Ah yes the SuperLeague dream team. Well then I take it all back. Atkins is obviously a brilliant Centre who create oodles of room for his winger before delivering a pinpoint pass.

I must've imagined watching him run in straight lines and passing into row Z for the past 5 seasons.

Richie Myler was another player who a lot of our fans slagged off on here and said he wasn't creative enough, all he could do was support plays and finish off tries like a poor man's Danny McGuire.

During the past few years when we have been consistently successful there has been a lot of criticism of players in our back line. Richie Mathers divided opinion, Matt King was slagged off for his first year and a half in fact he was blamed for Penny being released. Then one year we lost a playoff and people were having a go at Joel Monaghan saying he was the slowest winger in the league (I think he'd been chased down by a forward).

To take this off a bit of a tangent, but following from the back line theme, how many players would you take from the DVDV era over our current backs:

Toa
Hunte
Kidwell
Smyth
Briers
Langer

And also playing for a new contract.

Whole back 5 are an issue. But Evans and Russell are that most pressing to address and then Atkins

Completely agree. The stick that Atkins gets is totally out of proportion when compared to the golden boy Evans.

In 2016 Atkins posted 16 tries to Evans 6. 27 missed tackles to Evans 46. 6 assists to Evans 4. 61 Tackle busts to Evans 41. 413 tackles to Evans 375 and average gain of 8.81 to Evans 7.73.

atkins is not our big problem I'm confidant that his extension would have seen a drop in his wages so just replacing him won't mean we can get a world class centre. he hits the line hard and scores trys. with lineman on his wing we have power and size on that wing and both are capable of catching his crossfield kicks and both atkins and line ham are very hard to stop from close range. the problem is the other side is not complimenting that with speed and skill to break from deep.

now with wingers and centres being expected to do a lot more than stand on the edges and score having to take first few drives to give the forwards a break has the requirements for modern wingers changed where size and power are chosen over pure speed , something coaches have accepted but we as fans seem to not accept ???


and sally theres only smyth n hunt I would not have in my team

Gidley does no justify the huge salary he is on, doesn't have the pace, power or decision making near the opposition try line to be a quality fullback or half... very overrated player.

We could replace him with a very good fullback and winger, would be a much more balanced backline, and have change left over... but Smith obviously disagrees so we're stuck with a slow backline with little imagination in the team outside of Brown.

No, instead he just has:

- Positioning.
- Safe hands.
- Defence.
- Correct link play.
- Leadership.
- Ability to organise the defence.
- Communication
- Experience.

Jesus wept. Did you even watch him play full back against Brisbane? The man was a machine. It Was Gidley's decision making and hands that assisted Russell for his Try.

Ron must be on coke!!

Seriously he was just what we needed in a fullback. He was telling the defensive line exactly what to do against Brisbane (very vocal very demonstrable). It's something we've missed since Hodgeson left us.

As you are in the know. Just how much is Gidley on?

Too much

Tell me Ron. Are you any relation to Frankie Abbott?

.....or Frankie Pickering!!!

When he keeps the ball in his own hands he can be quite devastating, his passing to the winger can be terrible or just non-existent.

Evans is of the same mould but nit devastating with ball in hand