Whatever people have down as weaknesses for Mathers, he has been missed IMO and the widely lauded Lee Smith has shown zero in comparison at Fullback once he had his opportunity to shine as a few had sooooo wished for.
Once Mathers is back at FB and Lee back in the centres (no doubt) the Mathers bashing will return but perhaps at least one FB option can be struck off the list.
Hopefull the next two games can see us get on a roll and pick up some vital points to aid our push for retaining the eight spot (or better) and we will all be too busy high fiving and back slapping each other to realise...

Why make it so confrontational.

Personally if Smith were better I'd have loved it, but he isn't and now we know. But two wrongs don't make a right and using this to over blow Mathers ability is just as silly as calling Mathers rubbish.

Truth is though Mathers is knocking on and has a history of injuries and we need an understudy.

I'd play Lee Smith at centre for the rest of the season once we have full back covered. Still think he's got a lot to offer and he needs to be settled in one position for us to get the best of him.

Be careful for what you wish, the defence will be even worse

Where have i done either?

Never said you did. Just saying it's not about liking or not liking Mathers - it's about the best player for the job.

At the moment he is the best we have but he isn't in my opinion one of the best around so I'd be happy to see other options.

I would hope that we would consider giving Danny Cowling a shot at centre whilst he is still our player - how likely is he to keep hanging around waiting for a chance??
For me he should be given a run in the team starting now, with Lee Smith at Stand Off (while Sykes is out injured) or on the bench as a utility player to come on.
If we just put Smith back in the centres when is Cowling ever going to get his chance???

If you look at our back 3 of Fox, Mather and Cockayne......each have skills that are a great advantage to our team. Each also has a hole in their skill set.
Cockayne is sometimes weak under high ball, Mathers can't do one on one tackles well and Fox was all over the place when he started with both high ball and defence

Saying that we have one of if not the best kick returning back three in the league (Leeds being probably better). We have two wingers in the top try scoring lists 6th (Fox) and 15th.
4th (BC) and 16th in metre gainers. Mathers was high but has dropped down the list after missing some games.
None is in the top 20 missed tackles
Mathers has 7 try assists, only behind Smith (icon_cool.gif and Collis (9) for us.

I think they are working well for us and have improved individually and as a unit under Agar.

If they had no flaws, they'd all be playing for England and not for us. What we have done is made the best of them.

How about Mathers at Stand off, he does come in to the line well and sets up tries and gives us other attacking options

No matter what I would leave Ben on the wing as he does a massive job there along with a much improved Fox

Mathers has to come back as our Full Back.
At the moment he's the best option we have in this position, which then leaves us with a conundrum on where to play Lee Smith. However, given the form of Reece Lyne, surely Smith should play centre. Job done.
Give Woody some more time at S/O and hope that ouf pack can give the back line time to play

id love to see cockayne at fb he likes to roam around in the middle anyway and would still be good getting us going forward from fb imo plus coming into the line off the back of tim smith he would be deadly. i no hes good on the wing but this could really benefit the team if given a chance

I also think it would be worth trying Mathers at six and Ben at full back.
Mathers has many attributes a good six should have.
Think his creativity could take the pressure off T. Smith and L. Smith can continue at centre where he looks most comfortable .
Ben could be devastating coming into the line on attack . A bonus here as he could combine this with his already excellent kick return game.
On the wing Mellars,Lynne ,Cowling?
Less pressure for either Lynne or Cowling there.
Remember Toppo started out on the wing to gain first team experience.

Times have changed since Topper's day.
The wing is one of the most important in the team in defence now. Fielding kicks and kick return is vital. You can't justs tick someone there cos they are a bit fast.
If Cockayne moved we would lose out on the trade.
6 Wood, 5 BC, 1 Mathers
is better than
6 Mathers, 5 Cowling, 1 BC
in my opinion, even though you may improve one of the individual positions.

If we buy the next Pat Richards, I'm ok with the move
And for me, I'd rather develop Cowling as a centre rather than a utility back.

Yep, I realise times have changed Pop Tart.
I am older.
You also cannot stick someone in the centre at superleague level who is vastly inexperienced.
I feel centre is more difficult to play than wing, even today.
My opinion.
I am not advocating making Cowling into a utility .
See him on the wing for a while to gain experience.
Surely he can catch,tackle,run the ball back with enthusiasm,and at the same time learn by being on the field with the likes of Collis and L.Smith.

dont be so negative victor ,youv got to say positive things about our hero ,il take the flack and say mathers is a liabilityn where ever he plays ,if he proves me wrong il say so ,but i think im safe

Your not very posistive on any of our players are you try scorer?

Just been reading latest posts from all threads.. and all i've seen is you dissing our players.?

not far of the truth though am i , if people need praise theyl get it ,sorry cant praise mediocrese dont know the spelling , write what i feel dosent please everyone sorry

Have they still got Black sheep beer on in the Mopsey?

il talk about rugby which il put my knowlege up against anybody, beer i know nowt about

Nobody is suggesting that Mathers is a world-beater; plenty are suggesting however that given our finances and squad, he's the best we have available. Also, that he has some strengths in his game, which can't be denied by anyone who understands the sport.

Why does your argument have to be expressed in such extremes?

ive said what ive had to say about mathers as afullback im sorry hes frightened to death my opinion, folk think hed be good at stand off because of his ability to link up playing 6 your on the front line, hope he gets picked there youl see his weakness if you dont il hold my hands up

I wish there was a block/ignore facility on this site as I'm finding a certain posters views tedium ad nauseum

eyupfinancial just looked it up in sun ,sickening , disgusting comon mate speak english talk rugby ,oh sorry you know nowt about it

Maybe Mathers looks so bad to some people is because our line defence gets undone regularly. Nobody seems to comment on Sam Tomkins one on one tackling, as he rarely has to do one. This could be something to do with the players in front of him. Tomkins can then concentrate on his attacking play, what Eddie and Stevo fall overthemselves to talk about. Smith has been disappointing at fullback, but he showed at Widnes, even though he made some mistakes, still had the quality put that behind him and score two tries.