Fingers crossed, looking forward to seeing Gaskell, I also like the idea of Sammut having a little more freedom to do what he does best.




The only way he should be 2nd from the top is if the form guide was upside down.

Brough... what about him? I thought we were discussing scrum halves? But since you mention him, he was the form stand off for the rounds in question.

I see Gale picked up the Bulls foundation player of the year just now too.

In your original post you stated Gale was second to Chase in Half backs. Talking of Scrum Halves its only my opinion but Gale is Behind Dobson, Smith, Soward even the young kid on loan at Saints from Warrington on present form. I thought when we signed him he was just what we needed but his form lately is on a par with Herbert.

I assumed it would be obvious that a form team would have both a 6 and a 7!

And you're entitled to your opinion but according to that magazine he was the 2nd best 7 in the league during the rounds covered. I'm prepared to cut him a little bit of slack for it not being a vintage year for him, perhaps he had other distractions.

There aren't a huge amount of quality 7's around and for a club in our position right now I don't think it's an immediate area of weakness.

Maybe the magazine reporters actually watch him play, and base their opinion on that.

[iRLW[/i uses Opta for it's Team of the Month ratings.

However, that particular team of the month may only cover the two SL rounds played in July, which in our case was Wigan away and Hull FC at home. It may include the two Challenge Cup rounds, however this is irrelevant as far as we're concerned.

... I won't even go into the confusing part that the current issue of [iRLW[/i is September which came out on the first Friday of August and covers things from July.

What do you think is an immediate area of weakness?

I'd probably say centre.

Some fair points which certainly balance the argument. There's no doubt, he HAS had good games but at times he looks so poor, so lack lustre and down in the mouth that he looks the worst player on the pitch. Fitness/injuries must at play but he needs a big pre-season.

Can't see Cummins getting the chop with only a year under his belt, BUT a certain ex-Bulls coach may well be looking for work before the start of next season... What are the chances of McNamara returning as assistant coach/director of rugby? A similar precedent was set when Brian Smith returned to Odsal, was it not?

I think most people would agree there is a very considerable difference in abilities between Mr McNamara and Mr Smith!

Even in the current financial hard times I think Mr McNamara would be unlikely to return to Odsal even if he offered to pay £1m to the club for the privilege.

I can't see a still youngish bloke who hasn't yet got a massive amount of coaching experience being selected as 'director of rugby', or however that job is described.

What's needed is a been there, done that, got the T-shirt mature sort of guy who is maybe tired of the day to day pressure of being head coach but is an approachable person, to whom our rookie coach can go to when he's not too sure about things or maybe feels he could do with some reassurance. Haven't we all been there, some time after taking on extra responsibilities at work?

True, but the same could be said for the appointment of an international coach for a nation with aspirations to win a world cup.

Playing devil's advocate, if McNamara won the world cup, would all be forgotten?

After all, Brian McClennan managed good things with New Zealand before being appointed head coach at Leeds, yet he still lacked frontline coaching experience in the NRL or SL.

Who is fibbing?

Come on now FA. Your ridiculous predictions were a great source of hilarity. According to you we should have been looking down on the Catalans and Saints by now!

Why don't you take a long walk off a short pier?