Personally he would always be in my 17. With one of the best rugby brains at the club, he can come on and do a good job in almost every position. With only 22 players now in the squad with any first team experience I'm sure we will see plenty of him next season

I thank you

He won it fair and square but as you are implying, its a bit old and meaningless now. Just to raise a point also, if Hall, Tom Briscoe or Jordan Turner to name but 3 had been given a run in the centres that season due to injuries they would have probably won the award too. I know its just speclation but i think it's a fair point to make.

Agree 100% Dave, it's quite rediculous, nobody made comment about Hodgson moving clubs and he is the YP from last season. If Whiting was good enough he'd have cemented a starting place by now, he's had injuries, and I am told he's a "nice bloke", that isn't enough to see him as anything other than a utility player, and we should be working into a position where we don't have utility players of his age, he must be earning a fairly decent amount, as IanP has said, we can get equalt quality utility for less money.

I don't see how it is meaningless but, you're right, it is old... as is he - he is now an ancient 25 (I think). However, he has had some very bad injuries that take a long time to come back from. When he has come back, however, he has done a very good job wherever asked. If he gets the chance to train at second row, which would be a great spot for him, then he ought to have as good a chance as Tickle and Burnett.

The best thing about this discussion is that he will find it very tough to cement a place because of the high quality of competition he faces in these spots - last season he would have found it much easier.

I agree competition is tougher, especially in the positions that Whiting wants to play. Sadly if not for injuries his game time will be limited imo.

I didn't realise that Josh was voted Super League's Young Player of the Year.

I think Whiting has been played as a utility player but that is out of necessity - he is a second rower.

As bad as horne was last season, washbrook isn't a 6. Should be LF IMO but we all know it will only happen if there are injuries

He was club YP.

Agree, Horne 6, Long 7, Washy 13. Fitz in 2nd row. Never going to happen though.

Correctly so too!! the lad won it for a darned good reason too and anyone who actually goes to matches can see that everytime he goes on the field, every club in the world has a number of players like RW as not all the squad can be Fitzys I am afraid but in RW we have one of the best !

RW is a very intelligent lad on and off the field and is a much better footballer than many here give him credit for , is much faster than many credit him for and bangs way above his weight but has suffered from a utility tag and lack of game time due to his awful injuries however this season he is definately going to get plenty of game time and will i am sure prove his worth and repay the undoubted confidence the whole club have in the lad!!
To call him world class is wrong, to call him a cheap utility is an insult to him also as he offers much more than just versitility, as a person you could not meet a nicer fella and as a player he offers much more than Washy IMO .
Lets let the season do the talking because i know RW plans just that !!

Okay... Whiting was SLYP as well as National Lg 1 young player before that. I know some people don't go on to bigger and better things but I do think that there have been mitigating circumstances in his case - i.e. not only has he had horrific injuries but when he has been fit the team has also deen decimated by injuries so he's been asked to fill the accursed utility boots.

No , Agar has to accommodate Radford in there somewhere.

Agree with this.

the difference with RW is that every area he has been asked to cover anyone who has watched him would agree that he could easily fill that position full time as well, be it centre, full back, LF or 2nd
never let us down at all anywhere

You know Radford takes a lot of flakk on here but it will be interesting to see how he fits into the new, more professional approach - I wonder how his levels of fitnedd will be this year. I'm also interested to see if he is being viewed as a second or front rower for the coming season.

Paul Cooke had a fantastic kicking game and a long bullet pass which was the evny of SL at the time.

Garry Schofield and Steve Evans were the best players at reading interceptions I have seen, perhaps we should offer those contracts too?

I am fully aware that not all players can be stars, thats exactly our problem, too many work horses and "solid" players.

Whiting is exactly a Jack of all as he doesn't have any position he could command himself. Not a disservice, just a reasonable assessment.

Even though he doesn't see himself as a 6?

Might be worth seeing how Horne starts the season before writing him off as well.

oops

I meant.... you won't mind those of us thinking it is a reasonable assessment of Whiting when we think he is more than just an average utility player

But "he's a lovely lad", which is all that matters to some of the tunnel visioned fans.

That's all I want in a team - a bunch of lovely lads...

Front row of the stand hopefully

I'd like to see Rich stay but some how don't think he'll be an FC player beyond 2010 if he doesn't play enough. I'd have Rich as 1st choice back up in the centres behind Yeaman and Hall and at loose forward behind Washbrook. So he would get a fair few games if it were up to me. He'd get game time when either Tansey, Horne, Long and Berrigan were out too. I reckon he should be targeting the 13 shirt. Great player to have in the squad.