I think they are grown men & should be able to take criticism when performing poor..they are in an environment were results matter & under a lot of pressure to play well & find consistency, they should not be lied to especially by the coaching staff.. as the coaching staff are only saying what hundreds of fans are saying at the game & on social network sites..& i am sure any player responds better to a coach been critical rather then us or the media..the whole coaches knocking confidence is a load of bull to me..if a player does not want to be criticized then they should perform to a standard they are happy/comfortable playing to each week & build from that. imo.

Crooks is 20 years old. He's still a boy by rugby standards and still learning his trade. And he has looked low on confidence at times regardless of the reason. I think he needs handling carefully otherwise he could end up a lost cause.

Maybe the coaching staff should criticise them in private and not in the media? Wouldn't that be more constructive?

As long as hull do there research and give Sa a good medical, then I trust there judgement, generally Radfords signings have impressed or at least done better than expected. If he injured now or just out of favour?

that i do agree on..but it also depends on the lad himself, but then that comes down to man management by the coaching staff as all players are not alike some can take criticism & kick on some cant..but Lasty is perfect for that role.

Agreed. I think it could also be more constructive if the public criticism indicated that they are working on trying to improve players' games. I know that this will probably be the case but if the public criticism approach continues this might be a good thing to add and reassure the fans with.

I see your point but when asked in interviews where we went wrong, what are they to do lie & say yeah from 1-17 we was excellent across the park? or say we was poor in execution due to the halves..or we couldnt catch a cold out wide let alone a ball..or our forwards strolled about like they was on tunstall beach? im sure radders will be more preserved as it is a big step up for him been slung in front of the cameras & put on the spot.

I hope so. Last's got a good reputation from his time with the youngsters.

Last game I can find was on [url=http://www.london-irish.com/MatchReport.ink?SportStatMatchID=213558&type=m&storytype=11th January[/url. Looks like they were playing a weak team in a cup match, so probably the latter. (Although he was replaced after 65 minutes.)

For me the perfect approach would probably be somewhere in the middle. We've gone from a "They worked so hard in training" response to a pointing the finger response it seems to me.

As you say though it's a big step up for Radders so maybe over time he'll change his approach a bit.

I believe throughout the squad/coaching & backroom staff we have got it right, we need time to gel..imo we are playing some good attacking rugby, the defence isnt as good as it was last season but how many games did we watch last season & think what a bore we are? honestly? & i also believe we are not a top 4 side as some fans think & all the sides we have looked at beating in the last few seasons have all improved..imo.

Think Sa had to leave Australia after publicly hitting his girlfriend, and then fighting the police that arrested him. He totally took his second chance at Catalans and was in great form after a slow start. Thought he looked terrible at stand off though!

Just what our backline needs I reckon. Sheldon told us all Talanoa was poor, and pretended he'd seen him play for Sydney uni's 3rds - and he's been proven totally wrong!

Agreed. I don't think we're near the Top 4. WE have some great potential in the team that could maybe get us to that point but we're not there yet.

From watching Hudds today we have got to turn up for the full 80 on thurs night.. they are not the team they was last season but still a very strong physical side/well organised, its going to be tough..then them the week after.. 2 very hard games, quite nervous as we never know what FC team is turning up!! (jekyll or hyde) lol

Hopefully Saints have taken some energy out of them, and at least Ferres will be banned (surely even the Chuckle Brothers at Redhall can't let him off!)

it really is a must-win game this one though, another defeat and Radford heads in to the derby with his job on the line IMO

Isn't he walking out with Claire Sweeney now ???

Job on the line? we are playing hudds a team a lot better then us.

Charges were dropped, I think?

With a full week off compared to their 4 days

Crooks was dropped for exactly ONE week. In the Dugout, Lee Crooks said he was told the reasons why he was dropped and would work hard to rectify the faults.

Sorry, but one week is NOT enough to get that defence, positioning and desire back. At all. I don't buy the "second-season syndrome" either, until it's classified as a medical condition.

If he's not good enough to play, he doesn't play, end of story. I've had enough of Yeaman being poor week-in and week-out and STILL getting selected without another one of our poor back-line getting the same treatment. Yeamans last good season was 4 years ago.

Separately, what's up with Colbon?

A straight replacement for Yeaman can only be a positive for the club.
Here's hoping.

Achilles.

what i will say about yeaman is that the left side of our defence has been pretty watertight this season, i don't think you can really question that part of his game. Its his options in attack sometimes, though there are some good signs between him and talonoa.

the main point of this signing should be that we now have another quality centre to put pressure on BOTH the current incumbents to perform

Yeaman should be played on the right - best defender, and less attacking options.

Credit where credit is due, Yeamo's defence is outstanding without question. But a centre needs more than a good defence IMO. Yeamo used to be one of our most lethal attackers but I do feel he's lost his spark in that area in recent seasons which tends to make his, at times, poor decision making stand out to me now more than it ever used to.

On the other side we have Crooks whose defence has been iffy but offers so much to us in attack and is definitely one of our most current lethal attackers in the squad. My personal preference would be to stick with Crooks as I believe he can improve because he's still young. Yeamo won't improve because he's unfortunately in the latter stages of his career now.

The thing is that my preference isn't based on me not liking Yeamo (the man is an FC legend!) but on my belief that Crooks can become a real star. That said, I completely agree that this signing should put pressure on all our current centres to perform and if Crooks isn't performing but Yeamo is then Yeamo deserves his place in the team.