Would be a bonus if he walked away IMO as we can use shaul and save a wedge of cap to use elsewhere. Doubt he's going though. Did he sign a 2 or 3 year deal?

Yes completely torn hamstring, the worst kind. Tendons off the bone the works

4-6 month recovery period

When Shaul was trying to break into the scene Radders made it clear that he thought he was a great prospect, there was a HDM article if you recall about him being too old for 19s etc..
I expect Shaul will be first choice next season and expect McDonnell to have parted company, did a great job for us however Shaul is the future & fits the bill of local talent...

Still need experience and Shannon is the better all round full-back.

I agree he needs more experience however I disagree Shannon is an all round better full-back, Shaul is one of the most exciting offensive off the cuff f/backs this country has seen since Tomkins imho. I think he will do even better next season after a full pre-season under his belt, it would be a tragic waste to leave him on the touch line to play an Aussie and my understanding is that is not what our club is about any-more, thankfully.

True, plus we need more than one specialised fullback in the squad.

What happens if we release McDonnell and then Shaul picks up an injury?

Shhhhhh...dont state the obvious but some will want a half-back and a utility player to play there,both can do a job there but we have a very good FB and a very good back-up FB.

Hardly any teams have 2 first team f/backs!

McDonnell is reported to be one of our top earners so why would the club pay him to sit on the touchline or indeed have a young talent like Shaul on the touch line. We need to spend in other areas and most certainly do not need to waste it here. We will do what other teams do if injury occurs and promote or utilise a utility player just like we do when we suffer a h/back injury or maybe we should go out and spend some cap on a 3rd h/back just in case of injury like.

When McDonnell is fit,he starts as he is the BETTER all round full back...all of a sudden,this pops up because Gentle has gone.Promote a utility player to h/back..who?..we had Whiting and Westerman there because others were injured and there are none coming through who are ready..we had 3 H/Backs at the start of the season in Seymour,Holdsworth abd Horne and 3 when we finished In Miller,Holdsworth and Horne so your qoute about spending cap on 3 h/backs is garbage as we have 3.

Not sure why you have put the word better in bold capitals as that will not make the people who disagree with you change their minds



I am a fan of McDonnell and was when he was at KR, however I am a bigger fan of Shaul and overall I think he offers more offensively in a team who is not the best in this area. Horne has played international rugby at F/back as he has winger so he is more than capable of cover as is Whiting who has won 2 MOM awards playing there, we also have U19s coming through all the time. Teams simply do not waste their cap paying 2 specialist f/backs for 1st team! We had 2 h/backs injured at the same time and used Heremeia who did a great job!

So if we release McDonnell and Shaul gets injured then either Whiting or Horne plays full back? What if either Holdsworth or Miller is injured at the same time as Shaul? What about the fact that Whiting is at his best as a forward coming off the bench?

We are not the best yet...Radford wants to rectify this but how is Shaul defensively....never really been tested yet,whereas McDonnell is sound in this department.I know the 2 you mentioned can cover but it wouldnt harm Shaul to go on the wing instead of Crookes or go out to Donny to really learn his trade.As for u-19s...who?...the 2 half-backs from this season are no where ready...the only u-19s who look ready are Starling and Hadley.Heremia did a job for us but the fact remains we have 3 specialist h/backs for 1st team...are we wasting our cap there?....personally,id get rid of Holdsworth.

We use Heremeia at h/back, young Cunningham is coming through so he could go 2nd hooker.

Be good to see how Cunningham goes...been tipped for a while but not made the breakthrough yet.

I disagree that he has not being tested, he played in some massive games and never let himself down, he did great at Craven Park which was a good test and did a beautiful chase down tackle the other week against Cats, he shoved a lot of the ball behind the post in the Catalans play-off however due to wet conditions and he was instructed to do this, he would have like to have run a few out but you have to do what your coach tells you to do. I think his positioning will improve with more game time. I agree with you regards h/backs we have the cover however we need more in the front row & I think we could do to utilise McDonnells wage in this area. Jury still out regards Holdsworth for me, I think he has shown glimpses of his talent (semi) but being very average on occasions, maybe he did not want to play for Gentle but we may see a different more consistent performance under Radders and if this is the case I would keep him for his kicking ability if nothing else.

More experienced yes. Better open to debate.

Agreed, hopefully he will get bloodied for our first team some point next season.

KR also have a good hooker coming through, Connor Robinson, we do well in this city producing hookers.

True...just think he is better defensively and in joining the line...Shaul supports better and is better in broken play.

I suppose a lot will go down to the style of player Radders wants to adopt, there is a lot of noise about improving offensive play so personally I suspect Shaul maybe first choice due to the fact like you say he is great in broken play, te off a stick! Shaul is doing well at defence & I am confident more time under Radders care he will improve even more in this area, very exciting player. The thought of him, Crooks & Lineham in the line up is very appealing imo

You would play Heremaia at half back so that Horne can play full back?

Will be 1 of the best in the league,pace and power...add in Arundle,the union bloke and Miller,then we have a bloody fast back-line.

As things presently stood yes if we lost Holdsworth or Miller, however I am not sure how close the U19s players are ready, also I suspect it depends on who the opposition is & whether we were going to be kicked to death, also would depend on what forwards we had available to see where Whiting fits in, my point is we have players who can cover positions and I suppose we could go on all week with what if certain players were injured.

Yep, I would like to see another addition to the front line, we have the potential to produce some exciting rugby!

Well quite, using players out of position when you have a well balanced squad is ridiculous.

We have cap space for another 1 or 2 players so i'm not sure what the point of weakening one position to "over" strengthen another one is.