All well and good but ... the 2021 Grand Final was decided by 2 points.

Yeah, Saints 2 tries Catalan one try



A good goal kicker is obviously important but Saints won their last two grand finals with Makinson as goal kicker, and before that Coote - who’s decent, but not a patch on Ratchford goal kicking wise. Smith started 2023 terribly with the boot but certainly grew in to it for Wigan.

We need to have one eye on the future, keeping Ratchford on the sidelines means more game time for Wrench / Thewlis & Hayes. It also gives Thewlis & Hayes practice and experience to take on that goal kicking position in future.

For me Ratchford is playing the squad role which he should've had for the past two seasons. As a squad man covering most positions and with his experience and goalkicking - it's perfect.

True. We need to get Thewlis and Hayes practicing kicking as hard as Ratchford does. Should be obvious decision for Hayes if he wants to make himself indroppable.

Which completely backs up my point.
Thank you for that example.

Whether it earns Ratchford a place I'm not so sure BUT I think underestimating the importance of goal kicking is wrong.

I always want the extras that a Whitehead, a Hesford, or a Hodgson offered as it can create winning margins and skew a score line so that the opposition have to change their approach or accept defeat. Having the extra two then getting the ball back what's not to like? I'm sure that Leeds and Sinfield made the most of it on more than one occasion.

In 2023, of the recognised goal kickers (players who kicked 30 or more goals in the season), Ratchford had the highest percentage at 86% with Harry Smith and Tommy Makinson at the bottom of the list at 65% and 63% respectively. If Smith had matched Ratchfords record then he would have landed an additional 31 goals for the season (league, cup and play-offs).

That's an average of 2 points per game.

The point, in case you missed it, was that 2 points can be crucial especially in tight games where defences are on top. we got lucky at Hull KR.

Any how Im not sold on Wrench just yet for other reasons. We are weak defensively on that right edge. We will see.

Wrench v Ratchford shouldn't be a discussion. If both are fit then Wrench should play every single time. I find it strange that we've been banging on about youth and sticking with them and 5 games in and some are panicking. Yes Wrench has been culpable a few times in defence but he's also scored/assisted tries that Ratchford would have got nowhere near.

These kind of mistakes would've been made by Welsby, Percival, Marshall etc etc when they first got into first team. If Wrench is showing no signs of defensive improvement in 10/15 more games then we might have an issue. He may cost us a game - so be it, we need to crack a few eggs if we're to move on. Ratchford should be emergency back up only.

I agree with this, but it's more than just dropping Ratchford, it's leaving the team without a recognised goal kicker that's troubling (not panicking) me.

Ratchford`s goal kicking hasn`t always been as superb as it is now.

Prior to Wire bringing a specialist RU goalkicking coach it was virtually as inconsistent as we are now seeing from Thewlis and Hayes.

If Ratchford isn`t able to pass his goalkicking skills on to our younger kickers, then the club needs to bring in a goal kicking coach again.

Then, like Wigan did with Smith, we persevere with Thewlis/Hayes as goalkicker - if in their pursuit of excellence we lose some close games then we suck it up.

Also worth noting that Ratchford bottled a high pressure yet routine kick at goal. Still think he'd be shaky with a pressure kick.