It's also worth noting that Gaskell is better now than Briers was at the same age.

That is complete and utter rubbish. Briers in his half a dozen games or so for Saints did a brilliant job given he was only 17 or so. Briers skill level even then is far better than Gaskell is now. I know coz I was there!!

Removed cartoon so as not to cause offence

Don't mean to sound patronising but when a statement is so wrong it has to be commented on.

See below for briers's full Saints appearances ( info courtesy of heritage site )

W/D/L Pos Date Opponents Comp Season Venue F A T G DG
L 7 26th Dec 1996 Wigan Fr 1996 A 22 32 1 1 0
L 15 24th Jan 1997 Leeds Rhinos Fr 1997 H 30 36 0 0 0
W 7 23rd Feb 1997 Hull SCCC5 1997 H 54 8 1 5 0
W 7 9th Mar 1997 Keighley Cougars SCCC6 1997 A 24 0 0 2 0
W 7 16th Mar 1997 London Broncos SL 1997 A 28 24 0 4 0
W 7 22nd Mar 1997 Salford Reds SCCCSF 1997 N 50 20 0 6 0
W 7 28th Mar 1997 Wigan Warriors SL 1997 A 22 10 0 3 2
W 7 31st Mar 1997 Sheffield Eagles SL 1997 H 32 12 0 4 0

2 Tries and 25 goals plus 2 drop goals in 6 Appearances isn't that bad.

Briers for Hooper - yes. But not Pryce. The two of them are completely different players so comparison is difficult. But Pryce did more than enough at the highest level in SL to give him the advantage. When Briers asserts match-winning influence in a Grand Final an exchange is worthy of discussion.



Only in some weird kind of fantasy land. It would be like swapping Captain Mannering for Alexander the Great.

Give over man. He had a good run of games [iin a very successful side[/i and looked good but he never looked like he was ever going to have a decent defence or running game (which is pretty much how it played out for him). He was solid passing, certainly not that much better than Gaskell and I rate Gaskell's long kicking game better than Briers then and now too. I would have been happy with us keeping him but at the time there was no way I would have kept him over Goulding or Martyn.

Briers turned out to be a decent club guy who has had an Indian summer thanks to Tony Smith sorting him out. Gaskell doesn't appear to have the same brain malfunctioning as Briers which also makes him a better investment to me as well.



LOLZ.

Briers performed admirably given the circumstances and it is true that he was instrumental in several Saints victories. But let's not forget that he was a complete rookie who came pretty much out of nowhere. Given the Goulding situation prospects looked bleak at the time and it would be false to claim Briers' effectiveness wasn't exaggerated in some way - as tends to happen with all kids who exceed expectation on debut. We've all seen fans proclaim such-and-such-a-kid the next GB/England scrum-half, centre, winger etc. purely on the strength of two or three good games.

Comparisons with Gaskell are not as easy as you think. At the time of Briers' debut defences were nowhere near as restrictive as those Gaskell is currently up against. Placing him in a Saints jersey back then I'd expect he'd run riot.

I meant that it's more tricky to swap Martyn for Briers, as Briers would have been Martyn's Junior, Martyn was already an experienced player and so Martyn would never have been in competition with Briers, were as Long may have been given that they where both relatively young. In the end those 3 just don't fit in the same team, briers would have been an understudy and filled in well during injuries, but unless he could do a Roby and take bit parts for years until Martyn was removed it would never have happened for him.

So even though he jumped ship early, even if he stayed he would probably have jumped ship in a year or 2.

I no some people wont agree but think gaskell should be given few matches

I think you will find the majority will agree.

He should have been having matches for a few weeks now. Granted, he might have needed a couple of weeks out to regain his confidence - if indeed he had a problem in the first place (and I'm not entirely sure he did). But he at least has some clues as to how to play in the halves and do a bit of organising.

WHAT ON EARTH does this lad have to do to get a game. I'd rather we loose every match for the rest of the season but give some kids especially Gaskell some game time after that debacle.

I wonder what he has done to Rush - something bad because it makes no sense at all.

Lance was pitiful tonight, absolutely pitiful.

Gaskell has more Stand-off game craft in his little finger than Lance does anywhere!

Angry does not fit!

IMO if lance don't play fullback then he shouldn't be in the 17. He's a fullback and played fullback most of his career.

Yep - we are crying out for a FB who would excel in broken play. In Lance, we have someone who has been an international class FB for the bulk of his career and we are persisting with ruining him at 6. It makes absolutely no sense, and I can only attribute it to Rush not having the balls to give him a run over Wellens.