I meant he needs an experienced fullback in front of him still to learn off. I like Pickersgill. Year below me in school and know him, but the only issue I have is that in this league I can see us conceding more line breaks than last season and I don't think he has the pace to chase them down or the positional sense to make the attacker think. Brett Kearney didn't have a lot of pace but he could put himself in a position to make a tackle one on one or at least put himself in a good position to give him a chance. I think that's what Pickersgill needs to do and if that means another year under someone good then so be it as it will benefit him in the long run. I still think he'll get quite a bit of gametime though. And any experience at this level is a good think.

How is it throwing him in the deep end when he played the majority of last season?

Also you keep banging on about his defence but a fullback shouldn't even be needing to make 1 on 1 tackles. If he does then something has already gone wrong with our defensive setup.

I might be tempted to have a gamble and go for jack walker or ashall bot, well it is Xmas after all lol

What a crock of sh*t. Couldn't disagree more and completely disrespectful to Pickersgill.
And yes the opposition is different but the processes are the same. He's had plenty of first team experience playing at fullback, organising the defensive line and growing as a player.
Let's also not forget that he did all of that last season while he was part time. Pickersgill is now a full time player and will only benefit from the change.

Don't agree with this Pickersrgill bashing. What a season he had last year. Even if McNally was fit/undistracted/whatever, BP is banging on the door. The only things that suffers with losing McNally is competition/cover.

I'd hope that we'd be able to bring somebody in at short notice but if worse comes to worse and we can't, I don't think it devastates us like a Crossley/Webster would.

Not bashing him. Thought he had a really good season and was one of the surprises to come out of the pre-season games. I just think he needs another year under someone good to help develop more. I'd have more confidence in a McNally/Moss as the starter with Pickersgill coming in. Either way I still believe we need another FB as we can't go into the season with just Pickersgill and Stephenson. One injury and we are done in that department.

I agree regarding Pickersgill getting first opportunity for FB. I wouldn’t rush out to spend the funds freed up unless they would genuinely improve the squad. I’d expect Kear to leave a little bit left in the pot anyway as players always become available unexpectedly part way through the season.

The rumours of McNally leaving have been around for sometime however, which makes you wonder if we are looking at another signing to announce around the same time as a departure.

Hardly, we can simply move Hitchcox or Ryan into the Full Back slot, and bring in Evans, Grant, Foggin-Johnson etc on the wing.

Hitchcox at fullback, Evans and Ryan on the wings, Gibson & Webster in the centres. Plenty of experience and quality.

I couldn't comment on Pickersgill as I've only seen him play once or twice, but even without him that's still a strong backline and with backup of Oakes, Grant & DFJ.

I tend to agree that McNally would be a loss if he could get back to form, but if this illness is as bad as is being suggested, the club should do the right thing and release him to be closer to his family (assuming that's what he wants). And not be demanding transfer fees either as someone suggested. Sometimes doing the right thing by someone is more important than other factors.

The length of time the rumours have been around are what makes me doubt them. Although I don't have any "in the know" friends, I question the logic of handing out the number 1 shirt to player that was highly likely to be leaving soon. You'd just hang on with announcing the numbers until it was sorted out one way or the other.

I think he's more than capable of excelling a n this league. With or without a mentor. Defo competition would help however.

I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised when you see who is coming in to replace McNally

If you can just get Evan's a game or two anywhere on the trot then you will be doing considerably well.