When he gets the ball in any space I'm really worried so I'm sure he'll feel the same. I think it will be a long time before he forgets those injuries.

I agree with you on the selection process but it's pretty obvious why he was chosen even if there were possibly stronger arguments for other players to have been selected. He wasn't selected as MOM so it was just a bit of recognition for his inputs, nothing wrong with that.

Who actually makes the choices,apologies if I’ve missed it.

Well you can't argue with 3 wins out of three and the potential collective fatigue so I will take that. What I am still a be frustrated about is our lack of options in attack. The number of time Roberts ran across our line and pretty much not one runner to aim at. People receiving the ball standing still. Contrast that to the Wigan game when there was movement all over the place. Understand the need for solid defence and we seem to have pretty much cracked that now but can we please have a bit more in attack for more of the game

Apparently, it's a SKY-selected expert. They said yesterday it was an ex-player.

He did, and he's been passing the ball too in the last few games. Looks a different player to last season but I suppose you could say that about almost the whole squad. The improvements in Lineham, Hughes, Cooper and others is fantastic.

Yes....but with Hughes he was at the firing end of so much online attack.
Is the subdued reaction of Hughes form indicate some posters are shying behind obscurity waiting to pounce on his first mistake or echos of how well he is doing?
Either of which he is unsung.

Ben Barba's Mum.

I think a lot of the frustration with Hughes last year was similar to Russell, in that they both seemed undroppable by the previous regime.

However, that’s all in the past and as someone who criticised Hughes last year, I will happily admit he’s been fantastic this year and deserves his place. He fits in well with Price’s structured style of play, running some great lines and also showing off his passing skills on the odd occasion.

we appear to be be having a a new version of smith's first season, where players who hadn't met potential are now hitting straps they didn't know they had.

noticeable improvements amongst hughes, lineham, ratchford, cooper clark, hill is somewhat near his previous best as well.

Its a work in progress.

Last season Jack really offered nothing to the team in attack. He would just take the ball in and surrender to the defender. His defence was and still is good. This season has seen the shackles come off somewhat when we have the ball. He is running different lines and we are also seeing the back of the hand off load in contact. I think his confidence is growing again, and being encouraged to express himself more.

He's learnt how to keep hold of and play the ball. That's the difference.

Let's not mince words, the whole team were below par last year & not just odd players.

This is true, however Brown and Hughes came in for acute criticism.
To be fare...Atkins was good and Sims stood out from all the pack.

Lineham was pretty good last year as well in a poor team. Let's be honest the whole place stank last season. Things are slowly turning around, our attack is getting better and combinations are working but it's the teams resilience in defence that has been the most impressive turn around so far. Josh Charnley has been brilliant so far.

Re. Charnley: I’ve not seen so much desire from a player in the P&B for a long while... really surprising to see him playing so well so soon after his return from RU and you can how his enthusiasm rubs off on others. He’s definitely not just here to cash in and make up the numbers.

And that enthusiasm is why we should keep him and toby together, investing in the future.

Toby is nowhere near as bad as ppl like to on him, he's a million miles ahead of where rhys evans was at this point.

Agreed. He is pure class.

Is that our yardstick now? Better than Rhys.

Even the commentators on the Salford game thought his pass to Charnley who had 3 defenders on him, thus ending the attack was poor.

To be fair, during the Widnes game he didn't pass when there was a blinding overlap. He has probably been coached to get the ball to Josh whenever he can. Great example of passing when he should have took the tackle. The understanding between the two will grow over the coming weeks. I am definitely in the camp of keeping Josh and Toby together, injuries permitting.

point proven.

yes he threw one bad pass, but every man and his dog was bagging him for not passing to charnley since coming into the side, the same commentators were praising him for giving charnley early ball so he can work his magic, much like he did against widnes when he scored the try with two defenders on him.

And in regard to the yardstick, Revans [uat the time [/uhad been a quite highly rated academy international. That's the comparison i was making, not the person we offloaded last year, that arguably had regressed.

That's the thing with Rhys Evans, outstanding prospect (even well-known pie and youth team watcher Rogues Gallery called him a 'superb young player') but did not progress on elevation to senior status.

Price commented on him not passing to his winger too, not just men and dogs on here. It's like he just doesn't have natural centre play in his game. I mean these aren't u16s which are teaching the principles of the game too. He is a SL professional playing for an alleged top side. He shouldn't need a coach to tell him to pass when there is an overlap. The resultant "just ship it to Charnley come what may" approach now (ala Salford) is not the answer either. Being a top centre requires skills, judgment, guile, pace, illusiveness and great hands. Happy to be proved wrong on Toby though.

Rhys may have be highly rated initially but it was clear to most since about 2015 years he was not good enough and going backwards. Probably an injury too far. That's why I picked up on the comparison.

The 2 look a good match together and seem to compliment each others style very well. The pass back inside from Charnley to King has produced tries in the last 2 games - it gives the defenders a bit more to think about which is always a good thing.

If Ryan wants the short back he's going to have to change his style - Charnley needs earlier ball to be effective

To be fair Atkins has recognised he needs to pass the ball to the wing, and he did it in the game against Salford. Unfortunately he didn’t check there was someone there to take it first! He’s still young though and will learn.