Think with Richie you need to look at the good things he offers us such as good go forward, looks to always be pretty vocal organising the team on the field, seems pretty passionate and is also a good professional. Yes he has his question marks defensively and guilty of the odd blunder/brain fart, but we could do a lot worse.

Think he's done alright for us and would like to keep him if possible, can't see many better options coming our way any time soon.

best fullback we`ve had since gary spencer

Andrew Leeds, Column Halfpence?

You could forge an arguement for Matt Blaymire as well.

Suppose its as my Dad says he can be good or bad not much of the in between and as he says there is just not the amount of class full backs about now.He says at one time if a full back couldn't catch a ball he would not last long but at the same time in that era he wasn't expected to be the best in attack where as now the full back is looked on for his attack than out and out defence.If we compare full backs and goalkeepers than Mathers reminds me of Sprake he can let the easiest of things beat him then pull something outstanding off.

I'd take Mathers over Blaymire every time.

I think this says as much about playing full back, as it does about the players involved.
Blaymire was solid under the high ball and resolute in defence, the criticism aimed at him, was his perceived
inability to get past the opposition with ball in hand.
Ironically, the opposite to what many say about Mathers.

If Mathers does go which I dont think will be the case, who are we going to be able to get who is better? I cant think of many if any who are available and would come.

I am not a massive fan of Mathers, he frustrates me at times but I think he is a decent SL FB and is ok for us with the situation we are currently in and I would take over the likes of Eden who cant defend for toffee.

It's become an interesting thread to read ha this and has not gone as i expected it to.
The anti Mathers lynch mob seems to have evaporated some what.
On what i have seen so far, he is better than the FB at Hull KR, Catalan and Wigan and thats after four rounds.
Maybe he's actually better than some think?
IF the rumour turns out to be true, perhaps supporters might not be as happy as once expected? depending on his replacement?

An attacking fullback is nothing new.
It was rather innovative in the late fifties, becoming more and more fashionanle throughout the sixties with such as Gerry Round,Edwards at Cas, Coslett and Rhodes at Saints, Bev Risman at Leeds and the ultimate attacking fullback Gary Cooper.
The latter was prone to defensive lapses but boy, he was exciting to watch.
Since that era I can think of Les Sheard, Geoff Wraith,John Holmes when playing full back for Leeds,Harold Box ,John Woods at Leigh and more recently Radlinski.
No nothing new.

Spot on especially regarding cooper!

I for one am one of the posters that does not rate Mathers, and would love to see Jowitt slowly introduced this year as a replacement for him. Although there is a fine line between not rating a player in which I do not in Mathers, and lambasting every inch of his game because any player has decent qualities, even Mathers.

Jacques - I know an attacking full back is nothing new but my dads in his 80s so goes back a long way.You know what its like "when I wer a lad" with the oldies lol

Gary Cooper was a fantastic attacking player but as you say was prone to the odd defensive lapse which resulted in name calling back then so nothing new. His attack more than made up for those defensive lapses.

I'm not saying Mathers is in the same class as Gary Cooper but I feel his positive contributions out weigh his negatives and overall I'm happy with him at full back and hope the rumour is not true.

Never been a Mathers fan as he simply isn't the top class player he's sometimes touted as - but I thought he had his best ever SL season last year, cutting out most of his trade mark unforced blunders (his biggest weakness) - though his tackling remained limp at times. If he can recapture that level of consistency I'd be happy enough for now.