Your right, the first thing I said when Lee was appointed was "would Leeds, Warrington, Wigan or Saints have him as their head coach"?? the answer consists of 2 letters!

Unless you want Sneyd loaned back out to Cas next year, Noble is definitely not your answer.

Any of these I would be happy with.

Daniel Anderson
B Smith
T.Sheens
M. Elliot
N.Henry
S Flanagan
D Powell.

I'd be even happy to have Hay or Cooke over Radford.

Noble, Hay, Cooke etc are all decent short term options to steady the ship, but we've got to do it properly this time.

I would quite like to see Radford leave now, and Cooke brought in till the end of the season with him reverting to assistant when we bring a proven coach in for next year.

I would allow the Head Coach, choose his own staff and coaching structure and conditioner,

Radders has got to start picking his strongest team & the team selected have got to play with pride & passion, not just for us or the club but for themselves, we have a decent enough squad to compete with other teams.

too late now, ears needs to walk away and admit he's not up to the job

But this won't happen, so back to reality Martin.

What is that, though? Even with a fully fit squad, on the way they've all played this season, who would be our best 17? Does anyone know?

There has been so much chopping and changing it's too difficult to work out who has been suffering from lack of consistency of selection and who has been just plain bad. Add to that that some of those shipped out or who are in the 'not considered for selection' wilderness were actually no worse (arguably not even as bad in some cases) as some of those playing regularly, and it gets even harder.

He's inherited a decent squad & brought in another few along the way from what was available, I didn't get to the last 2 away games through work & going away, but I know he picked a few u19s to play against Wigan, I wouldn't have done this as knowing Wigan have a killer instinct & will go for the jugular!

He can sign an extension. As long as Cookie lends him the magic pen to do so

.

Unless of course they have already conceeded that the season is over and they will blood the under19's to give them experience.

Excellent post. Sums things up quite well.

This is the problem. We as fans are scratching our heads but Radford should at least know by now who the best 17 are at his disposal. That's his job.

Thats why a fit Whiting and Crooks never play then

You said he needed to pick his strongest 17 for the rest of the season. I asked what that is, making the point that we've messed around with the team so much all season it's all but impossible to tell. We started the season not knowing what our best halves combination would be, but we're now at the stage where we don't even really know our best 2 centres or which wingers should go with them, and also which other 2nd rowers should play alongside Ellis. Judging by the last few games we've also now lost track of who our best props are or how to rotate them, because we're just pretty much playing all of them. An objective team selection with 6 games left would boil down to Shaul, Houghton, Ellis, Westerman, then names out of a hat.

I don't know what your response was intended to mean.

We'll my team if all fit would be...


Shauls
Lineham
Yeamo
Sa
Binman
Rankin
Horne
Paea
Houghton
Watts
Thompson
Ellis
Westy

Feka
Heremia
Bowden
Green.
But injuries & other things obstruct this, but this is only my strongest team.

Agree with a lot of that. Not seen enough of Sa yet to say if I would pick him over Crooks. Whiting would also always have a place in my 17 (in this case at Green's expense).

3 props for me as rankin & Westy are utility within the 13.

Fair enough.

Still a lot of question marks in there though, aren't there? Based upon how they've played this year, several of those are the best of a bad lot even if we're being generous. Lineham hasn't played much but when he has hasn't looked great, I'd still like to see us with a better centre than Yeaman, Horne has been at least as poor as every other halfback we've had this year most of the time, Thompson has played mostly at prop, and Green is only 2 games into his season. Says a lot about the selection policy at the club that Tuson wouldn't be in there (and probably most fans' 17s) yet he's one of the first names on the team sheet every time he regains fitness.

Another thing that I personally think speaks volumes is the way almost all of the squad (individually as well as collectively) have played worse than we have previously seen them to be capable of. A handful of exceptions, but very worrying overall.

Unfortunately, the reality is that we are in effect the 3rd worst team in the competition. Last year we were the 6th best team and cup finalists. We haven't (as at week 21 of the season) discovered who our best starting 17 are. Some serious questions need to be asked of those responsible. Good supporters that we by and large are, our patience is not infinite and sooner or later that patience will disappear, as will many supporters. And who knows if they will ever return once that happens.

Shaul
Lineham
Crooks
Sa
Talanoa
Rankin
God Knows but you might as well give HTW a run
Paea
Houghton
Watts
Ellis
Thompson
Westerman

Feka
Bowden
Cunningham
Whiting

Agreed, we have nothing to lose by playing HTW alongside Abdul imo. Both offer more than anyone else we have available.

Our current incumbent halfbacks are the worst in living memory. Rankin and Miller are the worst signings imaginable, and directly responsible for the hole we are in now. The much maligned Holdsworth only played 22 games for us, but my god we was a better side with him in it.

Everyone is going on about how our squad is too good to be third from bottom, but our halves are the worst in the entire league, with the possible exception of London.

He hasn't the faintest idea what his strongest team is.