Is it the players, the systems, or the direction form Dummy half?

People blaming earlier results in Sutcliffe surely now agree that (whilst he wasnt playing well), none of our halves look a shadow of their potential.

Also it seems weird to me that we STILL havent gone through 80 mins with Mcguire and Sutcliffe playing next to each other, against Hull KR they played together for 15 mins and combined together really well twice, once to put Sutcliffe through a gap which lead to a try on the next play and then a couple of minuites later they combined to put ablett in what was probably our only well worked try in the past month at least.

Persisting with Mcguire and burrow is clearly not the right option, with all fit it should be:
Mcguire and Sutcliffe- they seem to have a better understanding of each other than any other pair
Mcuire and Lilly- if (like today) we desperately need Sutcliffe to fill in the back line
Lilly and Sutcliffe- if Mcguire goes down injured we might aswell just give them both some game time
Only when none of these are available should we use Burrow in the halves, he has been a 9 for the past 4 years

Similarly, why are we not persisting with one kicker? surely just chopping and changing them doesnt do much for their confidence, and if you are going to change it around then why not use Lilly when he plays?

If people used their hands they could see we were weak in the halfs as soon as we knew we were not replacing Sinfield. Just using an excuse of saying we have players who have won finals, doesn't cut it.

The halfs look shot, but Sutcliffe is not an half no matter what, and actually looked very comfortable at centre last night. When we moved Burrow out of scrumhalf last night we looked much better than before it. If only he wasn't on the field when we had all the ball, I am sure we would have come up with the tries. Last night you could see clearly we were actually shaped up for moves, but yet again Burrow does the opposite to his team mates, who unlike Sinfield are not vocal enough to take the call away from him. Burrow actually looked dangerous at times, did some running, but he is effecting the rest of the team in the plays.

For now I would give Sutcliffe another go at centre, and if Moon back put him in the halfs. Let Sutcliffe get some confidence back for a start.

Ive got to disagree with you, Sutcliffe was easily outplaying Sinfield before his injury and if we turn into Saints and just continually buy Aussie halves who are just here for a paycheck and show no trust in youth then I think a big part of the club goes.
If the rest of the team were up to scratch then I think he would have ben playing a hell of a lot better.

The halves clearly dont trust the team around them, they are looking to create something themselves because if you look at players like Hall or Watkins, last season if they were one on one you would throw them the ball

The major reason we are not scoring though is that when we do put on a move to shift the ball, there are no meaningful dummy runs to hold defenders, and it is always obvious where the ball is going so they can slide off making us the easiest team to defend against in the league. If the runners in the middle ran harder with better lines then the defence would have to account for them or we could just use a short ball.
Look at NZ in the NRL for the fist few rounds, Johnson and RTS were made to look poor becuase the team around them were offering anything and they ended up going sideways- remind you of anyone?

I am also disappointed with the lack of variety in the plays, simple wrap arounds or block plays are not being used, neither are things like an outside-inside ball to the full back. Im not sure if they are not being called or if the team simply dont know theyre roles?

Instead of buying a half I think we needed a hooker, in a 25 man squad we only have one specialist 9 so if he gets injured or doesnt perform we have no other options.

I don't agree mate. Had Sinfield not retired from us we would be up there challenging with the same players. Not dominating, but challenging. The none runners, etc, are because of the tactics and the halfs, not because of the other players. Confidence is down across the team because of what we keep repeating, effecting the other players. Sutcliffe has never outplayed Sinfield, or anyone else, he isn't an half simple as that. Last night however, at the very least he looked a super league player for once. I would persevere with that position, to at least allow his confidence to return.

Good God no. Sutcliffe doesn't know when to let the ball go.
Persevere with Sutcliffe in the halves by all means. Build his partnership with McGuire and Lilley (but not Burrow his headless chicken runs help no-one)

Did you go last night? If he doesn't know when to let the ball go, then the worst position for him is the halfs. He surprised me last night, and to be fair I think it is Juan Cornetto that has said for a while he would make a better centre.

Yes I did, and a centre he is not.

So you don't want him in centre because he cannot pass but would want him in the halves? Seems bizzare

Last night's first half attack was as impotent as anything I've ever seen on a Rugby League field. Not just the halves, there were players out there who looked like they would struggle to cut it in the Championship. Does our coach and some of our players think Carl Ablett is Superman, the amount of ball that went short side to Abbo in the hope he could wrestle two or three defenders off was ridiculous. Does McDermott give him the kit to take home and wash as well? Our kicking game has never been good, we've prospered despite it, but last night really brought home how much we're missing a competent field kicker in the team. I thought we looked much,much better with Lilley on the field, and I'd be quite happy for him to be given a decent run alongside McGuire. This league campaign is done, let's give the lad the game time he needs and see what happens.