Add Makinson in at wing, Walmsley as prop and Percival as centre instead of Jones, and that would be ok by me!

You mean you know that inside info

Gaskell to start against Wakey, with Hohaia on the bench as an interchange back/hooker, for me.

When Gaskell gets back in he got to take is chance like lomax as at full back one bonus Gaskell brings to the team is he is a very good goal kicker but he needs to improve lots of what he did he the first three games the lad needs to get more inviold and not get push out unless he be dropped again

It looks like Gaskell will play for Rochdale this weekend.

Just been reading the league express and notices Martyn Sadler saying Gaskell was shocking for Rochdale surely he should be standing out at that level or is it a case of him just can't be bothered playing at that level and just happy with whatever he get payed for playing for them

The treatment Lee Gaskell is getting at Saints is very poor imo. He should be a starting 6 ahead of Lance Hohaia every day of the week. Gaskell with a big run in the team will only improve and if we are not careful we could lose a potentially very good player.

You have taken what Sadler said completely out of context there. He suggested that Gaskell, like Richard Owen whose awful performance was on Premier Sports for all to see, was unhappy to be there and that playing for a Championship 1 side was, to those players, like a punishment. He also said that this was a very unwise use of the dual registration system.

And I agree with him wholeheartedly. Gaskell, like Owen, is bound to feel punished. Unlike Owen, Gaskell has played in a first grade grand final. To be unceremoniously stuck in a Championship 1 team when at the outset of the season his coach was saying he had a kicking game like Danny Brough is a terrible way to treat a player, particularly a young player.

I think of the 3 so far, Biscuit Wheeler is the best of a very average bunch.

Lance, Gaskell and Wheeler have not really put in an effort that would make me think, hmmm we must keep them in at 6.

If he gets another chance he will have to seize it on the day as he can't live off the back end of 2011. He's a pro player now so needs to show up, the next time he is picked.

I would have liked him to get 6 games, but Brown has now seen all 3 at half, at the moment all 3 could lose out to an academy player, a new recruit from another club or even to Wellens.

Why is all this going on?
Surely there's no long term future with/for Wilkin at 7?
Gaskell, IMO, is a talented lad who is suffering from a lack of first team rugby.
If he doesn't get selected he may well come to the conclusion his future may be better at another club.
There will be plenty better clubs than Rochdale after his signature, that's for sure.
You never know Wire might be after him. Briers ain't many years left in him. Ratchford isn't good enough at 6 which leaves them with O'Brien and Myler who basically are scrum halves.
The old saying "Use him or lose him" does seem appropriate.

It all depends who Saints can get, if we can't get anyone then it would be daft to outcast him.

If we get a Brough then Gaskell needs to prove his worth, but we should not assume that Gaskell is the only option,, even if he maybe the best option today.

I think Wilkin will stay as 7 for the rest of the year. So it's up to Gaskell, Lance or Wheeler to put their hand up and grab the 6 shirt, so far I'd say performances mean none of them are nailed on.

If they are not careful Brown could easily go to the academy and throw a 16 - 18 year old in. It would not shock me.

If Brown does not play Gaskell in the next 2 games then maybe Brown has arrived at the same conclusion of Rush last year that he is not good enough for first team selection. If Gaskell has seen the Rochdale game as a form of punishment and as a result has performed badly then there would be a question of his temperment and attitude.
Maybe he has mentally already committed himself to another club .

Oh get real. If he has seen it as a punishment maybe that is because he is discouraged and his confidence is shot. It may be nothing whatsoever to do with his temperament or attitude. It could be simply be a response to a truism: he is being discarded. If you are a young bloke who always wanted to play for his local team, and had been chosen as first number six to play in your home team's grand final and then suddenly, without warning, you find yourself cast aside twice, and for a player who isn't even as good as you in your position, it would be a fully human response to feel down about it and to find it difficult to lift yourself to play.

We have just been told about Brett Seymour at Hull FC, another halfback berated by fans and criticised by his coach, etc. He was suffering from depression and tried to kill himself with his car. Care needs to be taken, particularly with young and possibly impresisonable players, because it could be a young man's dreams and hopes that are being destroyed. It must be humiliating for him to have to turn out for Rochdale having once been trusted enough to play in a first grade grand final.

