I'm in two minds about this rumour. If he does go to Fev then he goes down as yet another of our products we've lost and it rather questions whether we're seriously aspiring to do anything other than tread water in the championship. That's not a good look for the club if they want to keep or even attract supporters. On the other hand while he has improved a bit he still has some issues in his game and it's not worth breaking the bank to keep him if we can find a replacement or even if Brown or Sanderson can probably cover just as well.

Best of luck to him if he goes - he's been a steady performer for us for some years.

Unfortunately if we keep producing good juniors they are going to want more money and it’s not possible to keep them all. If Fev are offering more than we are prepared to do then so be it

When we're getting outbid by Fev it's a poor do.

Pure speculation but let’s say Fev have offered him £50k pa, would this then be a case of ‘outbid in this example is acceptable’ ie they are paying far more than he is worth?

To be fair Fev are probably the highest spenders in the league after Toulouse. Also we don't know what they've offered.

Like others have said, I like Pickersgill and would prefer to keep him, but he has a limit on what he's worth with his weaknesses. If Fev have offered silly money then it's right we've walked away or not tried and match it, particularly with us not knowing the central funding for next year.

Maybe has ambitions of playing in SL? If thats the case no matter what the money is, who is his best chance of that happening with?

As erstwhile Poachers of the cloth cutting world I am truly flummoxed at the size and quality of the Fev squad in this division. Do they have a minted backer?

I know they’ve exceed their target of 200 squad booster members and are heading towards 500 and with minimum payment of £10 pm per person this brings in a considerable amount

Not sure if Salford offered him a deal but they were definitely enquiring.

Where will he play at fev, Craig hall has atleast another season or 2 in him

Mark Campbell has put a lot of his own cash into Fev over the years, but the key in recent years has been improved income streams. Big sponsorship, Squad Builder, improved retail store, regular use of the clubhouse for functions (Covid permitting) etc. The club owns the ground and plenty of land around it, and instead of paying rent is actually making money from the ground and its facilities.

I think he's a decent player at Championship level but I wouldn't see him stepping up to SL

And Fev have certainly got ambitions in that direction. Seems a bit of strange signing to be honest

Fev use the clubhouse whatever the rules....don't they?

I don’t think he’s full time at the moment. So he’s a decent quality Championship player on P/T training. He’s deffo got more improvement in him if he was training F/T, just difficult to predict how much.

Our problem with our better academy products is they will want their best chance to get as good as they can, which generally needs a full time environment.

And let’s not forget other youngsters are out of contract too such as Scurr, poss Doyle, we will want to keep but can’t keep them all

Haha I walked into that one.

I realise it's a notional figure, but I don't think fev have had anyone near those numbers this century.
Jarrod Samut was asking for a less than that figure and we really wanted to sign him at the time. Weren't to be. I can live wi that.

I agree it’s just a figure, the point I was trying to make was to fans saying we shouldn’t be outbid when trying to retain our youngsters but everyone has to have a value

Not a big loss for me, like a previous comment has said, his one on one is poor.
A turnstile fullback as me dad used to say...!

I don't mean any disrespect to the lad but I am a bit bemused that Fev would want or need him. He's probably our level at the moment but no higher unless I'm missing something.

I think some are being a little harsh on Pickers here. He has come a long way from where he started with the Bulls and he is pretty solid under a high ball. I’ve not seen him put many down recently (queue him dropping a big one in the playoffs now….!)

Overall he is safe under the high ball, doesn’t often try to break the line on kick returns but looks for contact instead. Might be his choice or he’s coached to do so.

I think he backs up well and has decent attacking skills. Defensive one on ones is a weak point but it always looks worse for a fullback as he’s the last line of defence.

That said, if Fev are super league ready then I don’t think Pickers is the finished starting fullback they would want but for a top level championship side, he’d do just fine.

I agree he's come on a heck of a lot since 2017. If he could sort out his one on one defence he'd be the full package for this level. He's still a young player and given we have no obvious replacement I'd rather keep him.

Noticed he’s injured and his season is over but no confirmation of what had happened. Does anyone know why?

Kear said it was a severe back spasm

His season isn't over.

He's currently resting and John Kear remains confident he will be back for the playoffs.