh at 13 see how he goes in the pack.

Mort should stay at full back, I think despite him playing junior rugby at 6/9 or whatever he is now suited the the full back role and with time he will get better. I don't think he has the creativity to play at 6 and I don't think we'd see the best of him there or out on the wing. I think in our last two games behind Hill and Taylor he's been our best performer.

He's run the ball back well beating players and making half breaks and he can score tries, he showed excellent backing up skills yesterday and finished it really well. Obviously he's a great goal kicker too. If there's any area that worries me about Mort is his positioning but hopefully that will come with time and experience.

Although Donlan would be an obvious choice at full back and were we'd see the most out of him, i'd like to see Mort develop there and Donlan stay in the centre were he can play and were if we get the ball out he can still have a big impact on the side.

Donlan does actually want to play FB and as he says thats what he was signed to do!

I don't think Nicky Stanton is getting the plaudits he deserves right now he has been outstanding the last two games the heart of a lion.

So what do we do? Hinder Mort's good progress at the expense of Donlan? I'm not disagreeing with you as I know Donlan as it is, is the better full back but there is nowhere else to play Mort IMO and as he's been playing doesn't deserve to get dropped. It's a tough one.

Agree with Stanton - he works hard and is very quick and good making yards forward, not bad in defence and took a great high ball yesterday under real pressure.