When he gets the ball early he has space in front of him to use his pace and footwork to beat the opposing defender. Richardson is also putting a pass outside of their centre for him to run onto, almost on an outward arc, so it’s a bit of both I suppose. Either way Naiqama is showing his best form now
We were saying the same thing yesterday, we.ve got Lomax with a running game, Richardson with a passing game and Fages somewhere in between the two. Fages has a better defensive game but Richardson has improved in that department, he faced his nemesis with Hull yesterday but that was his best game of the 4 appearances so far.
Interesting dilemma for Holbrook, I reckon Fages will just have the edge based on his 8 performances against Richardson's 4 performances, if Fages plays the fans will looking at how much quality service is maintained on that right edge, great to have 3 players fighting for those half back slots.
Yesterday he really showed that he has got pace, just burned the opposition off a couple of times.
After Fages was named in the 19 I would expect him to be included again for this week; If he has had a setback and does not make the team, and if Richardson has another good game, then selection gets interesting.
If Theo isn't in your 17 this week....send him to us !
My personal preference is Theo, I think he is a brilliant player
I think its obvious Richardson as a lack of confidence but is working on it , it must be hard for him last season 21 yrs old on top of the world then this year an injury and out of the team and knowing that some people are writng him off but given time to get right and that is the kind of problem that a coach wants.
I thought there was a "rumour" Theo was looking at the NRL ?.
roy litherland it's happened i told you it would
It's a squad game and injuries occur.
This is why I can't fathom people who say get rid. It's not like a top class halfback is just waiting to join saints to be that additional halfback.
If Richardson went we would be gambling on no injuries to Lomax or fages. It would also strategically weaken the club. Its like some people here never lived through the eastmond saga, were we binned all our halfback and threw everything to eastmond, only for him to walk away the next season.
That put us back 5 years in terms of our halfbacks
Dead right with the post especially the Eastmond point , I was at Sale when it all kicked off and they were offering Eastmond a fortune but not as much as Bath . How could a club like Sale offer him a 4 year deal on well over an amount of money any superleague player could only dream of.
Last edited by roy litherland; 24th April 2019 at 11:01.
roy litherland it's happened i told you it would
Exactly we've not had the luxury of a decent half back partnership for 11 years now. I can accept the opinions of other posters concerning Richardson but for someone so inexperienced in his debut season last year he took a lot of critical flak on here which for me was a bit OTT.
Its a big "what if" but suppose Fages goes to the NRL, Lomax gets injured and we are daft enough to get rid of Richardson then like you say it puts us back years and years in that transition scenario again.
Blimey, apparently he was a useless player the other week and now he is a world beater
Fact is neither is true, he wasn't that bad and this week he hasn't suddenly become a super star. He is a decent young player who will improve, how much we don't really know yet.
He is a saints player, a good squad player with potential to get better, let's see how far he goes
Danny will come good.
Over the easter period he has shown what he can do when linking up with Lomax and set up tries on our lesser used right hand side.
At Wigan, his defence helping Naiqama and Makinson as a trio was very good. Thought he did well when attacking. Couple of poor kicks. A stronger wigan team would have punished us for, but he cab work on that.
From the Highlights of the Hull game, again his link up play with the right hand side and lomax looked good. He was running into the line to get the ball away.
Hes not the finished article. Its good we have both him and Fages in the team.
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Confidence is a major thing and the more games Richardson plays the more confidence he will get and better play follows .
You are right, but IMO (and it’s all about opinions) at the moment and with the team with have and the way we play he is not an upgrade on Fages. I have no real issues with Richardson in that I think he can be a great player, but I also think he can also end up another Jamie Foster. I’m still not convinced he can shed his cockiness which last year I thought was what made him a good player, but I now think it makes him make the wrong decisions. He always wants to be the glory boy and at times he tries things which puts us on the back-foot. I am slightly biased because I believe Fages is a far better player, but I still see Richardson can become a great, but I’m not sure he will learn he needs to be a team player.
Humans are more concerned with having than being.
I agree he is also a maverick type of player and you don't want to nullify that too much otherwise he will become predictable, Warrington did that with Dec Patton and his game has stopped developing.
The major fact is that we have scored 12 tries 3 games down that right hand edge which he is operating at the moment, I don't think Fages has got it in his game to do that. Richardson when defending has been hidden away on the right wing very similar to the early years of Longy.
Fages is a much better in defender in the middle, Holbrook has the pressure of selection does he risk the starvation service to the right hand edge and who does he see as having the right temperament (Fages/Richardson) when not selected.
For me Richardson is one good game short of getting his shirt back and the pressure could possible go onto Fages knowing a couple of poor games and someone else is knocking on the scrum half door.
I half expected to see Douglas named in the squad this week, but no sign of him. His time must be up at saints. I'm a bit disappointed, I rate him higher than Amor.
I'm really happy to see us using the right, we were too predictable down the left. But, do you attribute the change to Richardson coming in, or not having a recognised centre on the left? I am not trying to take any credit away from Richardson, and I hope we will continue to attack down both sides no matter who we have in the team.