Spot On!
You could add Stevie to that list of those who have taken a season to bed in. Carlos is not yet the finished article. We just have to be a little patient during this season of making history.Creating a team that will be sitting at the top table for hopefully many years, will not happen overnight. Rome wasn't built in a day and Radders is just finishing the foundations.

I know we all want a bit more incisive running from Carlos but he's only 24 and we can have quite a few seasons watching him cut through defences if we just let him develop.
Next season is the season Radders will expect to see a more attacking threat added to his game.

Great post. New players often take a season to acclimatise into new surroundings. Sneyd was being written off last year, and now he's a Lance Todd winner and potential man if steel.
Yeaman was written off. Look how he's done.
Carlos has all the skills needed. If not Connor could easily be a very good 6

You must have been watching a different Carlos to me.

IMO he doesn't have the rugby brain needed to be a decent 6. He's a skilful player, but he takes way too long to figure out what he's going to do with the ball, resulting in telegraphed, slow, hospital passes. He also never seems to put on plays, I'm not sure if he's so slow he misses the planned pass in the move & ends up having to step back inside or not, but that side of the field looks confused at times. Luckily, Mahe & Sika have been excellent in recent weeks and often salvage something from a poor position.

His two saving graces are IMO is kicking game close to the line is fairly good, and he's good in a broken field (his natural flair comes to the fore).

Same here. I don't want to slaughter the kid, but I've haven't seen anything in his game so far to suggest that he's a stand off. He showed some early season promise in the centre and could see why he might make a 6 (and he still might, who knows). But I would rather we sign a genuine 6, one who takes the line on and commits the opposition. As it stands we struggle to break down the better opposition with ball in hand, hence our reliance on kicks (although we haven't done too badly with them). Friday night was a prime example of not being creative enough inside the 20m, we just went from side to side without really creating much.

As good as we've been this season, we shouldn't get complacent there is always improvements to be made and I feel a good 6 will take us to the next level.

As I've said..I was watching a different Sneyd n Houghton to a lot last year. But I avoided the idea plant that sometimes stems from 1 poster and grows
I'm gonna back my eyes and stick with my own personal feeling carlos will be fine. If not I think connor will steal it

Quick look at stats on Friday for carlos
102 metres-3rd highest In team
3 tackle busts
2 offloads
3 attacking kicks-1 at a key time that forced dropout-unfortunately Bowden faff ed it up
Not bad contributions I'd say

I think I've seen more from Connor in a poor Hudds team than Carlos in a fairly dominant FC one to be honest. Yes, I know Connor has played a lot at FB, but in attack he plays more like an extra pivot, than a Shaul type FB. Not only does he have the skills, but he knows when to execute them.

I understand what you're saying though, next season could be a different story, however, we've not seen much evidence of this so far.

Stats can tell you so much, but not a full picture. The meters gained stat is an interesting one. That backs up my assertion that his slow play in attack buggers up the plays and he is left with having to take the line on himself too often. I can't remember a break from him on Friday (I might be wrong), which indicates most of his meters are from multiple carries taking on the line. Tackle busts and offloads are good, we know he's got those skills in his locker. I mentioned his kicking game in my previous post, it's decent. His defence has also improved.


I'm trying not to pick Carlos out unfairly, but six is the biggest weakness in our side and one I worry about with the big games coming up.

Agree with connor. Come next year I think Shaul will be in the greatest danger. That might sound crazy but in this team I'd of expected a further 10 tries to compensate for the lack of tries he puts on. I think radford would really like another outlet from the back. Which if he had it would free up the expection on the 6. Even naughton in his last run at 1 found a brilliant cut pass to his wingman. Shaul links and the play often dies. Friday early on with a clear opportunity is a prime example. Unless he can rectify this I think radders will be playing both connor and carlos and not shaul.

Shaul is in no danger whatsoever he's a class apart as a full back! Get the 6 sorted out and they won't be an issue.

Really good points. We also don't have the added value in attack of playing someone at 13 capable of being that extra play maker, which puts more onus onto the 1,6 & 7, with Shaul's lack of ball handling skills putting further pressure on the 6 & 7. I think that'll be his downfall for England selection.

We'll see. We keep running down blind alleys and the play dying with regularity when the dorns Hanburys ratchfords etc are laying on tries all over we'll see. I can see radders losing patience. A good link at 1 frees up your 6. If not it pressures the halves. It's been bugging me a while and we're now having to rely on Sneyds kicking more and more to get us out of jail
I'd not think it had radders not previously done it with Rankin and Shaul

Time to throw something different into the mix. Abdul back in the team and Naughton back in place of Michaels. Michaels has been great defensively and to be fair he has finished of his tries well. But we're in the business end of the season now. We need another player like Naughton who can go the length of the field when given a chance.

no no no

we play the same as we did against wakey like we did against wigan, we will win, no direspect to wakey but they dont have the defence like wigan do!

keep the same team imo

On the subject of CT at 6 for me he does ok in that role but not thats it just ok. To improve we really need an out and out stand off to take the heat of Sneyd as Wigan targeted him for the 80mins and CT was ok but just not quite good enough and certainly not the answer and that will eventually hurt us.

I think Abdull can be that player as he is one of the most naturally gifted players we have seen at this club for years and if Radford, the coaching & conditioning staff can get through to him and get him into shape then he will make the position I have no doubt but and its a big BUT can Abdull do the hard work to get into shape?

If Abdull is not seen by the club as our future 6 then we need better than a make do 6 such a CT for us to improve on this season so far.

We will have 3 options next season at 6, that maybe 4 if hudds go down, we will be ok.

TMan24tm wrote:
Time to throw something different into the mix. Abdul back in the team and Naughton back in place of Michaels. Michaels has been great defensively and to be fair he has finished of his tries well. But we're in the business end of the season now. We need another player like Naughton who can go the length of the field when given a chance.



no no no

we play the same as we did against wakey like we did against wigan, we will win, no direspect to wakey but they dont have the defence like wigan do!

keep the same team imo

Here's another one who can't see the wood for the Trees. If you can't see that the top four have got wise to us, so we may as well start Working on plan B against the team at the bottom of the Super 8's then I give up. The great sides become great sides by not resting on their laurels and making sure they have another string to their bow like the great Wigan sides of the 80's who had two or three ways off playing. It was all about peaking at the right time. If your happy and have settled for the Challenge Cup win fine, why not it was and is a great time in hour history. I just think with a little bravery and forthrightness in team selection we could take the Grand Final as well.