Will be glad to see the back of him. The brains of a rocking horse.

I do like Lineham, he is capable of scoring some great tries. And I think he’s been a little hard done to in this instance, three matches for a little shove seems a lot.

But if it is as many as 21 matches, there’s really no excuse. That’s not all review panels being hard on him.

The thing is, I don’t think he’s stupid. Listen to his post match interviews. He can clearly think for himself, he can be funny and doesn’t trot out the poundland media training clichés that every team seems to rely on.

Bit of an oddball.

Curate’s egg of a player. I like him, but last seasons incident followed so closely by this means he is a liability so it’s a no from me.

Which means currently of our 2 1st choice wingers, 1 is missing and the other is unrecognisable as the player of old. Youth may be given its chance!

Lineham did improve when Price took over, and for a stretch he was a pretty good player. But now he's one of our uncomfortably large group of players that are standing still or sliding backwards and he misses a lot of games.

He has had a decent try scoring record through his career but he's been up and down, had injury problems, suspensions, questionable decision maker sometimes, and we did pay a lot of money for him. At his age now you know what you are getting with him, he's not an upcoming player with potential if he can iron a few things out.

He's one of those players that people on here list when they are trying to make arguments that our squad is just as good as Wigan/Saints we just need a better coach. When he leaves us, I bet he won't get picked up by Wigan or Saints.

When Powell takes over it will be revealing to see which players he moves on and what clubs they sign for: it will answer a few things about the quality of Price's squad.

He’s also not the best fullback in the squad, can’t play anywhere else other than wing and offers nothing from the bench. If I were him, I’d take my chances on the wing.

But he’s a genuine game breaker and our fastest player. You play him fullback with Ratchford at lock.

Whether he ends up at FB or not, Linehams's stupidity opens the door for Ashton. Being on the wing needn't dampen Ashton's attacking impact in the same way it didn't lesson Jason Robinson's, for example, another player who didn't start his career at winger and probably wouldn't have felt it suited him.

Of course having a coach who doesn't use his wingers as extra props would help.

He is though, he plays wing or Fullback.

I understand this notion of Ratchford as a loose forward, but it would sanitise an already unconvincing pack in order to make space for a fast player and expect him to create out of nowhere.

Ratchford is the best fullback in the squad, Inglis aside as we are yet to see what he can deliver. Organisationally he out ranks Ashton, he is VASTLY more creative in the third pivot role and has enough of a running threat to create and exploit gaps himself.

Ashton, at this stage, is raw speed. And that is good. But raw speed running at a flat, unbroken defensive line gets tackled pretty easily. We can’t squeeze out a pack member for another pivot and expect to make ground, break tackles and win quick play the balls. Cooper and Hill are under enough pressure for that as it is.

If Ashton is a fullback, and only a fullback, he better wait in line. But he is at best second choice. If I was him, I’d be banging on the coaches door forcing his hand to pick me on that wing and getting the chance to prove what I can do for 80 minutes.

Absolutely on the money.

It all comes down to what you think the job of a fullback is? Is it to be strong defensively? Be good positionally? Good under the high ball?

Or is to become a third halfback? To arrive in the line at pace at that precise moment in time to play that final killer pass that players such as James Tedesco and Latrell Mitchell are maestros at. It’s such an advantage in the modern game having this weapon.

I think you’re slightly overrating Ratchford especially as the third pivot. He’s decent in that department but he’s certainly no Brett Hodgson.

I think in Ashton, whilst yes he is nowhere near the finished article and will make mistakes defensively, I think his potential and his ability as an attacking weapon is tremendous. His try last year against Castleford where Currie set him up was superb. His ability to return the ball at pace and break the line outweighs Ratchford as does his ability to support players when we make a break ala Ryan Papenhuyzen at Storm. I rate Ratchford but I think Ashton gives us so much more in an attacking sense.

Can you let me know the last time Ratchford exploited a gap/beat a man please?

If you have the Leigh game recorded have a look at the last minute decisions Ratchford makes in where to position himself before we make the breaks for the long-range tries. His rugby brain is spot on and he can see exactly where he needs to be for our left edge to exploit that defence. Only Tomkins, Hardaker and Coote have similar game intelligence in super league.

I think we underestimate his organisational skills and the amount of our creativity that goes though him. Considering we seem to lack a half-back threat at the moment I'd be interested to see if we are any better in attack with Ashton at the back. I don't think we would at all.

