It’was a collective slagging off as some of you who are all the doom and gloom merchants will slag one of them off.

There was always a possibility that Clifford would activate his release clause so we should have had our ducks in order. He didn't make his decision to return home last minute to leave us in the lurch has given us more time to find a replacement. As soon as it was announced he was going home Smith confirmed that we are actively looking for a replacement. At the moment it appears we may have missed out on our NRL targets.

I wonder if that contingency was Clune but he had a late change of mind.

Not panicking just yet. I'm just hoping the club haven't given up on a NRL half back and are intending to go with a spine of Walker, Hoy and Trueman.

That in my opinion would be a massive risk.

TS said in interview the other month a lot of movements and releases happen October/November in NRL so wouldn't surprise me if we wait, like a lot have said we don't want to rush into it and get an average 7 or 9

Signed Clifford late October.

If we can get a guy to cover 9/7 then I'll be happy, a Nu Brown or Cust, would give us plenty of options moving forward.

1 - Walker, Hoy, Litten
6/7 - Hoy, Trueman, Cust/Brown
9 - Houghton, Cust/Brown

Going in to 2025 we could use Carlos or Hoys quota spot to re adjust the spine accordingly.

Simple

Cust may be a good shout..there is a good player in there and up until his injury in the cup final last year,he was playing well.Not had much of a look in due to French being a stand off and Minskis form on the wing,played at 9 as well so maybe a option for a year with a years option as well.

If possible I'd still be going all out for Hawkins, don't know his availability or visa situation but imo he'd be the best realistic replacement for Clifford.

Get Hawkins, returns back to Souths after a year and bring back Clifford and repeat that cycle

i agree we shouldnt sign any scrum half,he has to be a decent standard,but we dont want a makeshift 7,the years between,danny brough and marc sneyd,were poor and one of the reasons was we had makeshift halfs,thorman,washbrook,berrigan,whiting,lee and a few others,good players but not proper scrum halfs and we suffered for it

Totally agree, the fact that we wasted Berrigan's talent, still rankles 10 years on. Daniel Holdsworth was supposed to be our answer, but that didn't work out too well, about the same time as we'd gone all in for Rangi Chase, if I remember correctly. Maybe they'll train with Pele at 7!!?. Maybe previously, but Smith will know we need a proper half and I am sure he can find one. If he cannot, then we have to accept that nobody could. We, obviously, aren't really in the box seat for attracting in demand players, Clune being the prime example, if Huddersfield are viewed as more attractive. With all respect to them, they aren't exactly Saints or Wigan, are they?

We certainly did. He was a world class player but we never saw the best of him as he spent covering half back many times due to injuries. I actually thought his best position was centre but he rarely played there.