And that was done to try and stop us shipping in tries down the right, if I am right then most on here was complaining about it at the time.

But we still shipped tries down the right.Whiting was poor at centre.
It may have been better if Radford had moved both Ellis and yeaman to the right and played Crooks at left centre for a while.
It also makes a big difference to a centre who the forwards are defending with him.
Yeaman had the benefit of Ellis, the right side was chopped and changed.

Well it wasn't Crooks shipping those tries because he hadn't played for months.
IIRC his last match was Catalans away in June.

yes he made mistakes and missed some tackles but half the team was guilty of that too.
My point was you have also to look at the forwards around him at the time they were chopped and changed.
The left side was usually Ellis and Yeaman two good defenders.
A lot more kicks go to the right in RL which put more pressure on Crooks.
I just think Radford should have moved Ellis and yeaman to the right and moved Crooks to the left rather than just binning him.

Crooks had - understandably IMO - been dropped for poor performances, particularly in defence.

The issue for me was replacing him with Whiting rather than Sa or another back. And then persisting with that selection way beyond the point when it was clear that Whiting's days as a centre are way behind him.

Nobody is suggesting that Radford is a mistake-free zone. Far from it. Some of his selections and rotations have bordered on being Agar-esque at times. But PG made some almost equally baffling and infuriating decisions during his time at the helm.

has Whiting ever had days as a first choice SL player?

he makes a brilliant bridesmaid, always too sow t get there for the cake.

He's never held down a position due to his utility value and unfortunately a few injuries.

He started 28 out of 31 games in 2011 (and had been given the squad number 3) but was moved around between fullback, centre and wing.

2011

3 years ago

sentiment abounds

I didn't see any sentiment in that post TBH, just a simple statement of facts.

In his prime Whiting was, IMO, one of the best utility players in the league. If not THE best. I can't recall the last time I saw a player who could do a good job in quite so many positions. He was also Mr. Consistency at a time when many of his colleagues were up and down in performances every other week, and a smart player when we seemed to be the dumbest team in the league.

Hence for me the fact that he never 'held down a starting position' is a bit of a red herring. The best use of his abilities IMO was in the utility role, and given the injuries we've had during his time here he's been invaluable. Now past his best and definitely too slow for the backs he's still decent value as a squad player providing cover in the forwards.

Pretty much agree with that. Whiting would have been in any squad in the league.
I actually had a moment, cannot remember the game when I said he was the best player we ever signed


Hopefully he will do better next season

Yeah Whiting looked off the pace last season for me - must have been hampered by injury for most of the year.

A couple of years ago, I don't think it is too bold a statement to say that I think every side in the league would have him in their squad. Relatively inexpensive player who can cover practically every position

At risk of bringing this back to the original posters point...
I think we're just as good as anyone else at coaching youngsters, everyone has natural attrition of players who look like they will make it but don't. Even Wigan have had quite a few of those, Shaun Ainscough anyone? St Helens have had a lot, Ste Tyrer was going to be the English Matt Gidley. I'm also happy with the bedding in approach we are taking, it's not a "Big Bang" where you throw a kid in and it magically works and he's a first team starter for 10 years. It takes time for them to acclimatize and that's what we have done this year with a lot of our younger players. Hadley for example, probably isn't ready to play a full season playing 80 mins a week, but I would expect next year his game time will again increase from this year.
It's a process we all need to accept takes time, for the good of the club and players.