I think flanaghan was a stand off when he was younger, but then he must have eaten a bear or something, and turned into a beast.

You are joking right?

6'2, a lot older and not the fastest, mobile player in the world, but his kicking game was great and he produced some good things. No Flanagan is slightly taller, but much faster and can kick goals. Definately worth ago for me.

I really rate Flanagan but didnt even see anything in him last season that suggested he could play Loose Forward let alone Stand Off. For anybody that saw him he clearly is a tough tackling Second Rower. Has he the ability to lead a team around a pitch, No. Has he the ability run in to holes in the opposition defence and be extremly reliable in defence, yes.

6'2"

It was against Whitehaven but still a peach of a pass..

i wouldn't bring him back as stand off but he showed enough for me to definately bring him back... Just ask Ian Morrison about him.. I bet his bones are still shaking after that hit when we dropped out from under our posts against Widnes..

There's nothing wrong with Barker, Govin or Black at stand off, no panic folks
How do we want a stand off to play BTW ?
Do we want him outside the scrum half when there's a scrum, both attacking & defending ? Who else forms up like that ?

Do we want him linking up with the backs in a free-flowing handling move, or supporting the props & second rowers on a break ?
Danny McGuire's making a decent living out of that...


I sometimes can't believe that folk can come on here & moan about the team/selections ! Crikey they've only played two low-key fixtures against a lot lower opposition than what's to come. You could go to Hunslet's postage stamp of a pitch with ten forwards, two wingers & a full back that pitch is so narrow and I hear from a mate that they've even taken the width in a bit more this season. A stand off/scrum half is almost un-employed there. Calland did warn before the Hunslet game that he intended trying out a few combinations, give him a chance.

You could clearly see the previous touchline, it was a good 2m out from the new line. Must be so boring watching Hunslet play!

The game needs invention or re-invention in my opinion. It was great to chat with Bill Kirkbride for the whole of the game on sunday and swap views on how it should be played and of course both me him and Danny Fearon who was with me were all correct as you would expect
What is wrong with props who can pass out of the tackle ? But how often do you see it happen ? They're either incapable or told not to.
There's nothing finer than seeing a centre actually side-step a defender, a half back who dare chip over the defence 'cos he's seen an opportunity, but more often than not a kick of any fashion comes on the fifth or sixth.
Let the players with craft & skill play a game how they read it, not as they're told to play it.
We've become obsessed with Australian-isms like "field position", "percentages", blah blah blah....
Everyone's scared to make an "un-forced error" nowadays, we'll ruin the game before we're done

havthee not seen Fax play Lately