Not sure why you have put the word better in bold capitals as that will not make the people who disagree with you change their minds

I am a fan of McDonnell and was when he was at KR, however I am a bigger fan of Shaul and overall I think he offers more offensively in a team who is not the best in this area. Horne has played international rugby at F/back as he has winger so he is more than capable of cover as is Whiting who has won 2 MOM awards playing there, we also have U19s coming through all the time. Teams simply do not waste their cap paying 2 specialist f/backs for 1st team! We had 2 h/backs injured at the same time and used Heremeia who did a great job!

Yep, agree. His general ball-handling is my only concern. I think everything else will come together at least some with age/experience, but his passing needs extra work.

I think if their both fit to pick Shaul over McDonnell would be a mistake, Mcdonnell is by far the better FB, but that's to be expected because of his age and experience.

Shaul needs to be playing SL games because he's got everything going for him he just needs that experience to refine his game, maybe loaning him to another SL club is the answer with a recall clause to cover for injuries.

With a full SL season under his belt Shaul would be first choice FB for 2015.

Isn't this year McDonnells final year in his contract?? If so no need to resign him.

Yeah I think so, in which case it would work out perfectly.

Shaul should be ready by then and we can sign a cheap/young FB as back up.

If AP is intent on taking us forward with locality, passion and youth, then Shaul wears the number one jersey next year. He will only improve with a full year in the comp. Saying that, I do like Shannon and I thought he had a good year last season. Big call for Radders etc. to make.