Huh?
How many fbs are there better than Ratchford whilst you could make a list as long a Pinnochio's nose of how many centres there are better than him!!

I'd say most other fullbacks in the league are better than Ratchford in that position. He can catch a ball, but his positional play in defence is awful. (and yes I did play at fullback). We have shipped in 30 and 40 points in the last two games, that should give some indication. I agree with the previous poster, Ratchford would be far better utilised in centre or halves.

Do people just post on here to have a pop or to wind rubber Duckie up, he is spot on with his comments about huki. Would will miss him more than we would miss ratchford

He's not even the best Fullback at Warrington

Yes lets hope the new coach wants a full back who doesn't ponce about ambling from a poor position or thinking he's cool with one handed carries and actively (and shamefully) avoiding one on one tackles. He needs to move away from FB asap - he's a liabilty there.

You just described Sam tomkins

Thanks Hatfield.

Re Ratchford.
He is indeed the most talented player in our team. Is he the ideal fullback?...perhaps not, but the point is...you put your best player in a position where they can get there hands on the ball....centre isn't one of those.

RD, I seem to remember conversations we've had when you've been adamant Ratch has to play at 6 as you want your best players with their hands on the ball - I always argued Full Back gave him that opportunity, you always disagreed!!

I still believe 6 to be the best position for Ratchford to be more specific, but if playing fb as a pivot will put him in a position to get his hands on the the ball, then I relent...!
However I hate his one hand ball carries that heightens a knock on off his own knee than he gets from a forced error.

perfect assesment

It doesn't say a lot about our team if he is the most talented player we have. Cant think of a player who knocks on as much as him in or out of contact. I won't mention Saturdays pocket pinching. Just love the way he puts his arm in the air afterwards to say sorry.

The info i got about Ratch 2 or 3 years ago is the lad doesn't want to play fullback but does so at the request of Mr Smith.

yes ratch has been full back all season and we have been dire haiku is the only player that has given us any hope for next season and now he is gone.

ratchford aus talent undoubtedly but has never put together even a fiull season of top performances and we stilll struggle to find a place for him in the team I disagree with him at 6 he has played there and been just as above average as he is at full back !!

So where does Ratchford play if not Fullback,no way would I have him the halves.only place I would have him is centre.

centre or at another club for me, we have for too long tried to find him a position tho it will be interesting to see where he played under the new coach.

We put him at centre and you have Patton and Brown as our only creativity.
Some one can't smell the custard!!!

The custard is back.

Ratchford is a utility player & ,as such, has fitted in with Smith's blueprint of play anywhere players. He reminds me very much of Willy Aspinall who was good at making breaks for himself but didn't pass much....Sounds a bit like Russell too.

are we not in the market for a half ???


ratchford has played in the half and been just as bad as our other halfs so no advantage of putting him there so I can smell it and think it smells a bit iffy
he was not able to get us around the park is general kicking is hit and miss and also his desision making is suspect at times

we must now ask ourselves that if after so long we are still thinking about his best position does he have a best position and can we afford to have os much cap space taken ub by a utility back as good as he may be ????

In the current climate i wouldn't want Ratch to leave as any player with a modicum of talent is a rarity these days but IMO he should be playing centre if he's on the field. Shoehorning him into the side over the years has hurt us at times - most notably 2013 GF. Rumours earlier in the season that he was off to Saints, I wouldn't have lost any sleep if he'd have gone - for the supposed most talented player at Warrington he makes a decent centre, below average half and a poor full-back. As an aside in terms of rugby talent Ratchford is well behind Currie and also Livett.

Look it's not the half's so much as it is the pack.
Get the pack right and the half's we have will look world class.

Gale and Miller for eg would have been unhappy signings before the Brown came in....I bet there isn't many who wouldn't swap Brown for either at this time.

Get the pack right and we'll be right....this is what I sum up about the 2017 pack.

Cooper...poor, Hill... poor,
Hughes...poor, Westerman....injuries/average, Dwyer...poor, Sims....his best season/fair/good but gone. Clark....injuries/good, King...poor, Westwood...fair/disciplinary, Philbin...fair, Savelio...good but gone, Crosby...excused.
So the only two except Clark I'd say we're good, won't be here next year so we are only going to get worse...even if we had Thurston fronting this lot for 2018 we'd still be around the bottom half of the table.

So what about shifting Ratchford to centre and going after Lomax, he can't be happy at Saints right now, he as the number 1 shirt yet last 2 games he as been centre and halfback.

Ben Barba could do a lot of damage ... to St Helens. He looks dreadful at the moment and cannot be worth his place. Thank God we didn't get him.

Is it fanciful to suggest that without Hiku we could be in a lot worse position than we are?

nope he has had an effect on the team take away his toys as its unlikely Evans would have scored them we could be looking at the mpg game or worse

You can't argue with that !
The pack has been a shambles all season, and has steadily deteriorated over the past few seasons. Hopeless now, needs major surgery without sentiment or emotion or favour

And I have said it before, we have become more of a local celebrity club than a town rl club. ( is that down to Simon Moran's media aurora?).