Ryan was famed as being one of, if not the first, running full back.
Rather than engage in kicking duels he would return the ball by running it.

He didnt play like a half back.

Yes he could

And if the internet had been around then I'm sure there would have been experts like you who would have said that Martin Ryan hadnt done anything different than the previous person who revolutioned the full back role.

The full back role has constantly changed, even in the 80s there were defensive full backs, more attacking running types, full backs who were good under the high ball and full backs who could hardly run but could kick a ball 70 yards or were very good place kickers.

But the use of a Full Back as the predominant attacking threat wasnt widely used if at all until the mid 2000s.

Anyway, back o to middles
It's up to coaches and teams to utilise players in positions to the best of their abilities to achieve the best ""Team" result they can.
Prop forwards used to handle/ball play a lot more than theyve donei since 90s, loose forwards used to be predominantly ball players, the trend as gone for them to be used more as a 3rd prop.

End of the day, coaches can coach how they want. They can pick and choose how the game is played by their team and they will live or die by those decisions.

But it's as simple as this, we havent had 2 consistent Top props for best part of 10 years.
Weve had "Good" props and turned them over every 3 years or so,
Prescott
Mossop
Flower
Taylor
Dodson
Crosby
FPN
Sutton

other players whove contributed in
Lauaki
Clubb
Tautai
Navarette

And whole host more that have been bit part
Bretherton
Pettybourne
Powell
And a lot of the younger lads who then move on.

Wane found a way to ge the best out of them "Collectively".

Lam needs to get the best out of them collectively,
But remember there are names in there such as mossop, Dodson, sutton that very vociferous fans coulsnt wait to get rid of.

I'd give my right arm for any of those 3 now

Do you think that Fren

Do you think that French plays like a half back??

Not as such, I think he plays like a running half back.
But currently hes our best FB option when everyone available as he offers a Threat, something Hardaker wasnt doing last year (even though I thought he had a good year).
Maybe (and I do believe this myself) that Hardakers threat from FB comes in very organised, well.coached and structured teams. I dont believe weve got one of them.

Strangely enough, theres a 3rd type of FB around, when Sarge signed for Salford I was telling Salford fans I k ow that hed end up st FB, when they signed escare I told em Sarge will play more FB in my opinion than him.

He chews yards up and gets teams going forward, Hardkaer isnt bad at that, but Sarge is great and one of the reason I was disappointed we lost him.

Agree on French. He hasn't got the rugby brain of Sam Tomkins at FB but it's fantastic watching him linking into the line. A player who you can visibly see that he enjoys playing the game.

I was a critic of Sarginson at centre but fully agree that he is an effective FB for making lots of yards from in his own half.

Sarginson has been fantastic for Salford this year. I was sad to see him go because I think he’s the type of guy that is that competitive, it rubs off on others and I think we’ve missed him. I always thought it was pretty clear Fullback was his best position. His energy and fitness levels are unbelievable.