My guess would be that Ratchford would be cover for Centre ahead of Roebuck and Half ahead of Dean with Ashton moving to Full Back.



This brings us back to the question as to how Price can utilise both Ratchford and Ashton in the same team when there are no injuries. I expect Ratchford to be given the number 1 shirt, and I think that Full Back is his best position, but you could also see that, given sufficient game time, Ashton could become a future England Full Back. Most likely he'll be the better Full Back by the end of 2021.

I really like Ashton and he’s probably the most exciting player we have.



In terms of what a player brings to the team overall, I’d place Ratchford in his full back role ahead of all the other players in the team. Maybe I’m missing something that other fans are seeing that I’m not.

I can't say i was filled with glee when Ashton played at fullback In the CC semi. He may well shape up but his defence , positioning & anticipation need to be worked on. Still he is a young lad just learning his trade.

This.

There is a lot more to full back than pace, Ashton hasn’t knocked Ratchford off his perch yet.

Regarding Dec, wouldn't surprised me if he was relieved that he won't be mentioned in this board so much now given the stick he's had. Hope he gets a new club and continues in the game.



Alffi - Ratch could also go in the centres as could Currie or Hughes, although full back, 2nd row and lose are their best positions respectively from my point of view.



Interesting that we haven't tried Currie as a ball handling 13 - similar mould to Nikau years ago.

Better to have ball playing 2nd rows than loose forward. A good ball handling player would look good in either position, 2 out of 3 with good hands who can pick a pass makes the team look very dynamic and the ball moves across the line well. 2 out of 3 want to hold on to it and it all looks like a battle to have any fluidity. I'd we have space left on the cap I would try for a utility who can play 2nd row and centre. Mcmeekan would have been a good fit.

Yeah i thought his best most consistant games were at hooker, i think he was much better there than in the halves. I thought he was gonna be an interchange with clark in future but just never happened. I think if there wasn't the uncertainty with the Championship he would have been picked up by now.

I agree, full back is a difficult position for a young player.

Something he randomly put on social media couple weeks back made me think he had sorted another contract out. Might be wrong but would imagine an announcement soon now he's officially been released by us.

GI can play 1,2,3,4,5,6

Patton.

Never really "kicked on" since his GF try in 2016.

Tried his best, but lack of talent (for where a leading SL club's half back needs to be) has been evident for a while.

Hope it goes well for the lad in the future

What sorts out how good a half back is ... is pace of the mark. The best "ever" was sh*t off a shovel ... Alex Murphy in his early days.

That’s a fair observation, when I think of the best halfbacks in Britain, they all had terrific off zero yard speed. Davis Gregory Edwards Burrow Sandow even...!

Speed of thought is also a major requirement.

There are different types of halfback. Bobbie Goulding was not quick, neither was Paul Deacon. Sean Long was express pace early in his career but after a serious injury he lost a yard, but still was a good player.



Briers pace declined as he got into his 30s, you didn't see him take interceptions and run the length of the field like he did in his younger day, and he didn't take on the line and step through as much as he did in his younger days, but he was a much better all round player.



And one of the greatest ever, Ricky Stuart, was not express pace, but could run a game with his boot.



Richie Myler was probably faster than any of them.

That was the big frustration of Patton for me, he looked promising in 2016 but never seemed to improve from that. If anything, 2016 was his peak.

Well I can think myself on the planet Mars now, faster than the speed of light...

I’m not sure that makes me a better astronaut though.

Bit early for drinking RD

I am talking about a short burst of pace from standing start. Just enough to prevent getting flattened and wrong foot the big boys.

So if the team did a shuttle run exercise they would be near best in the team. I would suggest that Briers off the mark was very very quick.

Mars is over 92 million miles away, about as close as you were to seeing my point.

Good luck to him. Wire through and through but was simply never good enough and never taken his chances.



Wouldn't be suprised to see him sign for Leigh/Widnes.

The voice of reason as usual Lefty. I think you have summed him up perfectly there. Application, desire, work rate etc can't be questioned but the ability in a top side. Not quite there. He will go on and do well at another side in SL or maybe like a Bradford. Good to see the Wire fans not giving him pelters and recognizing when a player has tried his best.

Agree, and it depends what sort of role you want them to play in the team as well. There have been some underrated stand-offs who are excellent at tackling and reading the game from a defensive perspective. Jeff Robson (played for Parramatta then Cronulla around 2012-15) is an obvious recent example, didn't get many plaudits, but an essential player in a pretty poor side.

Heard off a loyal fan from Salford that he as signed for them on a short term contract.