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moto748 wrote:I'm sure I remember watching a U19s game last year where Josh Woods totally outplayed Jake Trueman. Because Woods was playing behind a dominant Wigan pack. Does this mean Woods is a better player than Trueman? Not in my book, or, I expect, in yours either.

I would suggest a similar situation here.

I think both are vastly overrated as is Richardson. I'd have Williams, Hampshire and Gaskell before them any day of the week.

Hardly a fair comparison : Williams, Gaskell, Hampshire, and even Richardson could be described as experienced SL players, Woods and Trueman are rookies with only a handful of games between them.

And Powell let Hampshire go and kept Trueman.

Is Australia far enough away for Williams? Dunedin New Zealand is the farthest populous point. (It actually is)

Sorry ancientnloyal, this is a forum of opinions I accept, but that comment is totally unjustified and quite insulting to GW. There's still unfulfilled potential there but I want to see him in a system that plays to his strengths. For me, he would be a big loss.

So Richardson is a superstar, who has had one bad game all season, whilst Williams' performances have been very poor? Well that seems to be the general view!

I think that we can all agree that Saints have been the form team this season and Wigan, at least on league placings, come a distant second to our neighbours from over the hill. Saints having lost only two games to Wigan's seven and having scored 713 points to Wigan's 573, whilst at the same time conceding 298 points - 47 fewer than us.

All in all, Richardson appears to be playing in a dominant team whist Williams has competed in a team with indifferent performances. One would therefore expect Richardson's personal performance to easily outstrip George's contribution. Well here are the Opta stats to date, everyone can make their own mind up. George's stats are in brackets.

Appearances 23 (17)
Tries 4 (5)
Clean Breaks 11 (13)
Try Assists 13 (17)
Offloads 5 (27)
Meters 795 (1457)
Tackle Busts 53 (52)
Tackles 310 (295)
Errors 28 (21)
Penalties 11 (10)
Missed Tackles 68 (28)
Attacking Kicks 129 (78)
Marker Tackles 32 (23)
Carries 140 (240)
Run From Dummy Half 1 (9)
Drop Goals 3 (0)
Forty Twenties 3 (0)

I’ve been posting on various forums, social media etc all season that I’ll reserve judgment on Richardson until I see him face some adversity. I see a ‘decent’ young scrum half playing in a team that’s been white hot with everything running for them. The sky boys tell me he’s the second coming but I’ve yet to see it. I see a kid who has a real confidence about him and can kick goals but I remember another Saints youngster in Jamie Foster who did that as well and whilst I think Richardson has more of a future in the game then he did, I honestly don’t quite see the hype.

I watched him only a couple of weeks ago at our place struggle to create anything even though his team was totally dominant. His kicking from hand seems to be lauded but it looks aimless half the time, he’s defensively frail and his passing isn’t cutting teams open.

Better then Williams? Pull the other one. George Williams has things to work on and he needs to find a consistency to his game but swap him in to the Saints side for Richardson this year, with him playing under Holbrook and it would’ve been carnage.

Williams and Richardson both have great potential. It's exciting to have talented young kids coming through in the league. They appear to me to be different types of people, and with that comes them having different strengths and weaknesses.

I'm not into ranking the two of them, but what I will say is that I think George is a top player already with clear and obvious areas of improvement. I really hope he is working on those areas, as he could become truly great if he just fixes up a couple of them. A new voice coaching him day-to-day could really help with that too I think. I'd really be disappointed if he left. I can't understand why a vocal minority seem so keen to get rid of him. Even people who don't think he's as good as I think he is can't seriously think we're a better team without him than with him? But I guess that must be their opinion.

No straw damn us wrote:Just to repeat myself, he's the best young halfback in Superleague. All the Danny Richardson fans on here, I hope you watched the game today!!

See, the more you say it, the easier it gets!

jinkin jimmy wrote:

No straw damn us wrote:Just to repeat myself, he's the best young halfback in Superleague. All the Danny Richardson fans on here, I hope you watched the game today!!

See, the more you say it, the easier it gets!

NSDU is right, every team in SL would have George in a heartbeat. Put the lad behind a dominant pack and he will have a field day. The proof of having a good pack in front of you was none more evident than on Sunday, well beaten pack = poor Richardson performance = Saints not going to Wembley. We definitely need a new coaching philosophy to get the best out of our team.