Ryan had by his own admission an appalling 4 nations last year in his first international appearances, with his defence in the New Zealand game being particularly poor against an in-form Shaun Kenny-Dowall. [urlhttp://www.rugbyleaguebetting.net/super-league/wolves%E2%80%99-ryan-atkins-back-and-feeling-much-better/[/url

Since this point he has probably been in he best form of his career and has arguably been the form centre in Super League during the last 3 months. His stats (for what they are worth) show he has scored 19 tries from 20 games with a further 10 assists, whilst missing 9 tackles which compares well to Shenton (24 misses), Yeamen (19 misses), J Tomkins (20 misses) and Welham (54 misses), albeit in a strong Warrington team. However my judgement of him is that he is certainly a good athlete with good footwork and strength capable of breaking the line.

What have fans of opposition teams made of him this season, and would you consider him to be worth another chance in the 4 nations this year? Is he considered to be behind some/all of those other left centres mentioned above? Has he had his chance for England?

My opinion is the same as that of the Wire fans that recently started a thread bemoaning his performances. He's a fine athlete, but he's not a centre in a million years. His tries come from his speed and size and from playing for such a strong team. He would disappear at international level at centre.

He would make a good winger I think. It's time they had a good think about England's back line. I'd like to see the likes of Cudjoe, Lawrence and McGilvray given a chance and you can't leave Jamie Foster out either as he's the Beckham-esque centre piece of the sport.

Agree with all of that Saddened, except Jamie Foster. He'd get mullered.

There's no point in having someone who can kick conversions, unless you get the tries first.

Its between Atkins and Shenton for me. I would usually say Shenton is the better player however if we are talking about this season only, it has to be Ryan. Michael has gone downhill since his transfer to a mediocre side.

I think Atkins struggles when he comes up against top quality opposition. I'd like to see Kallum Watkins get into some form and push for a spot this year, but it might be a year too early.

Kallum Watkins is an out and out right centre and shouldn't be considered at left centre in my opinion. I agree that he could push Chris Bridge hard for this position if he continues his recent form and the Challenge Cup Final is the perfect stage for him to stake his claim.

Would take Shenton over Atkins every time.
As for Foster: for what he contributes to Saints, he could sit in the stands and just come on the pitch for goal kicking duties. Don't think he'd get away with this in many other Super League sides let alone an International one.

Kallum Watkins, and Michael Lawrence are probably the best from the young centres coming through. I'd probably rather see those 2 given a chance over Shenton, Yeaman or Atkins.

What about inform centres like Welhan & Yeaman?

What is it about Foster? He's done very little in the games i've seen him play. Kick returns are generally mediocre and doesn't really look like making a break. Sure he's scored his fair share of tries this season, but Meli has argubly been the best centre in the comp this season putting alot of tries on a plate for him. Not on the same planet as Tom Briscoe imo. Plus I think he gets alot more of the spotlight because he is the teams goalkicker.

Hall, Briscoe, Charnley, BJB and Jermaine Mc should all be ahead of Foster in the pecking order. The guy is Matt Crowther mk2.

Not sure he has any real pace either? Saints fans may be able to tell me different.

He's quick enough.

He's stunning to look at. He's a marketing mans dream. He should be on every single RL advert, promo and TV spot there is.

If the RFL did a 30 second advert during Coronation Street and Big Brother with Jamie Foster on it, they would sell the Wembley double header out in minutes.

To be fair, this is exactly what I look for in an international winger.

This is an important point for me – people select two centres in their teams without considering whether they have played the entire season as left or right centre. The attacking and defensive reading of the play require a degree of time to adjust

For me, right centre is where we have the most quality – any one of Bridge, Shenton, Watkins, Laurence or J Tomkins could do a job... I would go for Watkins as he is the one for the future and having a good season

Left centre is more of a problem with Welham, Yeaman and Atkins the main candidates (although Bridge may have played some left centre)

If we were looking to the future, I would go with Watkins and Welham and if we wanted solidity and experience then Shenton and Bridge/Yeaman. I would go with the former

Tomkins
McGillvary
Watkins
Welham
Briscoe

I'm always surprised by the lack of recognition Ryan Hall gets when people start discussing potential England wingers, with names like Foster, Atkins, McGillivray etc being thrown around ahead of him.

Yes there can be issues with his front-on defence at times, but he's got probably the best scoring record at club level of any current England qualified winger, and has continued to score tries for fun this year with Carl Ablett as his centre.

Add to that his strength of carry when coming in to take work off the forwards and I'd have him in my England side every time.

Yes obviously Watkins would play in the right centre spot, just recommending him as a candidate for the centre role. He hasn't played the full season to show his talents but you can tell he is going to be a superstar, great pace of the mark and speed, i hope he proves to be one of England's biggest talents. BJB also looks a great talent in attack but at the moment he is questionable under the cross field kick. As a poster said, these two players have got a chance to show there quality at Wembley and prove they deserve a spot.

For me right centre is a crucial position as typically this is where the more skillfull handling type centre would play for example Gleeson, Bridge, Gasnier, Lyon or Gidley who are able to use footwork to get on the outside of a defender and are able to draw a winger in before flipping an "out the back" pass to their winger. As most players tend to be right handed, this is clearly easier for a right centre to do (left hand fend, right hand pass) which is probably why this occurs. Left centres tend to be a bit more of a power/athlete type player such as Inglis, Yeaman, Atkins, Hodges. This isn't to say that left centres can't be good right centres and vice versa.

With this in mind Michael Shenton has always struck me as a bit of a waste at right centre, as although he's solid and a decent athlete, he doesn't possess exceptional footwork or handling to take advantage of the right centre position in the way mentioned above, which is why ideally I'd want someone else in this position (Bridge or Watkins for example).

I like Hall and I would certainly have him as one of the squad wingers. I do think that he doesn’t take as much advantage of his size as you would want in both attack and defence but he is a good winger and certainly England quality (especially when you consider some of the recent English wingers)

But I do believe that in Briscoe and McGillvary we have two very athletic wingers who are good finishers and critically are strong when bringing their ball away from their own line – I would be very disappointed if we didn’t use them for England as they have the potential to be the best wing pairing we have had in a long time

Don't think he's up to it. Seems to have all the attributes but hasn't theguile for centre and there are better specialist wingers.

Atkins reminds me of the ‘British’ version of Jamal Idris, fantastic power but, he hasn’t got the football brain of a centre, but that said, he’s improved since he was at Wakey.

Maybe if moved into the pack, he’d go well in the 2nd row.

1 - Tomkins
2 - McGilvray
3 - Watkins
4 - Lawrence
5 - Briscoe

Viva la future.

I no I am being a bit pessimistic but the quality of three quarters in the British game is abysmal at the moment.

What I would give for the likes of Newlove,Connolly,Schofield and Lydon now.

I don't think he's improved it's just that he is playing with better players around him.

Whilst completely ignoring any defensive issues


Isn't it nice to have some actually fast threequarters to pick from for a change
Jones-Bishop
Watkins
Hall
Briscoe
Charnley
McGilivray
Lawrence
Welham (although he did nearly get caught by Nick Scruton)

are all pretty quick and athletic for a change instead of failed second rowers at centre and wing.