Mathers' problem is that he rides the emotion roller coaster. If it's going well he is brilliant, and an asset to even the best teams. But if it's not going well, he's off form and the world is against him. I don't read too much into this, he should just be digging in to make a difference at his new club, not stewing over a previous club/coach

Be ashamed then because Warrington did that to Iestyn Harris.

It's a long time ago Sal, but from what I remember Harris refused to play fullback and was transfer listed. When he eventually went to Leeds, he started playing..........fullback! Mathers just didn't fit in with Millward's plans so he binned him.

I wonder if Mathers is a bit of a pest at training. A know it all, or someone who doesn't shut up, as such, distrupts the team ethos a coach would try and build. Millward would have his reasons for moving him on and effectivly banning him from training.

He's turning into a little bit of a journeyman, 6 clubs up to now

Mathers suffered as Smith wanted him to be like Hodgson (who he ended up signing anyway) and he wasn't quite up to the job in terms of core skills and vision but was a still a good player in his own right.

He had some great games for us at crucial times as well.

Coach in rating a player as not good enough, shocker.

Let's move on

For me the role of full back has changed greatly over the last few years. More and more teams are looking for an extra pivot rather than a traditional full back.

Mathers is very much an old school full back and not suited to the pivot role, I know he originally started as a potential stan off but he never grew into the role.

It's a shame really as he seems like a decent bloke and keeps himself in shape.

At the time he signed for us I still think it was a great deal as it gave us some stability in a troublesome position. Over his time he made the odd error but my main memory of him will always be the game he had against Leeds at Wembley.

I like Richie, the game at Wembley should have been MoM and if it was not for Briers long service and sheer excellence at Wire i would have been gutted for RM.

I would also credit our defence elevating to both TS and RM, always letting the lads know their position and where to go, top pro.

Millward though is the coach and if the coach doesn't think X player fits in he's within his rights not to play X player, feel for Richie but Millward is paid to make tough decisions for the benefit of the whole club.

I would think it was more a case of Millward deciding for whatever reason he didn't want Mathers at the club and was going to move him on elsewhere and didn't want him having knowledge of Castleford's plays at training. Remember he kicked off at Saints media officer for inviting Brian Carney down to do a video for Chris Joynt's testimonial or something, because he was paranoid Carney might have been spying on Saints at training and telling Wigan.

Rock bottom on the respect charts for a few people posting here. Millward is millward and at the end of the day we don't really know the ins and outs. But speaking as a guy that saw him every week for warrington, he was a great player and was generally an asset to the team. He did make howlers (like at wigan away in 2010) but he showed his best stuff for us and his performance at wembley (2 years on the bounce- don't forget he scored our first try at wembley for umpteen years) makes him a class wire. Any one who says 'oh but' doesn't know what they are talking about. There are no ifs or buts. He was a great wire. Don't wanna be sounding like a pie do you??

Are you for real?

He was an reasonable fullback, no more, no less. He played very well at Wembley 2010. THAT WAS HIS JOB.

....a class Wire... I could name you 50 more, who contributed a ton more, played better,



Let's not get over emotional over a half decent player, who left nearly 18 months ago.

Let's also not forget, Millward (hate him or loathe him) has an eye for a decent player. SLs and CCs show this.
Also, our own Messiah knew we could live without him.
If he was THAT good, Smith would've kept him