Austin's defence has always looked pretty good to me, don't get the criticisms there. It's certainly a hell of a lot better than some seasoned NRL watchers had me believe.

How did you think he went in the semi final and the games around that when the right side was getting rinsed?

Each to their own I think some of the Austin comments are a bit harsh. It's all about the deal for me and I wouldn't mind him staying on for the right one

I think you are being a bit unfair and over simplifying defence.
Wide defenders tend to carry the can for problems caused inside.
I think he can tackle but, of course, defence out wide has never been just about tackling.

Nope, that's exactly my point, that was my point at the time and the around that.

Charnley was getting all the crap because they were either going inside or outside him, however the defence had collapsed because of austin going walk about because he doesn't want to put his shoulder in.

Yes ... I understand you now. But don't really see Austin's lack of not wishing to tackle as such a problem. For me Austin is a decent player and if the load and expectation to create was taken off him I reckon he could be very useful. He would be a good man popping on to a short ball from a creative half back.

Australia found Blake niche. Off the bench as an impact running back who pops in for one or two in the last 10 mins and looked sensational. A bit like Mark Robins at Utd, once given a full gig, bang average.

I'm not really bothered where he plays once Widdop and Williams are fit and in the halves. Bench spot i'd be happy with for the rest of the year. He won't be here next year so it doesn't matter about him having a fixed position, 13 when he played there for us randomly he looked completely out of place and had a bad game so i don't get the call from people on here to play him there?

Blimey you have a good memory. Can you remember the games? Sorry ... just can't remember them. Can't think who would be at half-back and who kicked.

Said the same thing last week and got pelted for it. It’s an absolute myth that he has a good kicking game and good hands. He has a side step and an ok running game that teams worked out after half a season.

Defending in the middle is a different beast to his current job. The skill is similar, essentially it’s putting your body infront of someone else’s. But, the trick is to be intense, move up fast, stay tall until as late as possible, don’t plant your feet and not to ‘bite’ and come out of your line.

It sounds simple, but over 350 repetitions in a game, you need to move, regardless whether the attackers are coming at you or not, you can’t let the line break.

It needs to be a habit, it needs to be disciplined. I think it would need a pre-season to make the shift.

I reckon you have gone a bit over the top here. It's called tackllng ... easy (but painful) when motivated.

My preference would be as an impact player off the bench, after he had a eye-catching start to his career in his first year at wire, he is a-bit one dimensional for me. His kicking game is decent but not as good as say Williams/Widdop, although he is capable of making a break and stepping out the line to create something..he’s been a lot better in games this year with Widdop when he eventually got into the side. But Widdop has been back to his best which has probably benefited Blake.

Unless Williams or Widdop get injured again towards the back end of the season I think he’s always going to be used from the bench, with an option to play centre/loose forward if needed. If something is required to open up the game, Blake is capable of coming off the bench & having an impact.

Last years semi-final against Salford, Ratchford played at 13 the week before and had an amazing game, and made shed loads of tackles. Then the week after Price weirdly decided to put Blake at 13 for some unknown reason and he was awful. Completely out of place, missed loads of tackles and was compmetely lost. But to be fair it was Prices decision to play him there for whatever reason even though we'd never played him there before, and Ratchford had already played there and was amazing. And Austin only played that 1 game at Loose and has never played there again as far as i know.

I don't think Austin played at loose forward vs. Salford.
He did score a very good try in the first half playing at Stand Off.
As far as I can work out Ratchford played LF with Ashton at FB.