Quote ="Juan Cornetto"Hardaker is not a naturally creative player and has shown little sign of developing into one. When he first came into the side at left centre he showed his first thought was to go on his own and ignore Hall. At full back he has made his name as a defensive player with a good kick return game based on physicality and not linking skills. Whilst this has won him the MOS it has not helped our two centres who rarely are provided with the ball from a FB joining the line at speed, drawing a defender and creating space for their running skills. Both Moon and Watkins more often receive slow ball in static situations from second rowers. I have always regarded FB as a prime position from which to create attacposting.p ... 8300380#ks and IMO our quality back line is somewhat wasted without a FB that both understands this and has the creative ability to put it into practice. Golding looks to have this ability but needs time to develop and gain experience. So there is a good argument to swop Hardaker and Watkins for a spell and see if we can get some sharpness back in the attack.'" From memory Watkins hasn't impressed as much at FB as what many thought he might...especially defensively. Maybe have Watkins and Hardaker rotate for some periods in possession, but defencively Hardaker must be back there as a priority.

Quote ="Juan Cornetto"Hardaker is not a naturally creative player and has shown little sign of developing into one. When he first came into the side at left centre he showed his first thought was to go on his own and ignore Hall. At full back he has made his name as a defensive player with a good kick return game based on physicality and not linking skills. Whilst this has won him the MOS it has not helped our two centres who rarely are provided with the ball from a FB joining the line at speed, drawing a defender and creating space for their running skills. Both Moon and Watkins more often receive slow ball in static situations from second rowers. I have always regarded FB as a prime position from which to create attacposting.p ... 8300380#ks and IMO our quality back line is somewhat wasted without a FB that both understands this and has the creative ability to put it into practice. Golding looks to have this ability but needs time to develop and gain experience. So there is a good argument to swop Hardaker and Watkins for a spell and see if we can get some sharpness back in the attack.'" From memory Watkins hasn't impressed as much at FB as what many thought he might...especially defensively. Maybe have Watkins and Hardaker rotate for some periods in possession, but defencively Hardaker must be back there as a priority.

Unless Hardaker and Golding are injured there really isn't any argument let alone a good one to make that switch.
Watkins showed again v the Dragons give him reasonable/early ball he's just fine staying where he is as for ZH he may not be BW but FB is his best position as we stand and whilst our whole attacking structure is in transition even more so missing Mags and relying on 2 rookie HB's the very last thing we need to be doing is chopping and changing our best FB/Centre around.

Might not be an argument in your book Rhinoms but ZH's lack of attacking finesse is a real handicap IMO. Precisely because we are missing Mags and have two rookie half backs underlines the need for an attacking pivot at FB to take some pressure off them. Watkins had a good game in France but you could look forward to this sort of display every week if he had the space that you get at FB. Also with Hardaker out of sorts at present it makes even more sense.

Well the majority of fullbacks are either good runners or good passers, there are only about 5/6 exceptions playing today
Those that can do both to a high standard are usually then defensive nightmares
The only exceptions are Billy Slater, GI, Hayne...
In other words, players who dont play in SL and we cant afford.
So if we got rid of Hardaker, we would only get someone who can maybe pass but wont break many tackles and probably make a load of defensive mistakes

I can't think of an NRL fullback who can't pass pretty well and who isn't an integral part of attacking moves, particularly on the opposition line. There are examples of others who've played NRL but they tend to be discarded if they can't pass. As with Josh Hoffman, who in many respects is the best NRL counterpart to Hardaker I can think of.

The three names you mention stand out not because of passing but because they are (or possibly were in the case of Slater) devastating runners in their own right.

But Watkins has great feet and at his best with ball in hand in space. He breaks plenty of tackles too, not bad defense and passes better than ZH. ie; great CV for a FB. Oppositions seem to have worked out that Hardaker rarely passes so now close him down much better.

Fullbacks this week- (that ive seen enough of)
Runners- Dugan, Ferguson, Hopoate, Gordan, Tedesco
Passers: Darius Boyd, Coote
No defence- Barba

All Rounders- GI, RTS, Slater, Stewart (so only 2 who arnt over 30)

Hardakers equivalent would be more like Dugan the current NSW fullback, the difference is that they play to his strengths and work a load of inside passes and stuff that exploits his pace and power, thing we dont do enough

I've often thought Hardakers game was similar to Dugan. Similar skills and body types, and both have put off field issues behind them.

Dugan can be very creative. Tedesco is a very good passer of the ball, he's a key player in the Tigers plays. Barba's not a first choice full back. Neither you or I have seen enough of Ferguson or Hopate at fullback to make any sort of call on them.

I'll say again, every regular starting full back in the NRL who lasts for more than a season can pass the ball better than Hardaker. If they don't they get put on the wing (or possibly their better side in the centres).

Dugan and Tedesco operate mainly in the middle, only linking in the way a loose forward would and working a lot of inside ball runs, whilst Hardaker seems to be being pushed to an edge (he certainly was for England) therefore we're not playing to his stregnths
Hopoate played fullback for most of a year and played a similar role to Dugan
Barba is a first choice fullback isnt he? who was missing for the sharks this week?
You failed query Coote, Gordan and Boyd who all have limited games

Hardaker may not be one of the best attacking fullbacks if he played down under but hed easily be top 10