I think it may have been during the period he was covering for sandow got us through the play offs and into a lead in the grand final. Never really improved from there I think maybe a new set up could be what he needs.

I don’t think you’ll get a laugh, that sort of comment is better placed on a bacefook group than on here.

i think he needs to work on his delivery (on this occasion I mean JackFlash ). It would have been punchier (but still unwarranted) if he had gone with "started at the bottom and WORKED his way down".
This was actually true of my dad who was a tunneller.

Or if he'd started out as a Proctologist before retraining as a Podiatrist.

Compare Patton to other young halfbacks that have come through our Academy (invariably to much hype)...Duffy, Durbin, Hulse, GO'B. Each one of them was 'the next best thing'.

The first three of those, you could quickly see they were never going to make it in SL. Just were not at that level. In Hulse's case, you could see he was really determined to make the most of what he had and had a great competitive spirit, so he played quite a few games and in some games he made a decent contribution, but ultimately all three of those were Championship quality.

GO'B and Patton were better. You could see from their early games that they weren't out of their depth in SL, so that gave them a chance. In GO'B case, there was steady progress during his time, and some good games, he just never showed the ability to take over a team from the halves. He ended up showing versatility and making a decent career for himself at fullback after he left. Patton's issue was there wasn't much forward progress. He never gave you the flashes of hope that the real talents do....where they show you some glimpses of genius but have flaws that take time to iron out, like Briers did in his first few seasons. Patton was just...there...he didn't show that he could influence a game.

He would be out of the team for a spell and his reputation would grow, people would call for him to be brought back in, then he'd come back and be anonymous in games and his reputation would fall back till he was dropped. After a few cycles of that fans started to stop calling for him to be brought back again. I think for the last couple of years most of the fans (at least from the evidence of this forum) had decided he wasn't the answer. But he wasn't hopelessly out of his depth, its just that if you want to have a title challenging team he's not good enough to be a starter. You can say with hindsight that season where we brought over Tyrone Roberts at big expense, we may as well have just played Patton instead, but he wouldn't have driven us to a title.

And the issue with Patton was never about being denied chances in the first team, he got a lot more than he would have got in Saints or Wigan given the competition in the halves in those teams. He found his level like Duffy, Durbin, Hulse and GO'B did. The difference is the first three are Championship level and GO'B and Patton are starters in a lower SL team, back ups in a stronger SL team.

Gary Hulse always gave it his all.
You're right SC that he didn't have an x factor and was at the Championship or possibly lower SL player (which we were at the time).
My favourite recap was when a 20 stone Paul Anderson was through the line with only a 10 stone Hulse to run over.
Anderson ran over him......almost, but Hulse carried him about 7 yards over the dead ball line.
Anderson simply couldn't get the ball down.
Absolute class.
Well done Gary.

Regarding Patton I get the impression that Salford fans are quite pleased with the signing gives them a bit of balance and strength in depth cover at 7 and 9.

I think cutting ties with us will be good for both parties as he was going backwards here at best standing still at a level below our expectations.

Good luck to the lad hope he makes the most of a clean slate

I'm sorry. I'm not going to trawl back 6 pages, but WHY are we having an inquest on a BANG AVERAGE player?
He tried his best. But for a team competing for honours, spending (I imagine) our salary cap limits, we're willy measuring who's better

He's gone. Tried his best, but nowhere near the the level of Kelly, Briers, Gregory
Not even at the level of Crompton, Bishop
Just another player.

Let's move on

Because he's a Warrington lad. If he'd signed from Wigan we'd have forgotten him by now.

And it's a slow news week

I think all has been said with regard to Dec. Good luck to him at Salford, as Riley Dean needs the game time more than him, to ascertain if he's the future at HB in the P&B.