I'd say we overrate those abilities of his but realise I'm in the minority in that regard. I'd say as a pivot (and game intelligence) he's behind Coote, defensively and as an attacking threat he's behind Hardaker and he's behind in all aspects compared to Tomkins. As an opposition fan I'd be happier seeing Ratchford at 1 than a dangerous Ashton.

Spot on.

It's surprising to me that people think Ashton can't do what he does best - run fast and score tries - from the wing.

It's even more surprising that people can't see Ratchford is one of the lynchpins of our team. Organises the defences and makes try saving tackles, while (alongside Clark) creating all our positive momentum with the ball and delivering try scoring passes.

Is Ashton safer at kick retrieval? Or positionally? I honestly don’t. His kick retrieval isn’t the best, and Ratchford appears far better at communicating with his defensive line. Support play is great, and like I’ve already said the new coach may prioritise this skill over other, but for our current coach and his current system, he can’t do what is required.

Ashton’s chance will come, but I don’t think it’s now. He can’t play the role that the coach wants from his fullback. While his pace is useful, he can do that from a wing. Lineham, who is dreadfully slow, gets plenty of chances in the corner. And, especially in the Leigh game, we went to the left early and found Widdop and King in a bit of room, he could turn those into points from the wing while he develops his craft.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Ashton. He’s exciting, and that’s why we buy our season tickets, to be excited and entertained. But the coach wants the pivot option. And it works, see Lineham’s try reel.

Re: Ratchford exploiting gaps, while they are getting rarer he has shown the ability to break the line and get into the backfield over a long period. Magic weekend at Newcastle, the tip ons from Currie on the penalty tap, when we do get quick play the balls and he’s in at dummy half he can get in behind. The issue is, we don’t get quick play the balls.

Our pack is a 3 man job, Clark, Hill and Cooper. Philbin can be effective off the bench, but the rest are wet mattresses. Currie is a luxury back rower, doesn’t make a lot of meters and doesn’t knock anyone over. What he brings is the pass/kick threat which creates space outside of him. Hughes, well, is an enigma in attack. I don’t know what he contributes going forward. And the revolving door of J Clark, Davis, Sita etc whoever make up the numbers are really just there to hold the scrum up.

While we complain about props, and I am in that camp, you can get away with it if you have proper back row forwards who carry the ball. If we had Westwood and L Anderson/Waterhouse in the back row, who carried the ball 20 times a game and made meters while HITTING people, bending the defensive line and getting quick play the balls, you could justify having Ratchford at loose and Ashton at fullback. Nimble players to take advantage of half breaks and defenders that aren’t set. But with people who are carrying the ball slowly, getting knocked backwards and playing it slowly, you could have the fastest man in the world on your team, but he won’t have any breaks to support.

Can you take over from Briers please

Yes top post

Last season Wire relented to fans pressure and played Ashton, he had an absolute mare and lost his starting spot as quick as he got it.
IMO Ashton plays when we can’t play with the first choice. The lad is fast and reads attack well, but that seems as much as he’s grasped currently, but he did show some improvement on defence vs Swinton.
So Ashton would go straight in for Lineham for me, as Mamo is required on the right centre, otherwise I’d have Mamo ahead of Ashton.
I would not weaken the combined weight of the pack and interchanges by having Ashton take up a bench spot. He either plays a like for like starting position or he plays in the reserves.

To be fair to Ashton he exceeded expectations last season and was unfortunate to pick up a long term injury. I do agree he isn't first choice at the minute regarding full back but he has potentially got 3 games to make it very difficult for Lineham to get his place back. I hope he takes his chance. I do think he is a problem that Darryl Powell would rather have than not, he offers us something different that can't be a lot of teams won't be able to defend against against without positioning a defender deep which opens other doors for our (cough) attack.

He did NOT have an absolute mare in the Salford semi final. He made one mistake and on that one incident far too many fans are hanging him out to dry. There are always calls for our young players to be given a chance. With our fans, I'd be reluctant as a coach as every single mistake gets magnified beyond reason.

There is NO reserve team this season.

It was the wettest day for years (probably since records began). Any full back can make a mistake in such conditions. Bevan French playing for Wigan on the same day (who is a super player) did have a bit of a mare v. Leeds.