Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 7:02 am  

Bobby Digital wrote:

Yates is never a prop, seems wasted playing him in that role.

Where would you play him Bobby? I wouldn't dislodge Currie to play him at loose, Currie is brilliant there. Yates just needs to be in the thick of the tackling, doing the defensive stuff and enabling other guys to save their energy for attack.

Also, forgot to mention but I thought Musgrove was good when he was on last night, made some telling plays.

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 7:29 am  

Would just mention Marty Ashton. He gets through a lot of work and always seems to make metres post tackle. A complete winger. Thewlis has great footwork, elusive runner and every so often deliver vers an absolute bell ringer in defence.
Yesterday wasn’t a complete performance by any means but shows we are not a soft touch, even Currie seems to have developed a liking for the tough stuff.

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 7:55 am  

That’s a good question Jb, Yates works well as he'll tackle anything that comes his way. But for meters made he lacks abit of bite. Putting more pressure on Vaughan to do the hard yards. Trying to shoehorn Yates into the team is a difficult because you’ve Currie who as you e said has to be our 13 every game. Play Yates on the edges you’ll lose his defensive capabilities, plus for rest of the season Nicholson and Bateman seem to be Burgess starting second row. So do you start with Harrison and Vaghaun and rotate with Musgrove and Yates. Yes, I know Yates will struggle with meters made, but if Wire are on the front foot by the platform set by Harrison and Vaughan, it shouldn’t be to much of a concern. And on the flip side if Wire are under the cosh Yates will shore that up playing in the middles. I agree with you about Musgrove he was good last night, always looking to turn in the tackle for an offload. If Yates becomes a bench player, then Crowther looses his spot. Who for me has just lost something about him, maybe that niggly injury is holding him back.

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 7:59 am  

just_browny wrote:

Where would you play him Bobby? I wouldn't dislodge Currie to play him at loose, Currie is brilliant there. Yates just needs to be in the thick of the tackling, doing the defensive stuff and enabling other guys to save their energy for attack.

Also, forgot to mention but I thought Musgrove was good when he was on last night, made some telling plays.

Yeah agreed, the only other position he can play is 13 and I don’t think he offers enough with the ball vs what Currie brings. Yates has been brilliant at prop, can easily play 60 minutes and has been up there with Vaughan as our best prop for me - I wouldn’t move him.

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 8:24 am  

Tai's defensive positioning has come on a lot and it's good to see. His attacking intelligence and ability and willingness to pass is still massively where it should be for someone playing centre. This is probably why he's got 1 assist to his name all season. Moves to the right always die when they get to him as he doesn't look to pass.

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 9:05 am  

Chris McKean wrote:

Tai's defensive positioning has come on a lot and it's good to see. His attacking intelligence and ability and willingness to pass is still massively where it should be for someone playing centre. This is probably why he's got 1 assist to his name all season. Moves to the right always die when they get to him as he doesn't look to pass.

That's fair comment. For me there is a Divine Trinity of rugby league centres:
1. Destructive runner
2. Rock solid in defence
3. Creates space for their winger and can time the pass.

When we take off the nostalgia glasses, there are and have always been very few players who tick all three boxes.

We have Tai who meets criteria 1 and 2. We have Wrench who meets 1 and 3. Optimistically, we have an attacking coach who ticked all three boxes (as well as a few at Ladbrokes) who should be able to help both players develop.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 11:54 am  

Quite surprised at the (over) analysis of yates.

He's been fine since coming in.

He's played 13/middle at Huddersfield, Salford and London with no problems.

Based on our set up, at 1/6/7 and 9 it's not essential to have another creative type at 13 just someone who can pass slightly above average

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 12:25 pm  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

Quite surprised at the (over) analysis of yates.

He's been fine since coming in.

He's played 13/middle at Huddersfield, Salford and London with no problems.

Based on our set up, at 1/6/7 and 9 it's not essential to have another creative type at 13 just someone who can pass slightly above average

7? Surely you're not saying we don't need Currie because we've got Drinkwater?

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 1:11 pm  

just_browny wrote:

7? Surely you're not saying we don't need Currie because we've got Drinkwater?

Not quite I'm saying it's ok to have yates at 13, it's not the end of the world.

And I know its trendy to hate on drinkwater, I'm not nailing any ultra defensive colours to a mast, but burgess williams and dufty have been complimentary about what drinkwater has been doing in order to let them play.

Re: Tonight’s game v Castleford : Sat Aug 24, 2024 1:27 pm  

Cas have come on a lot under Craig Lingard & that was a tough match last night. We did what we had to & i thought our defence coped well when Cas had their big forwards on the pitch alongside the ever dangerous McShane.