Donlan is the better fullback out of the two but is it fair on Mort to take him out of the team when he has had two good performances in a row. Quite a few people are suggesting that we play him on the wing, has he ever played in this position? I think his abilities are wasted if we play him on the wing, however, I wouldn't mind seeing him at 6.

Totally agree regarding Stanton, the guy constantly takes work off the forwards and is always looking for work by going into dummy half and if he gets into open field he will be hard to catch.

Stanton to 6 then.
Donlan must play FB, Mort to wing. Best players in most effective positions.

We have

1 young lad - coming on nicely at full back, has played occasionally on the wing, or at 6 or 9 at times in his junior career but came through our academy in recent years playing most regularly at FB. Bags of confidence despite taking a big step up to the first team, loads of pride in the shirt, good goalkicker & scored the matchwinner against Widnes. Not the finished article & still learning, but needs game time to improve.

1 SL player who wants to play FB. Well known to us as a FB playing in a distant previous spell with us. Has since played regularly in SL, but from what I've seen probably as often on the wing as at FB. Despite this experience hasn't broken any pots in the wings/centres in NL1 since returning, although that could be down to lack of service. Also re-signed for us as a captain but leaves all the on-field communication to other players.

We either persevere with our policy of giving young players their chance, and see the results in years to come, or we shuffle everybody about to try to get the best we think we can out of a SL signing that IMHO hasn't exactly set the world on fire so far.

Donlan may be more like the finished article at FB than Morty, but IMHO he was something of a luxury signing when we had already discovered Morty at FB and had other players like Alstead & Maden who could cover there if needed. We also more desperately needed quality in other positions. In our current squad built so much around young players he should be there to help players like Morty develop, not hinder them. I don't mind them switching occasionally if we're under a lot of pressure, or if Morty's form or confidence start to suffer, but generally in the interests of developing our young players this season Morty gets my vote at FB.

Great post which basicly says the money on Donlan was wasted because he is pants as a highly paid centre.
Who does our recruiting?

Would have hoped that Donlan would have perhaps taken Mort under his wing a little and educated the lad in the art of full-backery. Mort's positional play has been shocking on the last tackle and perhaps a bit of a lesson from Stuart would help him along!!

Exactly! Why pay so much money for our big signing and then stick him at centre were he is nowhere near as effective as he should be. I do rate Morty and he deserves a spot in the team but we have a class player in Donlan and he needs to be used in his best position. I would hope that Morty can fit in somewhere else.

Well my view is if we don,t get a decent stand off we have to use one of our squad.

We have choices Ridyard Marsh Stanton Higson Donlan or Mort.

Up to Neil Kelly of course.

Another thing if Watson is missing Saturday will we win ?

Nope

Well my view on the stand off birth is this. Given Sunday's performance from the current incumbert, young Riddy after scoring a commendable 4 try's in 5 games and after clinching Leigh the points at Sheffield must be feeling extremely unlucky to find himself dumped in the reserves.

Doesn't make any sense to me to pull him out after he'd scored points and won us the game in the last minute at Sheffield.

Only Neil Kelly can give us all the answers but some of his team selcetions recently (barring injuries) are a little strange for me.

Riddy was poor in the Batley game (granted he wasnt the only one) - nothing came from him and it would appear that he's been out of favour since.

I too think Ridyard should be re-instated at stand off, I personally think he has huge potential. The fullback issue reminds me of when Stuart Ferguson arrived at Leigh, he'd been a Union fullback and was a terrfic goalkicker and his handling of high kicks was outstanding however, Dave Eckersley was quicker with an all round better game than Stuart but he had to be in the team for his goalkicking ability. Hence his wing position when, Rod Tickle was the better winger but was excluded to accomodate Ferguson!
Donlan has simply got to play fullback, against Widnes and Barrow Mort was 'slow' to retrieve the ball and was consequently tackled over the try line forcing a drop out when, a quicker/more experienced fullback 'may' have cleared the line!

Also the way he dealt (or didn't deal) with the high balls against both Batley and Barrow was indicative of someone with no confidence in taking them. Yes his support play is good but if he is deemed to be at fault for as many as he scores then what is the point. We need a confident full back and an experienced (and good) half back.

