Cracking debate this guys.

I think a lot of it goes back to the promotion and relegation thing - Wakefield last year for example were fighting for £75k just for finishing fifth. It makes it very difficult for coaches to look at the long term when picking their team and will almost always go for a seasoned player who will guarantee you a 7/10 performance, rather than a young player who might give you an 8 but also a 3....

With regard to Rocky his career is very much in his own hands. He's been offered a deal by Wakefield which he has initially rejected because "the numbers weren't right". Well, I'm afraid him or his agent are not really in a position to be that bold. He's had a very stuttering career up to press, and considering he's one of 4 pivots at Wakefield with no guarantees of being a first choice, I don't see where else a better offer will come from.

He has potential, but at this point I personally feel like he's miles away from fulfilling it - first and foremost he needs to nail down a regular spot at HB.

I appreciate I'm biased but when you're looking at internationals a few years down the line Trueman at 19 is likely to overtake him in the non too distant future if he doesn't nail that spot down. It's impossible to say who will be better but he's certainly getting the better opportunities and he's obviously getting the recognition having won young player of the year.

At the moment no SL HB really looks like making the international HB spot their own. Williams and Myler are awfully average, and whilst Gale excels at Cas, the polar difference between how cas play and how Bennett wants England to play means he's struggled to adapt his game. And as such, shown his game isn't the right fit for England. I think it's a little naive for some to say he simply goes missing for England - I can't imagine Bennett giving him a game plan of "play like you do for cas". He's just not the right fit. As such I wouldn't even consider Gale under Bennett.

The other issue is England at international level simply don't play enough games. It must be bloody tough to run a game from HB when as a squad you're only together for a few weeks a year for a handful of games, playing completely different systems to what you've played all year.

Granted other nations are the same, but given SOO in Australia, it's not so much of an alien concept to their players

So can we sign let's say Greg Inglis as a centre and then play him at 6?

Too hard to manage that rule.

If it’s premature for people to praise him on the back of a little bit of good form, then isn’t it hypocritical to be crowing at the first sign of him not being picked?

Might not even be a quality issue. He may have come back from the offseason with poor fitness, too cocky an attitude based on the praise, might have had a slight niggle that he needs to work on fitness wise away from Super League.

Seems like you’ve knee jerked and jumped on the first sought opportunity that could POSSIBLY support your view, which would be ok if you weren’t criticising others for being too quick to laud him.

Richardson is a young player with plenty still to learn but he has plenty of talent and his time will come again soon enough. Going and working on those deficiencies away from the superleague spotlight for a while will do him the world of good.

I can't get on board with an attitude that makes you happy to report back that a young player is faltering, just to prove yourself right - it's churlish at best.

Richardson is, without a doubt, a very talented young player - the why's and wherefore's of what he does this season are between him and his coach, but I have no doubt that he'll be back in the Saints lineup and will have a great career. It could be argued that they're actually managing him very well by letting him develop out of the spotlight for a while - because there are plenty of examples of it being done the other way, and going badly wrong.

Bigger picture - we have a severe shortage of these types of players in the UK, because the junior game is a) like the Wild West b) places no significant value on a small lad with silky skills and c) is run by enthusiastic dads with no real coaching pedigree; by the time a kid is spotted and starts training with a pro academy, there's a lot of uncoaching to do before the actual coaching can begin.

Get a grip and stop throwing out personal insults because you got it wrong, some posters on here were calling for him to play for England last year, I am not basking in the glory of a young player faltering at all, I simply pointed out from day 1 that he was going to be a victim of been over hyped and currently was no better than Hampshire, he played in a fantastic side last season yet brought very little to that side.