Arguing with SainsFan is pretty pointless but some people enjoy it

Have to say that pretty well sums it up.

You continue to meet my expectations almost every time you post. You really are childish.

I don't jump on bandwagons; never have done. I don't think Gaskell has been treated fairly and when I suspect a lack of fair play, especially towards young people, then I get on my soap box about it. =#0000FF[i(Steady on)[/i

And school sports days have no losers. It would be splendid if all young people were successful, but that's not what happens in the real world. Gaskell has had his opportunities, and not done anything to impress. He will probably get another chance due to injuries, but he really is deinonychus in the last chance saloon before heading off to championship obscurity. That's life, I'm afraid.

They do in my world! I was always one of them!!

It's not a question of Gaskell being successful; it's a question - for me at any rate - of him not being given a fair chance to show whether he can be. He has been asked to play alongside an equally inexperienced and we can all now see an inappropriately played player without the benefits afforded to other young guys brought into the first team (especially at such an exposed position as halfback) of playing alongside someone with experience. Lomax was afforded that opportunity. I don't see why Gaskell shouldn't be. If he is given the chance to play beside Wilkin over the next few weeks and still he doesn't shine then fair enough, maybe he hasn't got it and so he should be let go. But I don't believe he has been given a fair chance to show us what he has and it could be to the detriment of the team long term if he is denied the chance.

Never a truer word said!!!!!!!!!

Brown might be looking at the lesser of the 2 evils. Im my opinion on this season alone Lance looks a better no 6 option than Gaskell at the moment.
If Gaskell gets his chance he needs to come up with a much improved performance than what he has offered so far this season regardless of the domination of the pack, for me he just isn,t good enough to transform us into a top team.

Takes one to know one!

but he has been given chances, and we dont know what he's like in training, but as he's not being picked its a safe assumption he's not been performing there either

i'd like to see him given some time with wilkin too.

Gaskell should be given the chance to play along side Wilkin and if he doesn't perform then it time to bin him off it would be nice to see how he goes along side someone with a lot my experience then what he as be playing with lomax was just as bad as Gaskell at the start of the season some might say worse but look at him now been more to full back and he been our best player ever since

Not with proper support he hasn't. He should be allowed to work alongside Wilkin who is experienced, who clearly is a good talker on the pitch and works at encouraging the young blokes, and who has some experience in the halves even though he doesn't consider himself to BE a half. At any other time Saints would do just that when blending in a halfback. They did it with Eastmond. They did it with Smith. They did it with Wheeler. Gaskell hasn't had that opportunity.

Exactly.

My own tuppen'orth: I just don't think Gaskell is good enough to be the long term solution to Saints' #6 problem. Simple really. I got burned at the stake on the numpty forum for the heresy of daring to suggest such a thing when he was in most peoples' opinion the solution to all our ills 2 years ago, but it seems more and more are starting to see sense. He's shown flashes of potential and he has a good kicking game and a bit of size and pace, but his vision and decision making is consistently poor and showing no signs of getting any better, and he's not filled out enough to be a raw linebreaking physical threat instead of a creative one. And his defence sucks... He no longer has the "Unknown" factor that made him partially successful when he first came on the scene and has been mostly very disappointing (in his admittedly limited outings) since opposition defences have had notice of him. The fact that Hohaia probably is the better #6 option right now is all that needs to be said... He still has a future as a SL player no doubt about it given how starved the league is of talent, but that future is probably not at Saints and almost certainly not at #6 or #7.

If Wheeler could stay fit for more than 5 minutes in a row we wouldn't even be having this discussion and he'd be at Salford or Huddersfield right now... The major problem and the main reason we're all still clinging onto hopes for Gaskell is that if he doesn't make it then we need to find 2 new halves for next season with bugger all of the required quality available...

That pretty much sums it up perfectly

I think that's all based on similar logic to mine, but with a really negetive veiw. I think I see more potential in him than you. Unless you're an undoubted superstar, you need a little luck to get your career started, and Gaskell just needs a litttle, it may just be a run in the team when they're playing quite well, it may just be a bounce of the ball from one of his kicks in a tough game. He'll make a SL player, no doubt, though. If he can't get his chance at Saints, there will be clubs that will be able to give him the chance to play first team and develop and it may be that he needs to move to make it work for him - much like Matty Smith had to do.

I don't think he's near Matty Smith in terms of skill, I was dismayed we let him go and it's good he's got in a top team (but why them!!!!). I think letting Matty go will come back on us, I'm really not convinced the same can be said for Lee.

Gaskell twice as good as smith lee won't need to drop down to a Salford to kick start is career he sign for a big club if he leaves saints

Really? I wasn't worried that wigan signed him. He's a proper scrum half, so will do a job, but I reckon he's as modest a player possible for a big club like that to accept, especially in a key position.

Gaskell has more physical attributes and talent than Matty, but Matty's undoubtedly the better player right now. I always said that, at the time, letting Smith go was the right decision. We had Pryce, Eastmond, Wheeler and Smith (plus Lomax bubbling under) and could afford to keep 3 of them - anybody at the time would have let Smith go from those 4. With the use of a time machine we'dve gladly let Warrington have Eastmond instead but at the time it was the right decision and **** happens. Smith is hardly a world-beater or match-winner, but he'd improve our team if we still had him and it's hard to see too many better options available at the moment...

And that's what it all comes back to. A huge player drain in the halfback position's. Whilst other clubs have been scrapping around for halfbacks we've been offloading them like there is no tomorrow and it has left us with a second row and a fullback in the half's.

I'll admit the Eastmond equation was difficult, but I still hold that it could have been hedged against. Lets not forget, we let Long and Smith both go, before Eastmond signed that 2 year deal. (not sure about Ellis) Even at that stage he was touted as holding out for the Union £.

Then come renewal time, we also had Pryce's contract due up.

If we ever get 2 halves back at the club, we need to be sure that we are not renewing both contracts in the same year. Losing one is unfortunate but the amount we have gone through is almost criminal in terms of talent drain.

Imagine this

Lomax FB
Smith 7
Leon 6
Gaskell centre or 13 or 6
Wheeler centre or 6

no need to buy Lance and some

tbh if I had a time machine Wheeler would be plying his trade elsewhere by now given his shocking injury record. Letting Smith and Longy both go with the 2 other halfbacks in the last year of there contracts was a poor move by the chairman as was signing an expensive fullback on a long term deal because he fancied playing 6.

The 2 big mistakes we made were letting Eastmond sign a short-term contract extension and offloading Pryce for Hohaia - the first one is maybe understandable in the circumstances and he'dve likely just sodded off to Warrington on a long deal if we'd pressed the issue which would have been the worst case scenario. In the current marketplace a player with Eastmond's ability is king sadly. But basically swapping Pryce for Hohaia gets loonier and loonier with each passing day. Maybe we simply couldn't compete with the raw £s on offer from Cats, but by the looks of things we never made an attempt to even try to...

You just don't know how to take a compliment do you.

I was agreeing with you, you know.

Apparently he's not in the squad for Salford.
I know we all have varying degrees of support for him, but this will leave most of us scratching our heads, i reckon.

I think that's the debate on Gaskell done!

Barring Brown repositioning Gaskell for some other position which will take time.

As a halfback that's pretty much an indication that he will not play half for Saints again.