Quote: St Helens Wolf "Did Riley Dean go off with a head injury? I'm pretty sure that he did and didn't return. If he's failed then he won't be available to face Hull KR on Friday, in which case...........
Ratchford or Mata'utia at Stand Off? Discuss.'"
I was just about to say, put Ratchford into the halves and give Thewlis some game time at fullback where he belongs. Put Wrench on the wing and have Minikin at centre.
But then I kind of thought to myself, Mata'utia has looked better in the spine than he has at Centre. He's filled in at Fullback a couple of times this season. And with Dufty probably coming in, Thewlis will either get no game time over Minikin or Wrench, or he's going to be shoved out to the wing. At this point I think we might have to accept Thewlis won't get his chance at Fullback for a couple of seasons, so commit to him as the Winger with Wrench at Centre for now. Put Ratchford at Scrum Half and get a head start on next seasons plans. Putting Williams at Stand Off where he's then on the left where he looks more comfortable. Then when Dufty comes in, I have confidence that Wrench and Thewlis will have fully earned their spots. And Mata'utia finally gets pushed out.
I'm quite tired of the constant changes to the team. I'd be happy to start the same team for the final 8 games, pending no injuries. Something like Mata'utia at Fullback, Williams and Ratchford in the halves, Harrison and Bullock starting at prop.
And adding onto other posts above, Sandow used to get us on the front foot with an early 40/20 attempt which he wasn't too bad at. Unfortunately, I don't have an ounce of trust in Williams' kicking game, and I don't think Ratchford is as smart as he should be with it at his age. What's so depressing about it, is that it's not even a basic kicking game, it's actually bad. It's always too short, too low, or directly at the opposition putting them in better field position. To be fair, the chases are usually quite poor on top of it. Saying that, even if we did have perfect kicks into the back corner, our defence would let them march down the field in about 3 tackles anyway.