Long barely played. &had missed a lot prior to joining. Pryce seldom misses a game. Squad game these days. Plenty room for both over the course of the yr.

That's ridiculous. Talanoa was consistently one of our best. A great metre maker. Solid defender. Never dominated on the ground (think he was top 2 for fast play of the balls won) also made tremendous meters after contact. Made a few breaks n tries for others out of nothing.
At this stage of his career Lancaster only has pace over him. 1 of the Last academy games he played last yr he scored 4 n conceded 5 down his side. He also got dropped after the 1st recent England v oz schoolboy games.
Not having a dig at him but he is what he is. A young kid with loads to learn and physically develop. The competition boasts some very good/strong/powerful centres n wingers. He's not ready for week in week out imo. Get plenty of chances over the yr I think tho

Knockers is just sore after Chessie decided to go to Portugal after all.

I'd swap all the stuff you mention there for someone who, once clear, isn't caught. I want pace in the backs.

He was Radfords player of the year.

Lancaster's about the same size as Briscoe was, so not sure what difference size makes.

I partly criticized him earlier in the season because he was making lots of mistakes and positionally he was very much lacking, but I don't recall saying Talanoa was 'turd', (I have said Miller was treated like turd by the club/Radford) please point out my post & i will make a full retraction of the comment but not my earlier criticism which at the time I thought was accurate. and yes he has proven his worth, or do you disagree with that too?
October 12th I said re the signing of Lancaster "I wonder if Lancaster might get the nod over Talanoa, which for me would be a bit sad as he's a tryer that's for sure and shown his worth despite not being the quickest/most talented winger in the competition"

Didn't Dwain Chambers try out for Cas?

Hardly relevant, are you saying Lancaster has no more rugby ability than Chambers? I want my wingers main attribute to be blistering pace, not making metres after collision ffs.

Most wingers make good metres and get fast ptb's, because 9 times out of 10 they're tackled 1 on 1. And I reckon with his pace Lancaster would make more breaks over the course of a season. Apart from Dixon, Talanoa must be the slowest winger in the league, and I'm not even sure of that!

Height wise maybe but Briscoe was very strong for such a short winger and has one of the best leg drives for a winger in SL.

Lancaster has pace but isn't ready for SL every week yet due to his lack of strength.

Wouldn't like to see the likes of Monaghan, Burgess, Hall etc up against Lancaster. They'd have a field day up against him especially in the air.

I think what Mrs B is trying to say is you need a lot more than pace to make it as a SL winger as Chambers showed.

Just saying your sentiment of pace at all costs is overstating it. You said you'd trade very many other attributes for pace alone. A balance of attributes can be as useful over the course of a season as pace alone. Especially outside Yeaman.

Then we'll lose more games. A winger is asked to do a lot of things. Penny would be an england international if it was just about speed.

Well hopefully he wouldn't be outside Yeaman.

It's not pace at all costs, Lancaster has many good attributes already, I'm not the one saying pace is all he's got. I'm saying the main attribute of the winger should be pace.

Yet again, another one saying pace is all Lancaster's got. Does anyone watch the 19's?

Talanoa is one of the hardest to tackle. So making meters n also comitting opposition defenders n earning a fast play of the ball the 10/15 times in a game and the advantages that gives your team far outweighs having a player in to simply finish a chance that involves sheer pace.
Monaghan was top try scorer. He's far from a pace merchant. Most wingers tries these days require finishing prowess n power from short range. Fullbacks seem to score the larger share of long distance tries

Monaghan & Hall have a field day against most wingers in the air, the job is to stop the ball getting there in the first place, surely?

But again, you're assuming Lancaster can't do those things. Let's not forget, Lancaster had Monaghan on toast when we played them at the KC.

Again, In not saying he wont be a great winger but he needs more seasoning and to gain some strength. Look at the (official) Widnes highlights, poor attempt to stop his opposition winger, good finishing but Talanoa or Lineham would have finished all of these off too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szR505KXkJY

Again, In not saying he wont be a great winger but he needs more seasoning and to gain some strength. Look at the (official) Widnes highlights, poor attempt to stop his opposition winger, good finishing but Talanoa or Lineham would have finished all of these off too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szR505KXkJY

Seen him a few times. He does seem to have a bit about him. Just don't think he's got that much(yet) that he should be in ahead of Talanoa or that he'll excell week in week out against the Briscoes hall's seo 's monaghan s charnleys makinsons Carneys macgillvarys etc of the league!!

Lancaster has just turned 18 and as others have said it's a little early for him to have a starting spot against experienced wingers whose sheer physicality will be too much for him to handle week in week out at this stage of his career. Right now in my opinion Talanoa offers more as an all round player at SL level. That said I'm sure Lancaster will get opportunities, we know Radford isn't afraid to give youngsters their opportunities. Incidentally, very good news that Logan is impressing in training.

I'm sure Radford will see it your way, I just want pace in the backs and I'm worried we'll end up with Talanoa, Sa & Yeaman in the back line. How anyone can have watched SL over the last few years and not seen how important pace is, to me is strange.
Bearing in mind that Talanoa was an ever present, Lancaster in 5 games only had 2 less tries and 4 less clean breaks.

Not sure I see the 'this stage of his career' argument. What stage were Shaul, Lineham & Crooks at when they became regulars? Having seen Callum develop for a couple of years now I think he's ready.

Shaul debuted at 20. Lineham had 5 appearances at 19 in 2012, became a regular at 20 in 2013. Crooks debuted at 18/19. On balance, Lancaster is a season or so younger, having turned 18 in October. Radford recognises his potential, evidenced by his selection 5 times at 17. Depending on how they're showing up in training, I'd still go with Talanoa and Lineham initially.

to be fair London was a handpicked game for him and widnes were poor on the day as they had cup semi coming up. Tala actually switched sides to accommodate him.
Shaul or naughton - pacy
Lineham - fast as
Sa - powerful n mean
Michaels -fast
Talanoa - incredible strong n hard to handle

For me that's not that bad already. A nice balance of attributes.
Added to the fact we've a decent level of mobility in the pack to.
Callum will get chances anyway. Plenty I'm sure

Apologies if mentioned already, but is Michaels more centre than wing or the other way around?