I'd prefer to see him as full back.

I saw him.at the Wigan game before the super 8s n his shoulder was strapped then as it was still in the gf.

He can see more and his ability to read the game will allow hi to compensate for lack of pace.

Again I'm sure gidley and sandow presence has aided Patton progression so to have them playing and coaching Patton makes them a little better value than just as players.

I hope there are more signings to come that may not even be announced until after the 4 nations. Until we know the full ins and outs it's hard to gauge what to expect but either way gidley staying is a positive for me I just hope we can rotate him more next season for some games to keep him fresh for when he does play

When I heard we had added Gidley to the squad I thought of the dynamics between him and Sandow I expected classy play, control of the game through kicking, game management plus the odd shows of sheer brilliance from NRL stars. Yes early doors before Sandows hamstring went they looked good together, after the injury not so. We are paying a lot of cash for these guys to steer the boys around the pitch and it doesn't happen. Then we let DP have a go and hey presto a half back that can do just that! Give DP a half back slot and let one of the others go for me. I am not sure which one, but Sandow does seem to have a more troubled time where ever he is?

We all know that Gidley is a little suspect with one on one tackling which bewilders me as to why we would put him at full back when Russell is condemned for the same fault.

My issue with Gidley isn't his tackling, it's his decision making with the ball, in the semi vs saints there was at least 3 times where he made the wrong call, again in the GF he should of threw it wide at the very end and went himself.

I feel like his 'experience' is massively overhyped, yeah he's been around a long time but he spent all his career at one of the worst teams in the nrl, only 'big game experience' is state of origin and even then he was mostly a utility player off the bench.

For me, he's the dictionary definition of the Emporer's New Clothes.
The RL equivalent of
Ben and Jerry's
Coldplay
The new "must see" TV series from America.

We're led to believe that he guides us round the pitch, when, since our great start to the season, he's done anything but, as all we do is drives or dummy half scoots. You don't need to be a genius to work out our current style of play, so , in my book, he's a luxury (at a reported £200k) we can easily do without.

Just for balance, I think he's had a very good season.

As has the club.

i think he had a very good first half of the season.. But i do think, with no major trophy, that the Sandow and Gidley experiment may have to be classed as a failed one, especially when you consider that they are both probably the highest paid players at the club.

I would like to see Patton start in the halves next season every week..... i wouldn't be overly concerned if we lost one of the 2 big name aussie halves.

I think Gids gets let down by his runners to be fair .

there's the thing i've alluded to in the savelio thread, if you go back a few years, they say a good winger gets made to look good by a centre, but we've seen its the second row that makes the difference, logan swann and then for ages westwood, guided by briers made bridge and gleeson and whoever was on that right wing look excellent.

Gids has got jack hughes, who whilst good, isnt' dynamic or a big defence worrier and also rhys evans playing outside him.

Solid is the best you can say about them.

Im gonna make a bold prediction that he won't be in your team next year.
That Patton looks a real player and at 21 is still very young for an organising half, so if he plays at 7 and runs the game, you have to ask who is the more creative out of Sandow or Gidley to play next to him.

Gidley had 60 mins of the GF to create something with Patton doing all the tactical kicking and iirc correctly he didn't even get a line break assist?
Compare him to Danny McGuire, who I'm sure you all think is overrated, but has got a try or assist (often more than one) in all 8 GFs he has played in.

If you watch the final back Gids was putting in some awesomely timed passes , If that was gleeson outside him would be scaring defenses to death. However it just seemed that it got passed to Evans and the play died , No disrespect to Evans I have been one of his greatest fans this year but he needs to learn how to release his winger .

It's nothing to do with the runners, great halves make mediocre players look good.

You cannot have 2 big money halves and expect to have a world class backline as well.

The problem with Gidley is that his natural position is fullback but his legs went a long time ago, so is getting shoe horned into the halves.

And it hasn't worked in the big games, where the defences are tough to break down.

After watching back the grand final and watching Gidley confirm what I saw at the time tells me he's not the half back we need.

Our last play of the game. Gidley gets the ball and runs to the line. The centre is sucked in and so is Charnley. Gids has Atkins to run a line with Hughes stood out the back of him and Russell is in open space. Not a soul near him. All he would have to do is hit Hughes out the back who would than give it the Russsell to take us within two points. But instead he tries to burst the line himself and the rest is history.

Did he do that because he knew he wasn't confident to kick the 2 points from the touchline? Did he not pass because he thinks he's better than he is? Or did he not pass simply because he doesn't have the vision a top halfback does?

If Briers was in that situation or Sandow Russell would have ended up with the ball.


Its quite worrying that we went 60 Minutes in a game without scoring a point, something we've been unable to do consistently for a long time... Put points on the board. Our attack has been next to clueless in the second half of the season.