If Sheffields new half back Groom is so good why didn't we go for him or similar, sorry but we should be able to afford to pay as much as any other team, bar Widnes to our players based purely on attendances.

Yes I take your point Dave - but if Ned is going to be consistent, by the same token Lee Marsh should not be stepping on the plane to France this weekend.

We are supposed to be building a team for the future. The young guys are understandably going to have off days as part of their learning process. Personally I would rather see Riddy have an off day and continue his development as a young stand off learning his trade above someone who already has more ex clubs than Tiger Woods, and will never even make it to a half decent 6. On Monday Marsh was what I would call poor... In every single department.

Word of the week

dont forget reay was reserve fullback centre at wigan

I agree, in some respects, Marshy I reckon would have to sit out the game on Saturday or only play from the bench - I still think he'd offer more at present than Tony Stewart, nothing against Tony, but its been an age since he gave a really big game - prove me wrong Tony!

Marsh isn't a 6 so why blame him he only plays were yorky boy picks him he's an out and out 13 full stop the blame lies firmly at the door of yorky boy not a player playing out of position.
And Tony Stewart who's he?

He was playing stand off when Shaw signed him and practically all of his games for us he has played there.

Off 2 London now flying tomorrow 6-35am.

Have to agree about Tony Stewart. It is nothing personal at all. He seems a nice chap, but his form does not seem to warrant a guaranteed place in your side. If he plays his way in on form and I hope he does, then fair enough but that is different to the current situation. The most worrying aspect for me, is that when fit, it almost seems definite that he will be selected. Surely, nobody is worthy of this luxury. IMO teams should be selected on form. It is something that really puzzles me about your team selection. I cannot understand why you do not select talented youngsters, such as Adam Rudd and John Cookson, especially over such a busy Easter programme. I am not saying that they should be automatic selections, but it seems to me, particularly with Adam Rudd, that half the entire squad could be injured and he would not get a game. This is very alarming. I always look at things in the following way. Who would I rather play against? Who would the opposition rather face? If you are honest and objective about selections, you will normally come up with the right formula. It is hard not to have favourites, but I think the best coaches always try to get their best players out on the pitch and try to go off form, rather than just selecting their favourite bloke. Being objective, which player would you rather be tackled by, Rudd or Stewart and which one of those two players do you believe would currently contribute more to the team? I too, hope Stewart proves everyone wrong. He has talent, but I am very puzzled as to why this does not show very often at this level. Against Barrow, when your players were tired after their previous matches, I am confused as to why you used Stewart as your bench player and when missing Hobson, did not opt to go with another prop eg.Cookson as your bench player. You have now played all the so called top teams in this league, except Halifax and to be frank, when I have seen you, you look no weaker than any of these sides. What does concern me a little however, is that certain players seem to be absolutely assured of spots, regardless of form, whereas other players seem unable to gain selection, no matter what they do. I have been reading about the difficult situation you have regarding Donlan and Mort. This is definitely a tricky one to solve. However, having watched you several times this season and last, I reckon your best twenty two players, in no particular order, are Higson, Hill, Donlan, Mort, Rudd, Morrison, Taylor, McConnell, Watson, Alstead, Maden,Thomas, Cunniffe, Hatton, Hobson, Meekin, Stanton, Marsh,Cookson, Durbin, Armistead and Haggerty. Obviously, you will have injuries, suspensions, loss of form to contend with during the season and the final 17 selected would have to take this into account. Also, putting these players into their best positions is a tricky task for your coach. However, I feel that if these twenty two or so were available, they are the players I would select from, but who would be a coach? Not an easy job at all.

Marsh not going France (looked to me on Sunday that he didn't want to be going either) Martyn is at 6

Oops! Sorry. Forgot about both Smiths and Ridyard. They too should come into contention.

Donlon still to prove himself a good purchase,Mort had shocking 2nd half,albeit he wasnt the only one.Marsh was obviously not fit & the number of players who gave the ball away on the zero to 3rd tackle (2nd half) was totally unacceptable.

He wasn't a 'purchase' he was a signing, we haven't 'purchased' a player in years.

Which 'age' was it, Iron or Stone!