Phelps wont be on a big salary unlike some others that are off contract, he does take up a quota spot although we already have 1 quota spot free. If Amos is injured next season, who will step up to the plate, is Vievers really SL quality?

Fullback is a very important position, if your fullback is dodgy your in trouble (mathers ) I think phelps has good utility value even when not playing at FB

Anyway he has at least 3 months to prove himself, there is nothing better to motivate a player than his livelyhood thats for sure

I really cant agree regards his distribution and linking. Phelps has thrown a few eye catching passes early in the season, but for me Roberts distribution is very much underrated. He too has thrown some cracking long passes, but he has also shown great ability with his short balls.

The "superior" distribution has often been used to defend Phelps, who is no mug, but I have to rate Roberts ability to link with his fellow backs and his distribution superior, would be interesting to compare try assists.

I think Phelps pre-injury was leading the way along with Lockers. Don't know how Amos did once he was at fullback but he must have had quite a few.

That cut out pass he threw out wide a few weeks ago for pat(?) i think would have had the phelps fans raving from the rooftops about it had it been from him.

If I've got my stats right, from fullback Phelps has 2 tries and 4 assists in 5 games, whereas Roberts has 7 tries and 7 assists in 7 games. It would suggest that Roberts is definitely more effective in terms of scoring and creating than Phelps is.

On the wing Roberts had 5 tries in 3 games, whilst Goulding has 9 tries and 1 assist in 7, so there isn't a huge amount of difference and both were scoring at more than a try per game.

As for fullback and wing together, with Phelps at FB and Roberts on the wing it's 7 tries, 4 assists in 3 games, and with Roberts at FB and Goulding on the wing it's 13 tries, 5 assists in 6 games.

I'd say that Roberts at fullback and Goulding on the wing works better, although if Phelps can rediscover his form before injury he should still be creating a fair few tries for our players,

We played our best rugby with Phelps at full back and Roberts on the wing at beginning of the season. Although I have to say that Phelps was attrocius on Saturday so unless he gets his act together before Roberts returns he could end up being dropped.

I would like to see Carmont miss a few games and play Goulding his his natural position of centre.

I agree with that, Phelps was awesome at the beginning of the year, I just hope he is over his niggling injuries now and can regain that form, he will need to in order to gain a new deal.

I wouldn't say that Phelps was "atrocious" against Sheffield, but he clearly wasn't playing anywhere near his best (although to be fair, who was?).

I'm sure I saw him retching in the Salford game the weeks before, so he's clearly nowhere near match fit.

Let's see what he's like in 3 or 4 weeks when (hopefully) Amos is back in the running (literally).

Phelps' passing is better than Amos' IMO, but that little reverse flick pass of Amos' is simply a joy to behold (and leads to a score more often than not).

I still truly believe that Phelps at FB, with Pat and Amos on the wings is best, with Gleeson and Carmont/Goulding in the centres (let's face it, George is knocking on a little, and picking up more and more knocks).

I will say one thing though - How good is it to have a GENUINE choice of quality Fullbacks?

Cam/Amos/Pat?

It's all a *very* long way from the days of Mr. Mathers

We only played one and half games with Phelps at full back, didn't he get injured in the first half against HKR and went off at half time ?, so, was that our best rugby ?, not, winning at Warrington, or away at Saints ?, 120 minutes of magic against a Crusaders side thrown together at short notice and a poor Rovers outfit, IMO we have played better since with Roberts at fullback.

I agree it's a strange statement to make. Phelps is a likeable character and so people seem to use this as a quality to back him up. The fact he was voted 'the most friendliest player' backs this up.

I don't think we've put together a true 80 minutes performance demonstrating what this team is capable of. It's been in small patches. Fortunately, that has been enough to win us games. Critics who say we have peaked are way off the mark. There is a reason MaGuire constantly mentioned in every interview that we need to keep on improving - it's because we really do!

get him partnered with Sam, way better half back partnership than Tommy and Sam

As other people have said on this topic, there are doubts about his tackling, playing at 6 he would have to make more tackles and could be 'targetted' by opposition coaches as a weak link (think back to Tim Smith).

Yet our coach (who many on here worship as the second coming) seems to think he is good enough or he wouldn't have been handed him the position in the first place, i just wonder if these people who keep bringing his tackling into the frame could even come close to making 1% of the tackles he has made, lets remember Fullback is the last line of defence and when it comes to the fullback having to make spectacular tackles it is usually down to one of our other players making a mistake, from what i have seen of Phelps this year before his injury, he looked very dangerous in attack one game inparticular was v KR at the start of the season, he was phenominal, throwing the ball all over the shop and causing damage whenever he had ball in hand, same can be said for the game against Crusaders a week earlier having created two trys and scoring one, defence can be worked on, skill your born with, and i reckon he has more skill and creativety than Tommy.

Lets judge the team selection in that position when both Phelps and Roberts are fit.

I do not think Phelps and Sam would work personally.

Phelps for me, needs a bit more space and room. He has a good rugby brain and eye to pick a gap which is why i think he initially went well at fullback, as a front line half I feel he lacks the space he requires to play to his strengths.

Personally I am happy with TL as our half, think he gets a lot of OTT criticism. Again he is not perfect, but give Phelps and TL time under MM and I feel TL has far more potential to come out the better half at the end of it.

But not as good as Lockers & Sam, and means two inexperienced players in the back line.