78.9% last season from Deacon, almost 83% in 2008

They should have a competition at training and the best one should be the kicker. The only problem is whether Deacon will be on the pitch in games.

His stats have been better than Richards' every season.

I seem to remember that when Pat went with Ireland to the World Cup his goal kicking seemed to deteriorate a little. From that point on he hasn't been as reliable or successful as before, now whether we need to employ a new goal kicking coach remains to be seen, but sooner or later Pat's misses will cost us a game.

For me Deacon should only receive the kicking duties if Pat is either off the field of injured, Pat is a superb goal kicker he just needs to get his confidence back and perhaps improve his style somewhat to get back to top form.

so looking at Deacons stats, he should be kicking when hes on the field, with Pat as back up kicker.

happens at other clubs...Cas for 1.
westerman goes for a rest and Huby kicks.(assuming dixons still out)

Pat has been the unsung hero of our team on so many occasions especially during Trent Barratt's time with us and has won us many games because of his kicking (Bradford 07 ingrained for ever on my mind). I agree he hasn't been as consistent and that seems to start after the world cup games when he had a leg injury of some sort (can't recall exact details) as others have said he doesn't become bad overnight and taking the kicking duties away from him would be wrong in my view and would certainly not do a thing for his confidence. We have back up options if they are needed and I think Pat would tell the coaching staff himself if he wanted someone else to do it for a while so I reckon we should leave him be. They will all improve when the weather does for starters.

No we need to look where he's missing from and they're not always the touchline ones, and its not just this season its been a while now with Stevo saying "he's usually so reliable". 1 extra kick per game could be crucial and if there is a way we can get this we should do it its not all about sparing Pats feelings, how would he feel if he missed a crucial kick and we ended up losing the game?

Also maybe Piggy and Amos' stats were so poor because they weren't spending hours kicking goals for fun on the training pitch.

Bloody hell Roberts, Bloody Hell Richards - it's interchangeable.

Where's Jamie Ainscough when you need him!!!

I'm not sure I buy into your theory. Pat missed some relatively simple conversions against Warrington, but kicked one from the touchline. He has been very inconsistent. A goalkicker should be quite comfortable any side of the pitch IMO.

Kyle Eastmond is hitting a 82% success rate and Kevin Sinfield is hitting a 78% success rate. If you have ambitions to be a top side you need a reliable goalkicker who has a 75-85% success rate IMO.

Pat Richards has not been in good goalkicking form since the World Cup. It's not a pop or cheap dig at Richards or any quick conclusion from three games. It's been happening for a long time now.

I used to be shocked when he missed a kick, even from the touchline.

He is not flighting the ball as well as he used to!

I'm not sure the weather has much to do with it. Eastmond has a 82% success rate and Kevin Sinfield has a 78% success rate. Doesn't seem to have affected them. Plus it isn't like Richards has become 'bad overnight' either. He hasn't been consistent since 2008.

As for confidence issues, perhaps relieving Richards of the duties might be a positive thing. The more poor goalkicking performances he puts in the worse it could get. Imagine if it cost us a game (Like Warrington for example). That wouldn't do him much good. At the end of the day, the needs of the team comes first and if that means relieving Richards of the kicking duties then so be it IMO.

FWIW I think MaGuire will keep him in charge against Les Catalans and I hope Richards kicks them all over and we can have a laugh at this thread, but I hope we never look back at a defeat and put it down to poor goalkicking.

Take all the emotion out of it and select the best kicker in practise. If that happens to be PR or PD then so be it. I don't care whose name is on the scoreboard as long as they kick them.