Write underneath a short reminder to be less cynical about your fellow fans; you too Al.

I am trying.

Have to admit i'd hope Smith would of gone better at fullback than he has, so much so i'm looking forward to getting Mathers back and i never thought i'd say that. Mathers is decent, no better no worse, but what has been proved is he is the best option we have got at present by a long chalk.

Give you this much Mopsey, you're better than you used to be

But just to be clear, the one eyes man comment refers to Mathers being less than perfect but when all other options seem to be worse, he is still king

Not a dig at the one eyes fans......they pay their money and can dress as a pirate if they wish.

Whatever people have down as weaknesses for Mathers, he has been missed IMO and the widely lauded Lee Smith has shown zero in comparison at Fullback once he had his opportunity to shine as a few had sooooo wished for.
Once Mathers is back at FB and Lee back in the centres (no doubt) the Mathers bashing will return but perhaps at least one FB option can be struck off the list.
Hopefull the next two games can see us get on a roll and pick up some vital points to aid our push for retaining the eight spot (or better) and we will all be too busy high fiving and back slapping each other to realise...

Why make it so confrontational.

Personally if Smith were better I'd have loved it, but he isn't and now we know. But two wrongs don't make a right and using this to over blow Mathers ability is just as silly as calling Mathers rubbish.

Truth is though Mathers is knocking on and has a history of injuries and we need an understudy.

I'd play Lee Smith at centre for the rest of the season once we have full back covered. Still think he's got a lot to offer and he needs to be settled in one position for us to get the best of him.

Be careful for what you wish, the defence will be even worse

Where have i done either?

Never said you did. Just saying it's not about liking or not liking Mathers - it's about the best player for the job.

At the moment he is the best we have but he isn't in my opinion one of the best around so I'd be happy to see other options.

I would hope that we would consider giving Danny Cowling a shot at centre whilst he is still our player - how likely is he to keep hanging around waiting for a chance??
For me he should be given a run in the team starting now, with Lee Smith at Stand Off (while Sykes is out injured) or on the bench as a utility player to come on.
If we just put Smith back in the centres when is Cowling ever going to get his chance???

If you look at our back 3 of Fox, Mather and Cockayne......each have skills that are a great advantage to our team. Each also has a hole in their skill set.
Cockayne is sometimes weak under high ball, Mathers can't do one on one tackles well and Fox was all over the place when he started with both high ball and defence

Saying that we have one of if not the best kick returning back three in the league (Leeds being probably better). We have two wingers in the top try scoring lists 6th (Fox) and 15th.
4th (BC) and 16th in metre gainers. Mathers was high but has dropped down the list after missing some games.
None is in the top 20 missed tackles
Mathers has 7 try assists, only behind Smith (icon_cool.gif and Collis (9) for us.

I think they are working well for us and have improved individually and as a unit under Agar.

If they had no flaws, they'd all be playing for England and not for us. What we have done is made the best of them.

How about Mathers at Stand off, he does come in to the line well and sets up tries and gives us other attacking options No matter what I would leave Ben on the wing as he does a massive job there along with a much improved Fox