My issue with him until recently was that he didn't score enough tries (not all his fault, nor Yeaman's ). I think at one point he'd scored twice in nineteen games.

Five in five now though.

Matty Dawson? Kevin Penny? Ashley Gibson? I'd even prefer him to Aaron Murphy tbh.

I don't think it's "all he knows". Most squads have utility players. We've got specialists in the spine, 5 out and out props if Feka stays and 3 fine back rowers. Houghton's not a utility player. Not that unusual to have three quarters that cover wing and centre. I completely agree we should have signed a centre but neither Agar nor Gentle bothered, so it's not an exclusively Radford issue.

Every team above us have a centre that has been converted from another position. Moon at Leeds was a stand off. Sarginson at Wigan was a stand off, and they're playing Bateman in the centres right now. Just about every player that plays centre for Saints started in a different position. Tony Gigot is utility. Joe Wardle is swapped between centre and 2nd row regularly.

We sign a stand off that has played centre with the intention of playing him in the centres, and Radford is the biggest idiot of all time. Some of our fans are the biggest cretins in the entire league!

I'd say it is a Radford issue, Agar had his hands tied behind his back & Gentle had a dream team centre playing a very high standard never mind for a rookie! Admittedly we'll never know how Arundel would have got on but Yeaman was contracted to the club anyway and Arundal wouldn't have being any worse than Yeaman this last two seasons.
Radford however managed to dispose the dream team centre and turn him into a scapegoat for his failings as a coach and continued to play Yeaman at centre despite being utterly gash and indeed giving him yet another another contract extension.
Radford also signed the crock that is Sa, played him in the centre and aside from a few good minutes has also being rubbish.

And yet you think Agar & Gentle should be afforded the same level of criticism, sorry but that's not how it looks on plain facts alone.

Yes. Crooks and Arundel have gone on to be World beaters since they left us. Biggest mistakes since Danny Brough! lol

Its not our job to identify and sign players for the club.
We have been short of a top centre now for several seasons yet the club would rather sign utility players.
We had a decent young hooker in Cunningham but Radford in his wisdom didn't give him game time in that position.We need an additional hooker.For me a Boudebza type would be good.Surely cant be that difficult to find.
Danny Houghton is a great Pro and works so hard for the team but he takes the wrong option so many times like last night when he fed Paea nr the line with 5 men waiting to tackle him when we had a 3 man overlap if he had fed the ball to the left.

pity we cant find someone like james segeyaro,great interchange hooker who really peps a flagging team up when he comes on.we lack someone like that.washbrook will add nothing ,if hes the man Radford is thinking of as bench hooker.

You don't get it do you! At the time Crooks WAS the solution to the right centre spot and had skills beyond his years/experience, ergo Gentle didn't need to sign a centre with ball handling skills. On the other side we had Yeaman and he signed Arundel as the suitor (an England Knights rep if you forget), Arundel had a fair lay off I recall but played 14 games and scored 7 tries, a better return than Yeaman though obviously needed some work on his D but was what just 21 when he started at the club.
I presume you wanted Yeaman & Sa as our strikeforce centre partnership right because that was what Radford has given us, he got reasonably lucky with switching Talanoa to centre and he's performed quite well there but that was out of desperation, Micheals got a chance at centre due to yeaman being utterly .

Radford made the whole team a laughing stock last year, his micturate poor coaching and some bitterness from the owner soon had any chance of our younger players being cast out and being scapegoated for our failings. Arundel never played a game under Radford, Miller & Crooks were treated like shat but yeah our centres have being white hot the last 2 years, all under the supremo that is Radford and he still hasn't sorted out a ball handling talented centre in the Crooks mould but it would seem we are okay for back row forwards

So yes, the centre issue is a Radford failing on a worse scale than it was under the previous coaches stewardship but you're so blind and another Radford lover that you can't see straight logic!

Absolutely.

Sounds like bumpy doesn't quite agree, but he know best I suppose.

Not sure the problem is entirely LR fault, but he hasn't addressed the issue yet... I am hopeful though that one of the new signings can play centre well next year, they may not be 'specialist' centres by trade but one of them may well turn out to be very good there. LR will have to take the blame though if we are found wanting though.

Would love to understand more about Crooks, it quite a fall from grace really? Admittedly there was room for improvement in his game, but for one season he looked to have a very bright future.

Wasting your time pointing out the freaking obvious in previous regimes' deficiencies. One-dimensional battering of Radford The way forward.

Adds enthusiasm ,knows the game,can pass either side experienced at LF iirc amongst top tackles in SL, offers further options i/c injuries, not on massive contract and from Hull

washbrooke is still a poor signing,if we are using him as interchange hooker.