With Ryan Atkins having played the bulk of his career at left centre i was just wondering where he will fit into the scheme of things and where will he play ?

With Matt King showing improved form this year especially in the last couple of months it could affect his new built confidence if you pushed him out onto the left wing to accomodate Ryan Atkins, you then have Chris Riley to think about as he is another player thats looking confident and settled on the left wing.

Chris Bridge has been solid at right centre and has shown some great defence, i`m just looking where Atkins is going to fit in, anyway i`m not a fan of moving left sided players over to the right side of the pitch as that can affect their game and balance by doing things off the opposite foot than their normally used too, its the same for right sided players moving to the left.

I havn`t got a clue where were going to play him to be honest, the most natural option is to have him at left centre with Matt King on the left wing but that would be a bit unfair on Chris Riley, it would certainly be a powerful looking left side.

Depends on their skill set I suppose. I agree, for some players, it will be a ball ache asking them to switch sides. For others, it won't be. Smith has worked with both players so he'll obviously already have a pre-conceived idea. I'd start with this 3/4 line:

FB Mathers
LW Riley
LC King
RC Atkins
RW Hicks

Note what you say about Bridge and it's harsh to ship him out but that's the killer of having utility value.

I'm sure I have read somewhere that Matt King is/was a right centre, but found himself playing a huge part of his career on the left due to some of the right sided centres he has played with (Inglis?, Gleeson).

Despite that, it may seem a little harsh on Riley, but I would ask him to wait for injuries (shouldn't have to wait too long), sit on the bench and go with:-

Mathers
Hicks
Bridge
Atkins
King

At rep level he played on the right wing for NSW and Australia, as far as i`m aware he wouldn`t have played very many games at right centre especially when NSW and Australia had Gasnier during that time, he made have played right centre on the odd occasion at rep level to cover for an injury as that rings a bell but it was no more than that, at club level i`m fairly sure the bulk of his career for the Storm was at left centre.

I agree with what your saying about centres switching sides. It effected Toa when we re-signed him as he was originally a right centre but we then played him on the left. A main part of Toa's game was being able step inside the instant he caught the ball, thus beating the first tackler. But switching sides meant this had to change.

I wouldn't be surprised to see King move to right centre. I may be wrong but I don't think it would effect his game too much as he is a different type of centre to Toa.

With regards to Bridge, I really wouldn't be surprised to see him leave the club.

Matt King never looks that comfortable to me playing on the left, his passing certainly isn't that great. I can see him moving to the right with a very unlucky Bridge missing out.

it's a weird one from the outside, however as i said a few week ago, best to wait and see what the departures are like from the HJ this year, who knows there may be some changes that might surprise us all.

I think Bridge will leave despite his utility value.

Hope not. As stated his value at utility is massive. I think the players can all see that injuries occur and having players like Bridge & Grix are just as important as the named 17.

I just think he'll go. He could be a top player but there is something missing. Probably attitude and thats something that doesn't normally site well with TS. I think that Grix will cement a place in the 17 as the Utility back.

Was it Clarke that stated the other night that Blythe was the 7th centre we have used this year?

I know we will have a new 7 next season (I believe I have read something about one anyway), but the importance of a first class replacement cannot be underestimated IMO, as for me, that is the real area where we have been weakened when we have had an injury. Our forwards have generally held up well when the young lads have come in, but with players like Blythe and Anderson in the three-quarters, you really weaken your attack.

That said, there will be times when everyone will be fit, so as above, it is a very tough one. I had a quick look at the stats again, and the lack of assists from both King and Atkins is worrying.

You would expect at some stage of the season Wakefield would have worked an overlap for Atkins to simply hand the ball on to his winger, yet he doesn't have a single one to his name. Gleeson was good at this, and Bridge also has 10 to his name this year.

We have seen this as a real weakness in King's game. Against Salford, he went 90m with support both sides of him, yet got caught a metre short. That really shouldn't happen. For me, King's strengths are equally suited on the wing, provided we have a decent centre as replacement. My worry is that we have often been told that Atkins doesn't pass, and tbh the stats back that up.

Mathers
Hicks
Bridge
King
Riley

Reserve: Atkins

Not really, as he would get plenty of game time.

It's a 17 man game.

Atkins has taken a lot of stick from some of the wakey supporters for his failure to pass on occasion and it's an area of his game to be worked on, but i'm sure he can improve upon it (and it's notable he's offloaded a little more in the past few games). What he will give you is power and pretty good pace - he's very strong in defence (especially near the line), will help out on occasion with some great drives and a strong finisher.

99.9% of wakey supporters are gutted he's leaving and clinging to the hope Millard is as good as he looks in highlight clips on you tube!

i like Bridge as a player, but for me Atkins is a cut above at centre and this signing will improve your team and probably weaken ours.

Dave, i can`t see Ryan Atkins coming over here to be a bench warmer or a squad player. I`m that confident he will be a starter that i would put money on it, he`s not the type of player you would have on the bench as he is a specialist centre, he`s not like Johson, Grix or Clarke who can fill in for quite a few positions. Usually your bench is 2 props, an impact hooker and a utility player, i wouldn`t class Atkins as a utility player.

One thing that does concern me and its a point you raised before, neither Matt King or Ryan Atkins are known for being creative centres, both rely on strength and power to break tackles, Matt King`s assets are close to the line where he can use his size to go for high balls and use his strength to crash through tacklers from short range, Ryan Atkins strengths are in his power to break through tacklers and he has pace to finish from distance but neither are noted for drawing tacklers in and slipping passes to their wingers.