Ward has suffered with injuries, is only 20, and for me has great potential. Re abbo who I'm a big fan of and a player who has got better and better especially over the last few seasons, but is also someone who took time to reach his level, and was largely written off as just not being good enough. Far far to early to be writing ward off

A little hard on a young player who was out injured for so long.

In fact he is our 3rd best forward for tackle busts (behind JP & Ablett) He is also our 3rd best forward for offloads (behind JP & Ablett again) and he has made as many clean breaks as Sinfield, JP and Kylie and more than Clarkson & Delaney with Messrs Bailey, Kirke, Aiton and Singleton making zero clean breaks. Only Delaney (552) JP (549) and Ablett (48icon_cool.gif have made more tackles in the forwards and he has made 2 try assists behind Ablett (4) Achurch, Aiton and Delaney (3 each) in the forwards.

He certainly lacks a go forward game but there are several others who you could have picked on being more distinctly average than he.

He's a skillful player, in these positions of the field, that is being asked to do a job which doesn't work for him or the team. Finding Stevie Ward at third receiver out wide, with no room, he gets buried. He cant 'Delaney' his way out of the situation. Which shows his average gain to be very poor but he's not being helped with the balls he receives. But the obvious answer to this is for him to ramp it up now and through next pre-season to get a more competitive frame on him. (which may help his tackle stats, as misses far too many, with being bumped off too easy)

He is "being asked to do" the same role as when he first came into the side, a role he performed very well until he got injured. A third receiver out wide should not regularly be having no room. If this is happening then 1st and second receivers are the ones you should be looking at.

Like I said Ward is our 4th leading forward tackler (5th overall) and he is 5th leading marker tackler which shows he is often first in to the tackle. His missed tackle percentage is 8.8% Ablett is 8.4% and Singleton 9.6%. Often enthusiastic players are first up and can have a higher number of missed tackles. As 3rd best tackler buster (in forwards) he has shown he can also do the bumping off so perhaps before ramping it up I would prefer to see him work on his speed off the mark.

Still think it would be worth playing him in the halves against HKR with Sutcliffe to LF.

I was basing my opinion upon watching him play, rather than his stats.

Watching him play, he looks like a distinctly average 2nd rower at the moment, IMO.

quite correct too many people on here concenyrate on stats instead of watching the game

People use stats selectively to back up their agenda. Those agendas are usually arrived at from watching the games.

While I can agree that Ward has not yet produced his previous form and has not made the same impact, he has been quietly doing a job which you appear to have missed. Perhaps your position in the stands is too elevated to spot tackle busts and offloads?

You specifically asked, in a critical manner, when he last made a tackle bust and an offload. Well in his two previous games he made both a TB and an OL.

My opinion is also based on watching the play which in this case is backed up by the stats - unlike your opinion which as I said was a little too critical particularly when compared with the performances (or lack of) by some of his teammates.

What hasn't helped Ward is players in his position plain and simply looking better than him. Achurch has upped his game this season and Walters has held his spot on merit so far. So Ward has slipped down the pecking order.

With Delaney and Ablett shoe-ins, leaves Ward and Clarkson scrapping for a potential spot.

I think i saw an interview with Ward and he said something along the lines of only standing out in one game (Leigh in cup) so he knows he has to do better.

Competition is great. With Ablett, JJB and Achurch soon to return and with our reserve props looking poor I think now is the time to move Delaney up to prop. He is best down the middle and plays more like a prop and perhaps would now benefit from shorter spells.

I cannot see what Clarkson offers other than cover for injuries. I agree that Achurch has started to fulfill his promise and that Walters has been tremendous. However I would like to see us not overplaying Walters so that we keep him fresh for the run in to the season where he has the ability to make a big impact off the bench.

Competition is excellent. it'll be nice to get key players back and running with Mac's ideal 17 now, the run in now isn't far away.

I've taken JJB out of the mix for now, as it seems to be one injury after another.

Has Ward changed his style due to his shoulder injuries? He seems like a natural old-style loose forward to me, from what I recall of watching U19s highlights where he was a 6. Playing as a workhorse second row wouldn't seem to be his game at all, even if he can do it quite well.