I feel and this was highlighted to me, not something i noticed prior to it being mentioned, by a couple of ex SL player and coaches, and was subsequently highlighted on a few occasions last year, that when a team keeps there attacking shape, he struggles to read the plays, which can put him in poor positions and hence make his defence look poor at times.

As stated earlier the Kiwi's scored 2 tries off the same move, once where Hohia entered the attacking line with great shape outside him,secondrow, centre,wing and a Prop inside him, dummied and went through Slaters tackle as he did not read the play (which is a hell of a thing to be able to do) later in the game they played the same move but on that occasion he entered the line and gave the pass with the same shape outside him again Slater was slow to make the call got caught and Pritchard went over i think.


Rads had great ability to read a play and was also decisive I think Slater in this situation is prone to hesitate which sees him occasionally exposed.

if this was a boxing match the ref would have stopped it by now........no contest........RADS by a country mile

He got injured for the entire season in the first game for Cronulla this season, infact injuries are something he's stuggled with during his career - managing only 77 NRL games since 2003, thats less than half the amount of games Slater has played during the same period. He's an ok player, certainly better than Bradford had to chose from at fullback, though a lot of bulls fans reckon he's going to play stand off (which i'm not too sure about).

Certainly don't think he's a player we've missed out on.

Personally would have loved to see him at Wigan prior to his last injury, since then though he becomes a gamble.

I personally rate him very highly as a 1 but simply cannot see him having the same impact as a 6. He is a very elusive powerful lad and with a little space causes all kinds of trouble, not sure he will bet much of that as a 6.

I hope he does fully recover and also gets a run at 1 as i think he will be great to watch, does not strike me in any way as a 6 though.

Really like this pole, the first on on RLfans that i had to think about for a while. IMO it was between Rads and Slater. I went for Rads as i think a full back should be more defensive, which Rads was, IMO the best in the world at his best.

I think the thing you have to think about, considering Slater is better on attack and rads was better in defence, but was Rads better in attack than Slater is in defence, I would say yes. So I'm voting Rads.

For all Rads' qualities it's comfortably Slater for me. Rad's would never have earned a single Aussie cap even at the peak of his powers.

I don't know about that even though i agree Slater is the better player. There must have been times when the Aussies have had to use the odd fill in player at fullback or have used out and out fullbacks not in the class of Rads.

I also believe if Rads had been Australian and at a club of his birth he could have been an even better player. The higher intensity compatition would have made him find ways of raising his game even further.

I agree with that although i also must agree with Jimmy that Radlinski would have found it very tough to secure a spot at the back for Australia, you only have to look at some of the great players that have also missed out due to the quality of Darren Lockyer and the ones that followed.

For the most part Radlinski never seemed to do himself justice when playing against Lockyer although you could probably say that about a lot of players.

He's a handy player, really don't see him as a 6 (and i doubt he does either lol), he's just not in the top class of NRL players and his injury record is a bit of a worry. Still, I think he'll do a good job for Bradford if he can stay fit and is played in the right position.

Don't get my wrong, I think Rads was a fantastic player and probably the closest thing we've had to an NRL style fullback back in his younger days when he was scoring plenty. Rads probably would have gone ok in the NRL, but I doubt he'd have achieved the same level of impact that Slater has for the storm, or Lockyer did for the broncos in the same period that rads was playing.

I guess it's not really an apples with apples comparison as they played at different times in different leagues, with different jobs being expected off them at fullback.

Slater.

No question of doubt.

But the Aussies Never needed a Full Back like Rads, they could afford to have expansive, attacking Full Backs.

How would Slater or Lockyer go on playing at FB for GB?England over the years with the other Aussies & Kiwis running at them & putting them under pressure 80mins every game and not allowing them to use their attacking abilities to their full potential?

Similarly, Rads playing for Oz would have been able to develop his attacking game more playing under a team that was allowed to attack more etc?

The thing is though mate, has having a defensive fullback actually achieved anything, or have we still been mostly whooped? (and badly)

Lockyer, Slater and Radlinski are the three best FBs i've evey seen. However the first and last are much better all-round players but Slater does come close to making up for that with his attacking.