Why does Smith not give Dec patton a chance we are struggling to break sides down so what would we lose in giving him a chance his kicking game has got to be better than what we got

He should start either Monday or next Saturday for sure. Give him a chance!

I am sure the coaching staff will know better than a terrace dweller if the player is ready for such responsibility.

To be honest, exposing a youngster like Patton in the present circumstances could wreck his career before its even started.

Its not like he has a senior half back partner to help him along on the pitch - I'm not a huge fan of O'Brien, in my opinion he is very ordinary and will never make a top class half back, but he's been hung out to dry since Briers's retirement, simply because he's having to learn his trade whilst being partnered with 3 different half backs, all of whom couldn't make a good half back between them.

Throwing Patton into the side now would just give us another O'Brien situation, where the fans expect miracles and actually get standard, run-of-the-mill fare and, ultimately, more terrace frustration.

If we are to give the lad a chance this season, then I'd suggest the Challenge Cup will be the ideal occasion to ease him into the senior set up.... Lower expectations, less pressure, not as a high a pedestal to fall from?

Exactly. I totally agree.

I'm with mark_m and Dita's on this a Sensible opinion, When the team recovers its form and if Patton is performing well he will get his chance.

I said to give Dec a chance he looks a real good player his kicking game is 100% better than what we had, looks like he and myler work well together.

Well done.

To be fair this was a very good shout.

Patton seems to have learnt a lot in a week.
Not sure if Leeds threw as much at him as Wigan did and whether that was due to the pack playing so well, but he didn't seem to be found wanting in defence.
I really like his kicking game and although there will be cock ups along the way I think he's got the makings of a very good player if he keeps on working at his game.

Because the best defence is attack.
We wasn't asked half as many questions by Leeds than Wigan because we forced Leeds in to defence.

For a young lad to make his debug whilst we were showing very poor form, play well and make himself undroppable (for the next few games at least) is nothing short of brilliant. Well done Dec Patton.

For me a kicking game is everything and this lad has got it, still very raw but under Brier's guidance he can become great in my eyes. Hes done remarkably well to fit in thr team and keep GOB out. You can still win games without a decent kicker but it certainly does not help. I think TS wont get carried away with him though and take one game at a time

It helps when we don't knock the ball on every other set like we did against Cas and Wigan and numerous other teams in the last two seasons. I said after the Pies game that is never seen a team knock the ball on as much as we do, ever. The one game we look after the ball well we destroy the best team in the league...what would we be like if we looked after the ball all the time?

This is a other huge thing. Before Myler came back and Patton was given his chance, I thought our kicking for field position was nothing short of appalling. In the last few weeks we've been able to turn teams around and put pressure on them in their own 20. And it rubbed off on others as well as Higham even kicked a 40:20 the other night!

It's safe to say training has consisted of mostly kicking practice, defensive positioning, and 4th/5th tackle plays.

When Patton kicked that drop goal, is it only me that thought "Christ... He looked just like Briers then..." The way he stood at an angle to the sticks... The way he caught it and held the ball out in front of him with the little look up before the head went back down. It was quite uncanny.

Actually having seen many poor dg attempts from many sides it just makes me think that Briers never truly got the recognition he deserved for the 40m drop goal against Leeds in the play offs that won us the game a good few years back (I think it was our first win in the play offs - or at least one of the first).

The Leeds drop goal was very good, but when he did it away at Hull KR in the CC Quarter Final to win by the golden point was his best imo. That's still the best away game I've been too in 30 years of watching the Wire.

In his very first game for us against Wakefield he put up a spiralling bomb that was Jonathan Davies like. I almost had visions of Graham Steadman under it. The following week Ryan Hampshire did a good impression of him. The lad has a big future and we can trust TS to look after it for him.

Well if we're patting ourselves on the back I asked whether he was ready for the first team two weeks earlier on the "For The Love Of God Thread"