And bottom line for me is the club comes first ! we are a rugby club not an effing social agency.
He gets paid handsomely he either delivers or leaves.

Employment law would disagree with you, not to mention common decency; the guy is having some problems off the field and like all employers, we are required to treat him in a way that is fair and reasonable.

Let's not get silly.

If he has issues away from the game then give him a couple of games off to sort his head out because he's not doing anybody any favours at the minute.

Thats a bit extreme, if he's having problems (and thats just a rumour) then we should be helping out.

Give the guy a break, he hasn't been at his best and i'm sure he'd be the first to admit it. He's been shifted around and looks to be struggling because of it. I wouldn't give up on him yet, and there's plenty of players who struggled in their first SL season and since then have become valuable first teamers.

Hopefully, we can get him fit, enjoying his rugby and playing to his potential

Wasn't Betham captain then? The point stands regardless

Lord knows we need a JD figure on the field right now.

Do you know I wasn't aware of that. In my last job when my sales figures were low I should have used that excuse with my employers I bet they would have allowed me plenty of leaway and given me an easy life at the companies expense.

He had his chance to play against cas and cried off in training.

I could write an essay, but I won't, as I'm pretty sure you already know that the two situations are completely different and are just being facetious.

certainly not at his best recently but not our worst player by any means.

but we cant have the captain only putting in 40 mins max, we need a leader to lead not keep the subs bench warm.

Funnily enough, that was the first name that sprang to my mind too. Judging by his reaction to the mistakes he made in the game against Catalan, he obviously cares. Could be the making of the man, and if it is, then everyone's a winner.

P:S: I shared exactly the same reservations about him as you before he signed for us.

Maybe he didn't feel he could do himself justice by playing when not 100%. Unlike Mathers who wanted to play when nowhere near right and left us a man down for a large part of the game.

And thats why the coach shouldnt have selected him IMHO your either fit or your not and he wasnt

Yep, Walshaw should have played with Sykes or Cockayne at fullback. The player also has to take some responibility as well though. He must have known he would struggle but i've got a feeling that because it was Cas we were playing he wanted to prove a point. He failed.

Hope its true and he goes save 3 more seats for Smith, Collis and John

To be fair to the halfbacks they are playing behind possibly the smallest pack in the division. We are not going forward and its nullifying any chance of them having space to work with. Theres only Widnes who have made less meters and they aren't far behind. Its also affecting Aitons dummy half play, we are forever losing the battle on the floor and getting slow play the balls. And I don't think Collis has been fully fit since he got here. You could send Mellars back home for me though.

Bren

Do you know what, I have a feeling our little disagreement may be nothing more than academic anyway. I just have a sneaking feeling that Steve Southern is only over here earning a living because he is not good enough to earn one back home. I also suspect that he has now been found out that he is not even good enough to earn one in the English SL. The bloke may be having some problems with his wife not being able to settle and if so I pity him, but that is not the reason for under performance. It may be a simple fact that he jiust isn't good enough.

Anyway if he decides to stick around I'm sure we will find out soon enough.

To be fair to everyone, it was a problem that was identified by the coach pre-season, but there wasn't anyone available or willing to fill the gap. It means we have to adapt our style accordingly. We may look better in the warmer weather, or we may be burnt out by then. Time will tell. In the meantime, those who do have to fill in for vacant positions may have a harder time of it, and a bigger burden to carry.

At the end of the day it's only 2 games since we beat Catalan. Who knows in 2 games time we could be on 8 points, stranger things have happened. We've only played 9 games and whilst what we witnessed last night wasn't pretty now is the not the time for some of the massive over reactions we are seeing imo

Schunter, your right it is only 2 games, but them 2 games were against 2 of the bottom 3 teams in the league & they both did us by 30+ points. We are definetely not pulling in the right direction has a team & for that reason I think it should be down to the coach to pinpoint these errors & put them right, by either giving extra coaching or making team changes for the forthcoming games. We will see the strength or weakness of RA in which way he chooses !

Give Glen Morrison a shirt. look how Radford played the other day at hull!!

I don't disagree with any of that but it doesn't then follow that the way forward is to start calling for the coach's head

I don't get the anti Southern attitude recently.

I watch him specifically on Friday and every big hit, or even every effective tackle was his. My issue is that Agar takes him off. I want to see him on for the whole game. He wasn't blowing.
I guess we were running short on subs with Mathers and Ali coming off for good but then even more reason to keep him on.

I'm not convinced with John yet but Southern is still a good performer for me.

Steve Southern appears to have become this season's scapegoat, which is especially sad given what he's going through off the field; just about the last thing he needs, I would imagine, is to be made to feel unwelcome by the very people who should be supporting him.