I kind of agree, but just know if Shaul went to a cas, saints. He’d be running tries in for fun and really look the real deal. I really don’t want to see that. If I was shaul, I’d be looking for a new club to progress under a coach who could get that the best out of him. That’s not a dig at Radford, just that shauls skill set doesn’t suit Radfords style of attack

Kind of ironic, eh?

It is what it is, so just need to accept it. Guess Radford just needs to accept it to and put players in positions that play how he wants to, ie Connor at fb, let’s face it, you don’t need pace to play fb for hull

I think Shaul had a great season in 2016 because we offloaded the ball more and he scored some good tries from his support play. As mentioned on another thread our pack this season has performed inconsistently and when we can fix that then Shaul will pick off more tries again. In the meantime I’m in favour of Connor at FB but it would take some time to see if we’d be any better off

I’m not convinced about Connor in the halves yet and the common denominator is getting our pack performing well again. When this is sorted we have a better platform for attacking options

Connor is a number 6

We need more creativity and Connor at FB will at least assist with this. Radford clearly wants Kelly at 6 so if he is fit he plays there. If Kelly absent then Connor to 6 and Shaul to FB. Centres remain as is with my preference for Tuimavave to be on the left.

Connor at full back could be quite a scary prospect for your opponents. The only thing I wonder about is that he’d be heavier than most (maybe all?) other SL fullbacks and given it is a position that requires tremendous stamina to cover all the ground they have to, he might better suited to centre or 6. Obviously, what best suits a player and what best suits a team can sometimes differ slightly, but I wonder if that is why it hasn’t been tried as an option. Also, Shaul would then be rather wasted.

It’s interesting Freddie, it’s undeniable Jake is a massive talent, and many good people think he should replace Jamie, you included.
I don’t, his very best performance is at centre, he was fantastic at Cas with Albert and Ratu, and I doubt without this combination we wouldn’t have beaten Cas, stick with it.

A second point Jake looked good against Leeds at six, especially the first twenty minutes, but he missed two bad one on one tackles later in the game, is his defence up to playing full back regular. Jamie has his faults with his passing game, but has proved a solid defender at the back, and still is quicker than Jake going forward.

It’s only my opinion and means bugger all at the end of the day, but perhaps Jake Connor should take a leaf out of Richard Hornes book, an outstanding six, a fabulous centre, and a class fullback.

Great Britain international who played on the wing, and even hooker I remember, played anywhere, no grumbling.

Having said all that we need to get him on the field, it’s centre for me at present, moving Josh to the back row.

The Hull player that Connor reminds me of most is Steve Evans although not with quite such a relaxed attitude to the game. Could and would play anywhere in the backs and because of that got pushed around in to different positions when more specialist players were brought in to the squad.

Been saying it for a long time now, Connor should be our extra pivot at full back.
That said, our lack of pace means we also need the speed of Shaul in the team.

This sounds like the Richard Horne / Steve Prescott debate of 2002-3.

Please please - Connor is no full back. Simply not fast enough. Also FBs don't usually create tries - they finish.

I fully agree. When Kelly plays, Connor at centre with early ball is very dangerous, particularly paired with Kelly down the same side and Ratu outside of him. If no kelly then play him at 6. Keep Shaul as he is and get our pack dominant again and he'll shine. Connor Wynne will be a natural successor to Shaul in a couple of years with the added bonus that he'll have better hands than Shaul when linking up.

No coincidence that Ratu,s form has dropped since Connor was moved from right centre.
We need to get him back there ASAP.
Tuimavave back to his best position at left centre which will bolster the defence on the left edge

I do sometimes wonder if Radfords holding a bit back for the business end, i'm hoping so.

Seen somewhere he has signed for Leeds?

Mentioned on “Recruitment “ thread yesterday and poo pooed by Clarky, apparently.

Hope so.

Thanks for that, never thought of recruitment thread, Doh.

Ok, hearing he might be off. Seems the disagreement between Connor and Taylor carried on into the night

One way to force the issue if you want out of the club I guess. cross taylor and you'll be sold at a discounted rate within the week

What has supposedly gone off between Connor and Taylor ?(a pm if you can't say on here)
I rate Connor very highly and would have him at the Rhinos, but he seems to blow hot and cold if things don't go his way

Would you guys accept him going if you got a decent transfer fee for him?

I don't think we have a say in it TBH.

He's a great player but needs to be played in the centre for the next 2 or 3 years then move into the halves a la schofield and lyon. Unless you dump off a big chunk of cap I doubt leeds can afford him. Only rovers have enough cap space for next year. No talk of him blowing hot and cold when he was playing centre week in, week out and the best coach on the planet plays him here for England

A very fair assessment Jake and I guess that time will tell if he has had his head turned

IMO Rhinos will be shedding plenty of cap space over the next 24 months and we all know how back loaded contracts work!



Connor is a maverick type of player that can play anywhere in a side and he just needs to get his hands on the ball as often as possible in order for him to make things happen and you're probably right that at the minute he is a centre or full back but is he a luxury player for you that you can cover?

I would play Connor at 6/7 at Leeds

We have more than enough cover but we wont want to lose him. A half back pairing of connor and lui would be brilliant some weeks and an absolute disaster others

I agree Jake but that is pretty much like an assessment of almost every other half back pairing in SL at present