If you are referring to Gaskell, then I think he is one of those players who matures a bit later. He's no Brough, but he has done okay and will improve.

I reckon with brough gone he will flourish.
He struggled with anxiety early on- brough screaming at him won’t have helped.

gaskell was one of the big improvers under woolford last season

A rugby league player who suffers from anxiety seems to be in the wrong job to me, we need people who thrive on pressure and challenge , not the opposite. In anycase, i doubt he is going anywhere because no other club is stupid enough to pay the wages he is on. I only saw that he played well once we had turned the corner and was not instrumental in making that change, but we will see how he goes at the start of the season this year. I will say what i have always said about Gaskell, if we were paying him the wages of a utility player capable of covering a number of areas i would be happy with his contributions. However, we are paying him to be a key halfback, and in that respect he is very bad value for money.

Absolutely understand your comment in relation to wages as I will always have a bee in my bonnet about gaskell and rankin replacing Connor, where we basically paid 4 times the salary for 2 players who werent quite at the same level.

However, with the current squad, I genuinely think gaskell is the best FB and half we have, and I agree with Jools that without the DB shackells he has the opportunity to flourish

so the pack is it good enough for 2019? can it stand up to the opposition..

ikahihifo
matagi
clough
english


other options are taai, lawrence, smith and walne (whatever is going on with him)

matagi should improve with a full pre season and hopefully ikahihifo can be the blockbuster we know he can be if wooldford hasnt upset him, clough will do what he always does and be solid, english should improve again too...might even have taai ahead of him... those 3 would take some handling!

interchanges are to go from 10 down to 8 next season so will have to be fitter, may not suit ikahihifo

Where's thorman

just having a break , still with the club

Good for him. Glad to hear he’s coming back to us soon.
He was a brand new Dad and instead of taking off time to be with his little boy and missus he worked his knackers off trying to turn us round. He now deserves some time with his family.

Is that the line the club is going with at the moment

It's not a 'line'. He lost a member of his family. I'm sure the last thing he wants to deal with is rumours