Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:44 am  

Captain Hook wrote:

Who in your view is actually available NOW that could be guaranteed to improve us (remember a certain world class signing that set our team alight...a certain Mr Roberts.
So no your point doesn’t render my argument without merit.

Watson Boas
Anthony Thackerey
Stanislas Robin
Connor Robinson

...all better than Patton and that's just from the championship..

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:49 am  

Didn't Ste Price give Dec the green light earlier in the season ? Perhaps he sees Dec as the best option till Kev is ready to go again.

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:11 am  

Wires71 wrote:

So you rated Riley? How would you explain his exodus when he left us. Surely a centenary try scorer would have offers from a number of SL clubs?

I thought he was a decent winger for a good while, six seasons or so. Didn't think he was only in the team because of Tony Smith's bias towards home grown talent. He wasn't in the top calibre like Hicks and Joel Monaghan and having started as a first teamer with us at 17, he had a lot of miles on the clock by his late 20s, so when we let him go I thought it was fair enough at the time. But he went to Wakefield and was still a decent first teamer for two more seasons there, and we replaced him with Gene Ormsby, then Kevin Penny, then Matty Russell - were any of them an upgrade on Riley? With hindsight I would have kept him for longer.

[Wanderer]

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:46 am  

Wirefan wrote:

Watson Boas
Anthony Thackerey
Stanislas Robin
Connor Robinson

...all better than Patton and that's just from the championship..

Watson Boas now in League One on loan at Doncaster. I hope he is every bit as good as you think, we could do with a lift.

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:51 am  

Wirefan wrote:

Watson Boas
Anthony Thackerey
Stanislas Robin
Connor Robinson

...all better than Patton and that's just from the championship..

Jesus H Christ, thank God you're nowhere near our recruitment team.

Whilst I'm not a Patton fan he is by far a better option than any of these. I actually thought prior to Saints and the Easter period that he had generally been doing what was required from him. If anything he has moved away from that limited role and errors and costly penalties have increased.

Let's be clear he isn't the Messiah but if people think Anthony Thackeray is a better option then we may as well pack in now.

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:53 am  

Wirefan wrote:

Watson Boas
Anthony Thackerey
Stanislas Robin
Connor Robinson

...all better than Patton and that's just from the championship..

No idea whether they are better or not to be honest, but are they available? Why would any club allow their key half back to leave the club for 3 months until Brown is hopefully fit again?

We have an injury to a key half back, Patton is back up to that half back, we just have to deal with it unfortunately. No pots are won in April, as long as Brown is fit for the final third of the season, Patton should remain in place for me. Plus the first team exposure can only put him in a better place for when he is again covering half back next season should (when) Austin / Widdop pick up an injury or suspension.

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:11 pm  

Wirefan wrote:

Watson Boas
Anthony Thackerey
Stanislas Robin
Connor Robinson

...all better than Patton and that's just from the championship..

Oh my.
You must really hate Patton

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:21 pm  

Paul Youane wrote:

Jesus H Christ, thank God you're nowhere near our recruitment team.

Whilst I'm not a Patton fan he is by far a better option than any of these. I actually thought prior to Saints and the Easter period that he had generally been doing what was required from him. If anything he has moved away from that limited role and errors and costly penalties have increased.

Let's be clear he isn't the Messiah but if people think Anthony Thackeray is a better option then we may as well pack in now.

I think you've missed the tongue in cheek point I was making..

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 2:44 pm  

Wirefan wrote:

I think you've missed the tongue in cheek point I was making..

Oh yeah, it was so obviously tongue in cheek.

Re: Dec Patton : Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:11 pm  

Bottom line is the British game isn't producing decent half backs anymore, and the ones that do emerge (Patton, Richardson recently, Myler, Robinson a little further back) seem.to hit a plateau quickly and fail to kick on.

It doesn't seem to happpen in other positions, or at least not to the same extent. Maybe it's coaching, absence of an apprenticeship via reserve team football or the ludicrous werewolf-esque face fuzz that seems so popular among the playmaker fraternity.

George Williams is the most natural British half we have seen for a while, and he has spent the last 18 months going backwards; be interesting to see how we goes in the NRL.