League Weekly or Express says that we're favourite to sign him. Do you rate him?

He is really good. Do you need a full back though with Briscoe and Phelps there plus that young lad coming through? Jack Owens is it?

Slated by some of our fans before he had time to settle in and is now going about the business of making them look foolish. A class above Shaun Briscoe, much as I respect Shaun as a player.

Jack is a few years off yet. Phelps would move into the centres and unsure on Shaun. Hes a class player but this year has only featured in around 4 SL games. A quality player like Shannon would be welcome to the club. we'll see.

The RSG should pledge to keep Shannon here.

McDonnell really isn't a class above Briscoe, he has a long, long way to go before he can attain that level.

McDonnell has shown a rapid level of progression over the last four or five weeks.

He does chime into the line very well, has excellent pace and hits a ball in space competently, I've also been impressed with his ability to throw an accurate cut out pass both left and right.

However. His one on one defence is still suspect. He does not read the defensive line well, he's often out of position for any kicks over or through the line. I also do not think that his defensive calls are good, a quality full back marshall's his defence even when the opposition has the ball.

McDonnell has a lot of potential, but in my life time we've had three quality full backs, Fairbairn, Briscoe and Watson. (When he could be bothered). Mike Fletcher was a great club man, but not right up there.

As opposed to?

This is a myth. He has proven time and again his one on one defence and I would argue that his positioning is as good, if not better then Briscoe. Casing point been his "save" of a 40-20 attempt yesterday.

Yeah, that bit was rubbish. Cut me some some slack, I'm being forced to watch royal Edit-No need-AS.

Is Zara Philips on it, if so what channel?

We're into opinions here, I'm certainly not holding up Briscoe as the bastion of full backs but McDonnell really has not proven his one on one defence.

McDonnell has far more pace and he can therefore cover the line better, but his reading of the game is nothing in comparison to Briscoe. See Wellens as a very accomplished player who lacks a yard of pace.

For the record, if anyone watched Lockyer play full back in the early nineties, he nailed that much more than he ever did as an off half.

Correct.

Do these people actually attend all Rovers games particularly away? If they did they'd know McDonnell has saved 6 certain tries with his one on one defence.

McDonnell is the only player we have with real genuine pace, he can step off both feet and has an elusive running style only bettered by Tomkins in Super League. Yes he really is that good. His 'bat on' to help set up the winning derby try was quality, who else in our team would have done that? Nobody. So who will take his place, Sheriff?

The skills McDonnell has are pretty rare that's why teams will pay players like him a little more....except us apparently.

It is a crime that Rovers unearth such a talented player (that's the hard bit) and then let him go because we can't compete with Widnes or whoever.

If we are cutting our cloth fair enough then we need to prioritise. That means keeping your quality home growns, Taylor, Welham, Lovegrove, Watts, Cox etc but in truth most of the rest could be replaced at reasonable cost. The one's who probably couldn't be replaced and definitely not on the cheap are Dobson, Green and.....McDonnell.

The pivotal positions of 1, 6, 7, 9, 13. that's where you need quality and where you pay to get it if necessary. We are very lucky that we have class players in all those positions....and we have the cornerstone of a fine pack, the home grown/local players, Taylor, Josh Hodgson, Lovegrove, Cox, James Green.

And we have a brilliant 100% commited coach in Craig Sandercock who will be even more important to our long term well being if we are cutting our cloth and putting faith in youth. Honestly if I were Widnes I'd put a tempting offer his way he would be a million times better than Denis Betts and maybe we'd decide we couldn't afford him too.

We've got a good thing going at Rovers if only people would wake up and I include the board who are excellent at running a club but not so good at knowing a good player when they see one.

Numpties on this forum have rubbished McDonnell, Mika, Welham and worst of all Sandercock. Well they are entitled to an opinion but as I have said all season Rovers have the most talented exciting team we have had so far in Super League. We're starting to see it. We are close, very close, to breaking through to a level as good as anyone outside of Wigan & Warrington. But we cannot be letting our best players go to Widnes whatever the numpties say.

I regularly rubbish Welham, mainly because he's............ rubbish ( or, at best over-rated by many following the club). I guess that makes me a numpty. I might form a club.

In all fairness ur bobness I saw the u tube clips of Mcdonnell before he joined us and thought wow great, his attack play is very good and he's grt to watch if we could have briscos tackling ability and shannons attack ud prob ave one of the best full backs in the SL however now I really wish the board wud offer him
What he is worth and keep him at the club, in sandercock I think he will turn out to be a good signing as now we are starting to see what he is capable of, any team that can come back like we have the last few weeks shows the determination we have, let's just hope the board see sense and offer Mcdonnell more

I like welham and no its not cos he's Ginger or goes to Mecca bingo I think the last few weeks he has improved