Rankin rumoured to be leaving, Turner isn't a top 4 half back but can cover if desperate, Russell will be OK for a couple of games this year but certainly not a starter, Holmes unproven in SL and currently injured. Gaskell yes, but is also equally effective at full back, an area we are short in...

Indeed.

Drinkwater and Frawley as a half back partnership would be tasty.

If that happened I might even renew my season ticket!

full backs... mcintosh, grix, gaskell, rankin (still here!), senior, not that short

frawley and uate not enough to renew?

seeing and mcgillvary and uate on the wings be great!

Edited for accuracy !

And yet.....
Nathan Brown, Paul Anderson, Simon Woolford, John kear, Chris Chester all don’t agree with you. Rick stone mustn’t have thought much of him- but then Stone doesn’t appear to be that great a judge given his signings have mostly either been moved on or haven’t played much.

Out of our current options I think he'd be our best. Darnell and Senior further down the line, but for the here and now, he'd be a better option for me

Simon Woolford is stuck with him, he's on a huge contract and noone is prepared to pay him out of it. Do you really think he would have signed Gaskell himself? He is trying to make the best of a very bad business decision made prior to his arrival, that is all.

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