I think alot of the problem lies with the expectation around Ryan.
Because he has had a taste of International football we all expect him to do it week in week out, but the fact he has made the international side is more to do with the quality we (England) have availible and unfortunately not to do with his level of performance.
Despite recent comments i would probably still have him around joint 4th with Yeaman in the list of English centres (although Welham at HKR and Gilmour may dispute that) but like i say there is not that much competition.
The fact that Gilmour even makes the top 5 or 6 and that Senior is still at the top tells you the standard!

I have said it before and i will say it again, depending on what he is like under the high ball, he is a WINGER

I agree with the comment, if he were to leave for Leeds i am pretty sure he would look good, but that doesnt make him a top player. I judge a player on how good they would be in a side like Wakey. Sinfield for example would be no more than average.

Demetriou was a centre throughout his career before being moved to the pack in his 30’s. Atkins doesn’t have the same attitude as Demetriou to make a go of it in the pack but I think he would make an excellent wing man. For a club like Leeds or Saints he would look a world beater at centre but at the moment Trinity are attacking with a man down when they break down Atkins wing. The opposition know he isn’t going to pass so can they afford to put more men into the tackle to combat his strength therefore nullifying his greatest attribute.

Demetriou has been used on the wing, George has been used on the Wing, Murphy has been used on the wing, even Grix has been used on the wing. I see no reason why you can’t try something different with Atkins which may benefit the whole team. For a start it means one extra man when Trinity break down the left-hand side.

Atkins outside JD sounds good to me.

basically Atkins has proven everything i have always said about him.

Physical attributes - yes but skill/concentration/game awareness etc is lacking for him to get to the next level

I thought that Demetriou moved into the pack because he was finding it harder to get fit enough to play in the backs?

Not that I was aware of but maybe so. Just think he would still be able to make the breaks at centre.

i think tbf to both sides pro and against it would be fair to say that all wakefield fans had expected him to step up to the next level this season but unfortunately hes remained stale.

he seems to imho lost that spark he had about him just before his late sponsor passed away (apologies i forgotten his name).

ryan as the potential to be be international class but he needs to shake himself and come to the fact that once you reach the highest level possible you must still endeavour to improve and not rest on your laurels.

at this moment in time he is no way near GB standard IMHO and the sad thing about it seems to just be an attitude problem

We seem to be forgetting what he DOES do rather than concentrating on what he doesn't do.

According to the Super League stats, he has no assist for tries this season. That is damning for a centre of course
But he is also top try scorer for Wakefield, and ahead of all but Shenton in the list of centres scoring......and of course Shenton has only had 3 assist so he isn't doing much better at putting his winger in for tries.....meaning if you know you can score yourself, there is no need to pass.

The point is, if we give him the ball he will break the line. Once through he can feed his winger. If we don't give him the ball often, odds on his opportunities are going to be less and his ability to feed his winger before the line will be more obvious.

If it's that big a deal, we use him as a dummy runner like Brough did to Petersen a couple of games ago and hit the winger. Atkins still won't get the assist but he'll draw the defense.

Someone used Offiah as an example earlier. Well if you watched Offiah at Widnes, when he didn't have Gene Miles inside him (as he did at Wigan) the plan was to just get him the ball as quickly as possible and let him have a 1-1, which he more often than not won. You don't have to be Steve Rogers or Eric Ashton and put your winger away all the time.......sometime you can be a Mal Meninga. He didn't used to put his winger away before the tackle, he hit the tackle and only passed if he didn't bust through, but usually he was the one making the break.
(I chose not to use Neil Fox as an example as too close to home to not get emotive replies)

Atkins' poor performances arent all his fault. While I agree that he doesnt seem to know how to pass and that on sunday he bombed several opportunities, he also isn't being given the ball in an attacking situation as a whole. Instead Ryan get the ball with 2 or 3 defenders in front. ATM Brough is playing the majority of the time on the right. When Brough plays on the left Atkins does play better. In short Atkins is better running at gaps and taking passes rather than creating. Also Brough needs to play on the left hand side because he does have one of the best passes off his right hand in super league.

OK Ryan

lol. Fair point. Im not his biggest fan but just think we should play to the teams strengths. He had his best performances when Solomona was here because he put him through gaps, as would Brough.

The comparison between Ryan Atkins and Jason Demetriou is an interesting one.

As a centre, JD wasn't actually that good at passing himself and was more renowned for his tackle breaking and strong running. He's become our talisman and strong fan favourite and rightly so because he's demonstrated on the pitch that he would run through brick walls for the team.

Let's not forget that we got Jason in his mid-to late 20s when he had already learned his craft at various other clubs.

I agree with an earlier post that Ryan suffers from high expectations as a result of his form very early in his Trinity career.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was sure Ryan and the coaches would be working on a way to get Ryan more involved and I think we saw that against Castleford. He ventured into the middle of the field and took more drives than I've seen him do in any other game and at times he made yardage up the middle when other players were struggling.

I don't question his attitude or its commitment but I do think he is fighting get the right balance into his game. His obvious strength is his power game and that is what got him noticed internationally. His weakness is his perceived handling ability and his involvement in the or lack of it.

I would hate to see him compromise his strengths but he needs to find a way to balance his game with the other skills.

It goes without saying that he would be a much more difficult proposition for the defence if they were in two minds about whether he was going to run over them, step around them or draw them in and pass to his Winger.

Whatever we think about Ryan, whether or not he is a good centre or a bad one or whether he's the second rower masquerading as a three-quarter. One thing is for sure he is a threat to the opposition and one of our go-to players so let's get off his back and let him develop.

He spent most of the afternoon trying to run over Shenton to prove how big and hard he is compared to Shenton.
Somebody get him a video of Neil Fox, Mal Meninga, Matt Gidley, Sid Hynes, Les Dyl, Keith Smith.
In amongst that lot you'll see pace and power and the ability to put a winger away.

Agreed

He has made 1 try assist all year!!!!!! for a thats poor, fergy made a break in the second half ,was looking for Atkins for support, where was he? 2 yards directly behind him wtf is that all about!!!!. Blew that certain try with not passing, but there again he would have thrown it into burger bar if he had tried. !!!! Don't think he can read the game like most players, when he has the ball he looks good and strong, but doesn't do enough to go looking for work.