Anyone that saw him play junior level would have saw how he could kick in play so effectively, both long and short. The number of 40/20’s he kicked was a huge asset to those teams. But as a rule, we don’t kick the ball unless it’s the last tackle.

I can only assume that is consciously, led by the coaches. But why? If you kick on 3rd or 4th you’re missing out on 1 or 2 10 meter carries at best, but are far more likely to kick into space.

Waiting for the last to kick down the throat of a winger who makes that 20 meters back on the first play is a false economy.

If you’re not dominant when carrying away from our line, let him kick it, try for a 40/20, at worst you pin the fullback in the corner on his own and start the set with a dominant tackle.

It has to be the decision of the coaches, as we don’t ever kick early. We often take another ineffective hit up, challenging nobody, to lump a kick in the air.

I’m not saying Patton is the answer, but we’ve seen he can kick, whether he’s being encouraged to or not is a question worth asking.

I see someone else shares my logic about kicking early sometimes ...kick when the full back & wingers haven't dropped back & have more chance of big yards from the kick. Do that a couple of times & teams will be leaving players back from their defensive lines just in case the kick comes over & will be leaving their up front defence weaker. Let the ball do the work.

Surely if he was a good kicker he could do all these great kicks on the 5th tackle?

Pointless debate now, he is in situ seemingly till the end of the season. Cant see either party thinking it will be a good idea for him to stay next season with Widdop on his way. I hope he does well in the meantime but as my mantra is "expect the worst but hope for the best..."

The 40-20 is one of the most potent, demoralising threats any team possesses; if, in Patton, we had someone who could kick them regularly then the coaching team would be encouraging it, not actively discouraging it.

What dismays me most is the pointless running across the line he does. And don't anyone tell me no-one is giving him an option, the team just look as baffled as he does.

completely wrong..... again

If im blaming anyone for the saints defeat.... it would be ratchford (im not blaming him btw, as there were plenty of poor performances.. he was the worst though)... Patton was just poor, he was off the pace and had nothing to offer.... pretty much like every game this season.

he just isnt good enough.

60 yards across a field, 3 players covering it, kicking 40+ yards dictates that you need a bit of height in trajectory to make the distance, odds are stacked in the favour of the defenders.

This is against kicking early against one person covering those 60 yards, which it would be harder to find the fullback on the full than it would be to hit the ground.

And to answer the point about coaches not restricting this, we’ve seen Austin (at Hull from memory) kick the ball at least 60 yards on the fly, he’s also done this finding touch with penalties. So that demonstrates that we have people who can kick distance, and kick relatively accurately, so if they are not being discouraged to do it by the coaches, the half backs need coaching to start doing it! Chipping the ball in the arms of fullbacks isn’t effective.

Whats the betting Patton leaves us next year and signs for Wigan or Saints and they have him kicking on the 3rd or 4th, banging 40/20s everywhere while we're stuck with a 31 year old Widdop.

i guess its a risk we're going to have to take.....

Slightly less than Lama Tasi landing the golden point drop goal at Old Trafford, I would imagine.

Awful again

At least he's consistent.
Still, there were plenty worse, today.

If I were Price, I'd be sending a 30odd year old Brown off to Lourdes, for some spiritual "healing", so he comes back to the starting XIII, earlier. As hard as he tries (and he does give great effort), Patton simply isn't the answer.

Sorry, lad.

We may have to have a forced change for Monday. It looked like Dec was injured at the end of that shambles of a game.

Good,harsh I know but he won’t get dropped so if he is injured then someone else gets ago.

Ratchford to halves, Mamo to FB.