There is a lot more to full back than pace, Ashton hasn’t knocked Ratchford off his perch yet.

Regarding Dec, wouldn't surprised me if he was relieved that he won't be mentioned in this board so much now given the stick he's had. Hope he gets a new club and continues in the game.

Alffi - Ratch could also go in the centres as could Currie or Hughes, although full back, 2nd row and lose are their best positions respectively from my point of view.

Interesting that we haven't tried Currie as a ball handling 13 - similar mould to Nikau years ago.

Better to have ball playing 2nd rows than loose forward. A good ball handling player would look good in either position, 2 out of 3 with good hands who can pick a pass makes the team look very dynamic and the ball moves across the line well. 2 out of 3 want to hold on to it and it all looks like a battle to have any fluidity. I'd we have space left on the cap I would try for a utility who can play 2nd row and centre. Mcmeekan would have been a good fit.

Yeah i thought his best most consistant games were at hooker, i think he was much better there than in the halves. I thought he was gonna be an interchange with clark in future but just never happened. I think if there wasn't the uncertainty with the Championship he would have been picked up by now.

I agree, full back is a difficult position for a young player.

Something he randomly put on social media couple weeks back made me think he had sorted another contract out. Might be wrong but would imagine an announcement soon now he's officially been released by us.

Patton.
Never really "kicked on" since his GF try in 2016.
Tried his best, but lack of talent (for where a leading SL club's half back needs to be) has been evident for a while.
Hope it goes well for the lad in the future

What sorts out how good a half back is ... is pace of the mark. The best "ever" was sh*t off a shovel ... Alex Murphy in his early days.

That’s a fair observation, when I think of the best halfbacks in Britain, they all had terrific off zero yard speed. Davis Gregory Edwards Burrow Sandow even...!

Speed of thought is also a major requirement.

There are different types of halfback. Bobbie Goulding was not quick, neither was Paul Deacon. Sean Long was express pace early in his career but after a serious injury he lost a yard, but still was a good player.

Briers pace declined as he got into his 30s, you didn't see him take interceptions and run the length of the field like he did in his younger day, and he didn't take on the line and step through as much as he did in his younger days, but he was a much better all round player.

And one of the greatest ever, Ricky Stuart, was not express pace, but could run a game with his boot.

Richie Myler was probably faster than any of them.

That was the big frustration of Patton for me, he looked promising in 2016 but never seemed to improve from that. If anything, 2016 was his peak.

Well I can think myself on the planet Mars now, faster than the speed of light...
I’m not sure that makes me a better astronaut though.

Bit early for drinking RD