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Posted this elsewhere but there is more traffic here so here are my player ratings for 2005. What do you think?

Here is my list and summary of each of the first team squad.

Radlinksi - season ruined by injury, can't say anymore.

Dallas - my player of the season as he was that little bit more consistent than Tickle. Gave 100% and never gave up.

Wild - an awful season, looked lazy, lacking technique and only has himself to blame for his exit from the club.

David V - good going forward but has lacked pace all season. He hasn't looked fit and needs to get his pace back for 2006 or we have a problem.

Carney. Biscuit legs has had a pretty ineffective season. Form not been good and of course has also been injured. On this seasons form won't he missed

Orr - always gave 100% but it's only since the arrival of Millward he has shown some good form so basically we have had half a season of good stuff from him and half a season below standard.

Moran - pretty much the same as Orr. Under Betts he wasn't playing his natural game and was trying to be Andrew Johns flinging out long passes which he can't do. Looks happier now Millward has got him doing what he does best but another one who has given us a 50% season of good play.

O'Loughlin - injured, hope he makes a full recovery

Tickle - great season from Tickle and showed the likes of Wild how it should be done. Had a blip in form to let Dallas in as my player of the season but should be proud of his efforts this season.

Hock - injured another one who we need to make a complete recovery.

Botham - retired. Played too few games to judge but I reckon Millward had him down as a ultilty player next year so it is a shame he has had to quit.

D Sulthorpe. Not a brilliant season from him by any means. Looked unfit for most of it and not through injury - just unfit!!

Guisset - Our best prop in my opinion. I'd have him instead of Sculthorpe next season if we could but we can't. Solid season from him and came to the rescue when Davico had to quit.

SeuSeu - major disappointment. Has carried an injury for most of the season but needs to do a Criag Smith and have a much better 2006 to justify his wages.

Newton - he has also been injured and whether that is the reason he has never played a full 80 (?) this season I don't know. He is an enigma. He can be brilliant, particularly going forward, but he can also go missing. His 10-match ban means we will start next season a key man down yet again and so I am really fed up with him and his attitude to the game. Biff is one thing but putting your team at a disadvantage for 10 games is unacceptable.

Godwin - a good signing and another player who can look back on the season without feeling guilty.

Hansen - great prospect and has done well this season. He looked to be suffering a bit of a mid season crisis at one point to me with his confidence looking a little shaky but he got over it and put in some good performances toward the end.

Hargreaves - played better than Sculthorpe for me. Another great prospect.

Aspinwall. Felt sorry for him being played out of position early on but he is an example of a young player who hasn't made the grade in the end. Too small, not a wingers centre like David V as he doesn't appear to have the required RL brain and not fast enough as a winger. Looks like he is off elsewhere.

Brown. Why did we give this character a new contract? He has no kicking game so he can't be a stand off. He isn't big enough to be a centre so where will he play? He is also another with a very poor rugby brain taking the wrong option umpteen times a game and I am certain cost us at least two if not three close games by some utterly stupid play this season.

The young players. I am not going to go through the many U18 and U21 players individually as most of them only played a handful of games. I think Millward did the right thing here in rotating them so as to protect them from a serious battering.

I will say they all showed some guts taking the field and showed a good attitude that some of the established players could have learned from.

I don't think we can say we are going to have a top team when some of these come through because I think we now realise that things can change a lot as the players get older. They may just not hack it physically.

If any stand out for me it is Tomkins (along with Hansen and Hargreaves mentioned earlier). He already looks pretty big so could make it. For the rest the jury has got to be out.

By my reckoning if you agree with my summaries it means we have just five players who cut the mustard this year turning in consistently good performances. They are Dallas, Guisset, Godwin, Hansen and Hargreaves.

The rest have either had their season ruined by injury or have just been simply not good enough or have been too inconsistent. I am convinced with a bit better application from some of the senior players we could have finished higher in the league and as a result despite the injury situation the team that was left still didn't reach its potential.

DaveO posted:

The rest have either had their season ruined by injury or have just been simply not good enough or have been too inconsistent. I am convinced with a bit better application from some of the senior players we could have finished higher in the league and as a result despite the injury situation the team that was left still didn't reach its potential.

I'd pretty much agree with all of that, Dave.
Of the youngsters, from what little we saw of them, I'd pick Prescott, Gleeson, Coyle, and, on yesterday's performance, Ashton, as the best prospects.

I agree on everybody except Scully. At the start of the year he was looking unfit, but he has sorted that I feel and the last half of the season under Millward he has changed his game a little. He hasnt thrown as many silly offloads out, he isnt trying to offload every time he takes the ball in. he has started to do the hardwork that props are supposed to do, I think he has wirked hard and your criticism is a little unfair, but thats your oppinion. He is one of the few forwards we have along with Hansen and Godwin who still knows how to go low in the tackle, countless time I've seen him go low when when everyone around is going in high and getting knocked off.

I agree with Brown though and what you said about him 100%, this kid really is way out of his depth, no pace, no kicking game at all, no vision and he cant pass for toffee, maybe he is on a very low wage even if it is over 20k and is purely there as a squad player, it must be as he has no chance at all of getting into the 1st 17 if everyone is fit.

Moran started playing ok as Millward came in, hes had a good last 2/3 of the season for me. Hes organised well, and as our top try scorer and with one of the best assist rates in the league that shows that he hgas a had a good season overall.

Orr has had a good half season since he got fit and Millward came in, he was always solid in defence but now hes doing a little more of what he did at Cas and what got him into the G.B sqaud while he was there. Good organiser and a very good talker on the field, his kicking game is good and hes creating alot more and started score tries himself.

