I fully agree about Tommy but other than throwing the kid Smith in, I don’t see an option. I don’t think Shorrocks is good enough and I’d want the pace of French at the back. At least Tommy would have a dominant half with a kicking game alongside him this year. Over the course of the season I’d hope Smith could break through to become a starter.

There in lies the problem. For the past several seasons we've needed a half. Firstly to partner Williams, now to partner Hastings. Personally I would have taken a older seasoned 7 from around the league or the NRL. Not a marquee signing, but someone who knows the game like the back of his hand; can lead the team around the park and has a good kicking game.

I'd say it's actually quite crucial that we sort out the HB pairing situation. Let's face it Hastings is a special talent and we've probably only got him for 12 months. I'd hate to see us waste him by swapping and changing his HB partner through the year (that's a real possibility btw).

I'd like to see us move the leech that is Escare on and bring in Lam. He's a natural HB, but more importantly he knows Hastings from his time at the Roosters.

Looking around the place it’s tough to see who we could’ve got in to fill that Deacon style role but I agree. It was so frustrating that Williams never had what felt like a proper partner and it doesn’t feel like Hastings has one. It looked like Sammut could’ve done a reasonable job alongside Hastings but Lam never fancied him. I’ve said before I think it will be French and I’m not writing him off in that position but I feel we need him at fullback.

It all points to there being a real opportunity for Harry Smith to get plenty of minutes this year and if he can transfer that promise in to first team performances that may be a great thing for the club.

You make another good point. If we play with 2 halves which play together, with Hastings as the controlling dominate half with French playing off him; what happens if Hastings goes after a season? Perhaps Smith will turn out to be quality, perhaps he won't... seems like that we're still lacking another half.

If we'd have brought in a Paul Deacon he could have partnered Williams, then Hastings and helped coach and be of the right age to step aside to allow Smith to break into the side gradually. Especially considering we might only have Hastings for 1 season.

It’s who though isn’t it? Thinking of players around superleague, the only sort of experienced heads I can think of who would’ve been realistically available these past couple of seasons would be Kev Brown or getting Matty Smith back and they’d have gone down like a fart in a lift. Maybe Danny Brough a year or two back but he’s a loose cannon. I’d have loved to see Rob Lui here alongside Hastings but Leeds got him. I thought he was every bit as impressive as Hastings in games against us last year.

That’s why I’d have Tommy Leuluai in the role. He was very good at six for the NZ Warriors alongside Shaun Johnson because he was able to keep it nice and simple and that allowed Johnson the freedom to create.

We had one and he has now left for Leigh

Yep. I noticed no SL teams came in for him.

Yes because championship is his level.

How many games did we win with Sammut starting last year?

I thought it was all of them bar the Cas game when he went off injured and we completely collapsed after he went off. (but I may be wrong)

Matty Smith is a free agent...

Errr....no

Not sure of the Sammut starting to win ratio but otherwise I completely agree. An absolute waste of time and money which would have been better spent elsewhere. I’m genuinely amazed there’s people actually sad about his departure, I’ve even seen some say the club don’t know what they’re doing in this regard!

That either says a lot about the drop in standards at the club that we’re willing to accept a Championship level player or the standard of acceptance for some is alarmingly low.