He's frustrated by the lack of opportunities to play when he's been injured most of the season? Seems odd.

I agree. The piece is even careful to point out that Shaul himself has shown no signs of wanting to leave. The other thing is that we are far from the only team where he would be in the same boat. I don't honestly think there is a better side in SL where he'd be likely to command the fullback spot without injuries, so would it really be in his interests to take a step down as a permanent switch?

My thoughts exactly.

It does worry me, that we could allow this to happen if it did... It wouldnt happen at Wigan or Leeds I dont think thier youngsters seem to be happy to wait their turn and go out on loan, I'm sure Shaul could be number one on loan at one of the lower clubs in SL with the option to come back if Macca gets injured?

Need to find him a loan deal somewhere desperately. Who are the full backs at SL clubs?

Radford said he'd tried everyone from Salford to Oldham and Gateshead.

Most SL teams will have a utility player or kid of their own to play there even if the first choice is out. [iIn extremis[/i they'll then look at Wigan's or Leeds' kids most likely.

Radford was right that it is a problem.

The fullback you had on loan last year went to try is hand with a second tier Aussie club (Russell?), as did Louis Sheriffe from Rovers.

Tomkins
Grix
Hodgson/Ratchford
Hardaker
Webb/Escare
Kearney
Wellens/Lomax
Eden
Briscoe/Hanbury
Mathers
Dorn/Hurst
Tansey/Owen
Sneyd/Murphy

As I said, I don't see anywhere where his chances of a game are better than with us that isn't a backwards step long-term. For a season, maybe London or Salford would be his best chances (if Sneyd moves back into the halves). Widnes possibly an outside chance.

Recruitment needs to be strategic , joined up from junior development through to targeted "buy ins" from elsewhere and planned over a long period. If it's left to chance as it was under the previous regime this is the result. You get an imbalance between positions needed to be filled and players to fill them. That leads to half backs becoming hookers , full backs becoming off halves etc. It also leads to surpluses on occasions. The lack of planning in the past could mean more of this to come but ultimately you can't keep everyone. The thing we need to do is to produce enough youngsters so that we're not devastated when we lose one to someone else. Obviously you try to keep the best ones but when players are 18/19 it's difficult to tell. I'm sure this is what we're looking to do but there'll be casualties and at the moment it's difficult with our priority having to be to find a halfback and to create a team that will keep bums on seats through the time it takes to get player development and recruitment on track.

could he be meaning last season as well, when we brought in a Wigan youngster on loan rather than giving one of our own a chance and then signing McGoldrick

Only thing I'd say is that McDonnell was signed by the current regime, and the under 19s structure is new this year. Hard to blame this specific instance (assuming you're talking about Shaul) on the old board/coaching staff.

Not true, he went to try and play first team NRL, and is still hoping for the opportunity!

It was Russell we had on loan. He's now at the Gold Coast Titan's.

Was Shaul ready when McDonnell was signed? We don't know he's ready now. The point I was making is that the system is more important than individual instances or players. It's all made all the more difficult because of the Dual Reg scheme which in theory could work but in practice leaves players with nowhere to play.

I'm confused. I thought you were saying that recruitment should be done with an eye on the juniors coming through to avoid having players' route(s) to the first team blocked by signing players in positions we may already have covered? If you think this has happened to Shaul it's down to the current set up, if you don't then there isn't a problem. Either way, for all of the faults of the previous board I don't see how we can attribute this and/or any future similar cases to them as well. It is/will be down to those now in charge, or simply the unfortunate mess of the new U19s system (mainly the latter IMO). It's only really right to blame the old board for a lack of players coming through or any being blocked by players signed under them, IMO.

out of interest, why can't he go on dual registration to a different club than York?

rlC1 Only those Clubs with a signed partnership agreement which has been accepted by the RFL may dual register Players and only within that partnership. Clubs who are not in an official partnership may not dual register Players however may still loan Players.