https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWXuHawYuE8&t=123s
have a look at the lad
Latest Video from the club show Tee killing it at training. Hope he shows he has the other attributes to be Regan's replacement?
That was his weakness when he was at Workington and Newcastle and at the start of his career with Barrow Raiders, couple of mates from Barrow have mentioned the same thing his improvement last season was his defence. I agree he will be found out in Superleague there is a lot more pressure than the championship, probably all be down to coaching......Grace struggled a bit with the high bombs and keeping hold of the ball on impact early days and he became one of the best later.
Defending is overrated. Field and French can't tackle and they're both lauded as superstars. He'll obviously need some help in certain situations due to his size, but it was the same with Regan as you mention. If we're in a position where Yaha is crashballing it over from 5 yards out against him, we can't really blame Ritson can we. Him and Bruines are the two exciting things about next season, along with Dodd returning. Hopefully they all work out. I'd like to see Ritson outside Percy as he can cover for him defensively. Same with Tommy and Konrad, Tommy can help out defensively. The mistake would be putting Ritson with Hurrell too early in the season, before he's up to speed.
Grace had the advantage of him starting in the 1st team when we were just recovering from being rock-bottom (relative to us, and what had come in the years before). We were a team that was evolving, and he was part of that. Yes, there were the usual miserable git fans who love to get on a player's back for the slightest reason, but most were prepared to cut him some slack with his defence/bomb-diffusal as he developed.
We're now 4 consecutive SL titles on, and expected by fans to continue stay at the top. Fans want 'finished articles' brought in to replace finished article players who leave.
I think Ritson has a wealth of talent with the ball in hand and needs to be given time to get used to SL and work on any areas in his game needing improvement. However, I fear that some of the more over-entitled fans will quickly turn on him if he makes a few errors (unless he's scoring loads of tries!)
He's not the Messiah, he's a naughty boy.
Not so sure about this. Percy is quite capable of making space on the outside for his winger but, for all his excellent qualities, Grace never seemed very keen to take on the defence on the outside, and if he was just going to take it up 10m and then step inside Percy may as well do the same (and avoid risking the pass). I'd like to think that if he had a winger outside him who would back himself if given a yard he might be more inclined to pass. (Although maybe the habit is too ingrained now)
I think the first couple of seasons Grace didn't read the game all that well and didn't give Percival a lot of options by coming inside, at times a Percival pass to him was a "dead ball into a cul de sac" so Percival went solo. Things got better for Percival and Grace when Coote and Lomax linked up on that edge with set up plays.
A short interview with him on Radio Merseyside this evening. Came across as ambitious and confident, and really grateful for the opportunity here; he's had to battle for every step of his career. I so hope he grabs the opportunity with both hands and scorches it.
He's not the Messiah, he's a naughty boy.