Godwin has become a fans favorite very qucikly, very good work rate and his commitment cant be faulted. He makes alot of half breaks but he needs to start looking for support a little more, I know we have been lacking in that area but he still needs to be looking, if he sorts that out we could have another hooker knocking on the door for a GB call up byt the end of next season.

Hargreaves has been one of the success stories of this year, how many props do you see play aswel as he has done this year at such a young age. Hes been superb especially since Millward came in, I cant sing his praises enough, he can really look forward to a great career. The only thing is he may find game time limited next year, as we will have 4 props in front of him, but if he sits tight and plays when we have injuries and sticks to the academy, the season after he will be first choice when Seuses leaves.

Hansen has a good year overall, if only he would stop dancing around as much before he hits the line, when he hdoes that he loses the momentum becasue he isnt going forward liek ge should and it makes the collisions easier to win for he defenders, he gives 100% though and his defence is superb, he always goes low like Cassidy used to and he he chops players down.

Tickle, great season, had a dip in form mid season and gave away alot of penalties and dropped alot of ball, but hes come through that and he has probably been our best forward.

Dallas, hes been great where ever he has played, his form at fullback has surprised alot and hes been a real blessing consdiering the loss or Rads for much of the season.

Wild hasnt done enough for us to keep hold of him, we have players coming in and players already at the club who are better in the positions he can play, its a shame as he started off well at Wigan and looked thepart, but he just hasnt continued his development enough, and at 25 his time has run out. Good luck to him though.

Aspy, its a shame really that he doesnt have the talent to back up his commitment, he is like our own resident MR nice but dim, he really is commited ands tries his best, but he just doesnt have the talent and class we are used to and what you need if you want to be challenging for honours with the other big clubs.

Guisset has been brill for us, a real grafter and never took a backward step, he played as our only prop at times and took the pressure really well, great season and I wish him all the luck in the world.

Seuseu and Dave V, we know they can do alot better and we all expect them to do that next season, they are both big earners and need to start paying that back in performances.

chris u were saying hargreeves wont be first choice next season personally i wud put him first choice over seu seu because seu seu couldn't break a wet paper bag never mind a tackle.

ChrisA posted:
I agree on everybody except Scully. At the start of the year he was looking unfit, but he has sorted that I feel and the last half of the season under Millward he has changed his game a little. He hasnt thrown as many silly offloads out, he isnt trying to offload every time he takes the ball in. he has started to do the hardwork that props are supposed to do, I think he has wirked hard and your criticism is a little unfair, but thats your oppinion.

Maybe but it was for me a case of too little too late to get him into my list of players that did well. I still worry every time he takes the ball in.

Moran started playing ok as Millward came in, hes had a good last 2/3 of the season for me. Hes organised well, and as our top try scorer and with one of the best assist rates in the league that shows that he hgas a had a good season overall.

I stuck up for Moran on the RLFANS board early on but there came a time just before Millward came that my patience ran out. It was after a home game (forget which) where he was truly woeful with some terrible passing. I take your point about the stats and I am glad he and Orr seemed to have turned things around under Millward but like several others his inconsistent play over the entire season as a whole contributed to our poor final standing in my opinion.

Hansen has a good year overall, if only he would stop dancing around as much before he hits the line, when he hdoes that he loses the momentum becasue he isnt going forward liek ge should and it makes the collisions easier to win for he defenders, he gives 100% though and his defence is superb, he always goes low like Cassidy used to and he he chops players down.

I thought I detected less of the dancing around in recent weeks. When I said earlier he looked to have lost a little confidence mid-season it was when he was doing this more and seemed to slow up into the tackle when carrying the ball. Recently I thought he had started to hit the line at pace and again this is since Millward arrived so maybe he is working his magic on Hansen.

Dave

dave i also worry about scully every time he takes the ball up i just think hes going to offload and give it away to the opposition

Good summary-I would like to give a big thanks to Guisset who was brought in to a team in total disaray and from day 1 just got on with it.Best of luck and sorry to see him go.A few more so called "journeyman" players with his attitude would do me.

superleague posted:
dave i also worry about scully every time he takes the ball up i just think hes going to offload and give it away to the opposition

Yes because every offload scully has made this season has gone to the opposition, are you people resistant to admitting scullys offloads have improved dramatically and now he only offloads at appropriate times????? :conf:

Pretty much how I would put it too and I think the lack of positive comments to make just shows the kind of season we have had.

I think someone mentioned Cassidy, did anyone else see him at the game onSunday, trying to hide behind a cap and a pint but was soon noticed and pestered !

As for Aspi, he's done nothing to offend me, actually he's just done nothing which is the reason I have wanted rid. I don't doubt his commitment, he's just so *thinks of word* gormless!

Danny Tickle has been the standout player for me. For someone so young he conveys a calm assurance and never lets the team down. Bryn Hargreaves is a player of similar vein and I believe he has a bright future.

Newton and Godwin tried hard. Guisset was good value. Moran and Orr shone under Millward.

Hansen I like but feel he needs to gain some bulk which may only come in his mid 20's so I'm not sure what will happen with him.

I thought Hock was looking awesome before his injury. To be honest, I'm more looking forward to having Loughers and Hock back playing week in week out than the imports.

Danny Sculthorpe has been the biggest let down. I honestly believe he has more skill than any other prop in Britain but he's got to be fit enough and determined enough to apply himself and take advantage of his great talent. Kevin brown is not far behind, I just do not feel he has as much talent as Scully.

The likes of Aspy and Wild? Simply haven't come through as they should have. maybe a move is good for them. I believe they and players like Beswick will have a decent future elsewhere.

From the 21s/18's, Ashton, Tomkins, Hargreaves, Prescott, Coyle, Coyle, Gleeson, Goulding, Walker, Jewitt, Kavanagh, Rodan, Kay, McClorrum, Hatton, Brocklehurst and stanton have all shone.