Niklas is gash and may well be on his way out due to Twittergate. Not so surprising he didn't play.

Saul is less straightforward. Unless Shannon not playing was a very late decision it's difficult to see why he wasn't given a crack.

There could be valid reasons as a one-off. If it develops into a pattern over time then it will be a cause for concern. Given that we played a lot of youngsters last season I'm hopeful that we haven't changed that policy.

Crikey, that was a while ago then!

Have to say I didnt travel to London but am bemused at Gentles decision to play Briscoe at Fullback when he was an absolute disaster last time this was tried.

If Gentle wasn't prepared to play Shaul or didnt think he was ready in those conditions then why did he not just play Whiting at FB who is solid and reliable and has covered that position well for us on numerous occasions.

Nicklas should also have been utilised as thats why he is in the squad of players to cover when others are injured so Gentle doesnt have to in his own words 'use square pegs in round holes' particlularly when both Seymour & Holdsworth are unavailable.

I must admit I am wondering now if we really have moved forward under Gentle or whether the team has actually flattered to decieve as some of the comments coming from the head coach are very similar to our ex coach such the one in particular that is grating is 'we are going well in training but not putting in what we do at training on game day'.

I know we yet again have injuries but even so we look a miles off the pace most of the time and just dont seem to be able to find any sort of form.

Whiting should have played FB as others have said.

PG is under a lot of pressure (rightfully) so he was never going to play Jamie Shaul or Danny Nicklas against london, though I agree they should have played but so should have Green and seeing him dropped whilst the likes of Galea play sums this coach up for me.

Are people [ireally[/i forgetting just how gash Niklas has been virtually every single time he's been tried?

And that's without even considering the calls for him to be disciplined/sacked following his Twitter shenanigans.

Think in this case we are being a little unfair.

In a year and a bit, Gentle has brought through Crooks, Green, Lineham and Bowden into first team players. All have played multiple games, not just 10 mins at the end of the odd game. This is clearly different to Agar when in his final year not a single young player got a debut in Super League, not even for 10 minutes!

He had 3 good wingers and no full back who has played first team, it doesn't look brilliant with hindsight but could have been a reasonable idea at the time. Briscoe actually looked promising at full back in one game (Catalans?) last year and then appalling at Widnes - along with the rest of the team.

Nicklas is not good enough, the suprising thing is we extended his contract.

We thought we'd cover our @rses just in case our 6 & 7 weren't able to make it onto the park................................................................................................................................................................

Been approached by countless SL clubs whilst out at York apparently.

I agree with others it is surprising why we would keep this type of player on our books. Maybe it's in the hope they will develop late or something.

cant argue with that

Apart from Shaul, Gentle has used a youngster at times, may be just a case of not having too many in together, our backline is hardly an old experienced one.

Personally i would have put Jason Crookes there, im sure hes covered that position before


As for Shaul, although hes got a squad number he may not be registered in the first team squad, so could be a case that it was too late to get the paperwork in, or even may effect salary cap etc

No but then why resign him if we have no intention of playing him when he was resigned for precisely this scenario to fill the void should we lose one or more of Horne, Holdsworth & Seymour.

Just in case Azza, Westy and Stilts also get injured.

Maybe they thought they'd give Nicklas one last chance to progress, but he hasn't.

Maybe his attitude hasn't been good enough.

Shaul has only been full time a few months, maybe they thought he wasn't ready, not least in awful conditions in a struggling side with outside backs already lacking experience.

Has Shaul been playing regularly for York though? I can't remember seeing his name on the team sheet much and he didn't play the weekend before the London game. Nicklas got an awful rating in the report from the local rag as well. So perhaps PG didn't have as much choice as some people seem to think.