The fact that Gaskell has played in a Grand Final is completely irrelevant. Leroy Rivett played in a grand Final and scored four tries in Challenge Cup Final.
I've always thought Gaskell was a decent prospect, but when three or four coaches "don't fancy him" it does make you think.

The only problem I always had with him was that I didn't know what his best position was, even in the academy grades he was always being moved about.

Gaskell has two choices, sulk or go to Rochdale/Whitehaven and play his arris off to show his capabilities. Even if Saint don't want him other clubs will be looking at his character.

Don't exaggerate Rogues. Two out of three coaches do not like Gaskell, although how three games including a complete tonking is enough to judge anyone's capabilities is beyond me. Anyway one out of the three coaches (Simmons) kept faith with Gaskell. But then he was brought over in part because he was very good with young players and at the time Saints wanted to do stuff on the cheap.

At this moment in time I can't see lee getting a new deal and if he did he probalary wouldn't sign it so it will be interesting to see how he goes if he goes somewhere else next season I got a feeling he just might come back and haunt us for years

Well he won't be playing for Rochdale thats for sure, probably end up at Widnes, I seem to remember he had one of his better games there in 2011 I think, kicked the winning conversion from the touchline.

I think he already got an agreement in place for next season be interesting to see where he ends up

But one of those coaches (Rush) had worked with Gaskell from a very early age. He obviously didn't believe that Gaskell was ready for the job, much in the way that Noble and Maguire soon moved Ainscough out of Wigan despite some promising performances.
You have to realise that the coaches work with these players on a day to day basis and base their judgement on many different facets of their performance.
I've nothing against Gaskell at all, but as I've said previously I'm not sure what his best position is. I'd have him at Wigan but it wouldn't be at #6.

That's the point that I was going to make really.

He's had a whole pre-season to look at him and three league games, yet Brown obviosuly feels he isn't good enough, yet or ever. I doubt he would have dropped him otherwise. Wilkin is the best option at #7 currently, and I think the way Brown talked about Lance, he will be the option at #6.

I really doubt Gaskell will be here next season, and tbh if Brown and Rush (I'm sure they would have discussed this, given Rush has brought him through the youth system here) do not think he is worthy of his spot, then we just have to accept that. They know far more about the player in terms of his attitude and talent.

On another point, if he is sulking at Rochdale, or wherever, that isn't gerat. Look at Makinson who scored a hat-trick, that's how you try to get yourself back into the team. From an outside perspective, his attitude isn't great.

As I have stated previously, Gaskell would make a good , or if he could bulk up a bit, loose forward. He will never be good enough at stand off and if the club aren't prepared to try him in a new position then he may as well leave now. Sending him to Rochdale or Whitehaven every week won't do him or Saints any good at all. If he is being considered as cover then we may as well promote Yates and see how he goes. Yates may well be the future so lets see him!

Good post (Shocker lol) .

We all know how Brown feels about Hohaia at 6; he doesn't rate him there, so for him to be ahead of Gaskell alludes to the fact that there is either something going on behind the scenes that we don't know about (doubt it, it's not JFK), or that Brown, having seen Gaskell throughout pre-season, and in the opening games, doesn't think he is ready yet.

Sadly, I think Rush's treatment of him last season has all but ruined his Saints career. He needs a boost in the arm, and that can take longer than 3 games, especially when it comes to finding form. It could take him all season again to gel with a halfback partner, and find confidence and form. If his agent is hawking him around other clubs, then it makes it doubly hard for Saints to get him to sign a new deal.

I hope his Saints Career isnt ruined.

Still think he can make it at 6 or 13.

His situation reminds me of Kevin Brown at the pies.

There's 101 things it could be.
I've played with a guy who had the talent and trained well, but no one wanted him around the team because he was so negative, he brought the team spirit down.
I've also played with a guy who was one of the most talented individuals our squad had seen, but simply refused to listen to the coach on team drills and messed it all up for the rest of the team.

And, as you say, if he's the sort of character that is too busy sulking to do the job at Rochdale, he might not be all he's cracked up to be. That said, if Rochdale got completely whacked up front, it may hav been a case of him trying too hard.