Good call regarding RTS and Mini. RTS has been great on the wing, well blooded there this season. He slotted in to FB when Mini was injured and did a solid job. Rumor was Mini to Wigan at 1 point this season, but as thats not going to happen, will be interesting to see who get the No 1 shirt next year.

As good as Shaul is, he isnt the finished article, but should be at FB when Shannon is injured.

Your entitled to your opinion but its not one I share totally and I think you may struggle to find the stats to back it up too.

I do agree that it's great to have such a dilema and I would be happy either way.

All depends which stats you want to prioritise, TBH.

Shaul comes out best in tries scored, metres made, tackles made, offloads, and average runs from dummy half.

On the other hand, McDonnell comes out best in try assists, tackle busts, clean breaks, missed tackles (and tackle completion), errors, and penalties conceded.

So in terms of sheer number of categories, McDonnell is in front, but then it depends upon how you want to look at and value any given stat. My personal view is that McDonnell is still the better player, but it's not a huge gap any more.

This

If McDonnell is not going to be fit for the start of the season then Shaul has the opportunity to secure the FB slot and keep it by performing week in week out plus McDonnell will have to earn his place once fit too.

It will help Shaul to have McDonnell in the squad to help improve his game as like Carl has said its no longer a huge gap between the two and that in itself is down to experience.

I would think though is Shaul progresses at the same rate next as he has this year then I can not see the club extending McDonnells stay.

To be fair to him I did think up until McDonnell got injured he was one of the better and consistent performers in the squad but thats life in pro sport theres always a chance you may fall way down the pecking order after a long lay off and rightly so. It can only be a good thing for us tbh having genuine competition for the FB role as no matter who is in the 17 knows they will have to perform every week or lose their spot.

Shaul looks good, but I think are getting caught up with a couple of great try's he as scored.

In both play off games Shaul made a coupe of errors, which had McDonnell made them, there would have been a big thread about it.

Shaul has work to do, certainly catching and link up play, but looks a real prospect.

Good position to be in, having 2 good FB's.

I've had a look and yes their are area's of merit for both player's although Shaul has only played eight to McDonnell's 19 so it's a guess as to where Shaul's figures would be had he played the same amount. Having said that I still believe Shaul gives us more going forward and I would be able to forgive his slight inexperience in some area's on the back of it.

Again I'm not a Shannon knocker and if Radders see's it different and starts with Shannon I'll not be complaining.

I went on averages because of the disparity in games. McDonnell has actually made more tackles than Shaul, but I still gave it to Shaul based on tackles per game. Likewise metres made. By the same reasoning, that's why I gave McDonnell penalties, errors, and missed tackles, because whilst he has actually committed more or equal in each category, he is noticeably in front in terms of per game.

Shaul's defensive positioning is pretty ropey and he was certainly weak against hudds but the kid has barely played any rugby in the last couple of years. Needs a good coach to improve his game

Yup. And with McDonnell likely to miss pre-season and the start of the season proper that gap may well close even further.

Stats have been discussed elsewhere now, and it turns out they aren't so difficult to find after all.

I see McDonnell as narrowly ahead overall, and the stats tend to back that up. Either works for me TBH, and Shaul is probably going to start the season there anyway due to Shannon's injury. He may well do enough during that period to tip the balance in his favour as first choice.

He better move clubs then

Whilst I have doubts about Radford as a coach, can I ask how you know for definant that Radford isn't a good coach?

Give it 6 months, I hope for all the world he proves me wrong, but I don't think he will.

So you are guessing then, thought so.

Maybe give the bloke a chance, before writing him off totally.

He has a chance, like I said, I'd be happy to be wrong.