I've had a look and yes their are area's of merit for both player's although Shaul has only played eight to McDonnell's 19 so it's a guess as to where Shaul's figures would be had he played the same amount. Having said that I still believe Shaul gives us more going forward and I would be able to forgive his slight inexperience in some area's on the back of it.

Again I'm not a Shannon knocker and if Radders see's it different and starts with Shannon I'll not be complaining.

I went on averages because of the disparity in games. McDonnell has actually made more tackles than Shaul, but I still gave it to Shaul based on tackles per game. Likewise metres made. By the same reasoning, that's why I gave McDonnell penalties, errors, and missed tackles, because whilst he has actually committed more or equal in each category, he is noticeably in front in terms of per game.

Shaul's defensive positioning is pretty ropey and he was certainly weak against hudds but the kid has barely played any rugby in the last couple of years. Needs a good coach to improve his game

Yup. And with McDonnell likely to miss pre-season and the start of the season proper that gap may well close even further.

Stats have been discussed elsewhere now, and it turns out they aren't so difficult to find after all.



I see McDonnell as narrowly ahead overall, and the stats tend to back that up. Either works for me TBH, and Shaul is probably going to start the season there anyway due to Shannon's injury. He may well do enough during that period to tip the balance in his favour as first choice.

He better move clubs then

Whilst I have doubts about Radford as a coach, can I ask how you know for definant that Radford isn't a good coach?

Give it 6 months, I hope for all the world he proves me wrong, but I don't think he will.

So you are guessing then, thought so.

Maybe give the bloke a chance, before writing him off totally.

He has a chance, like I said, I'd be happy to be wrong.

If you are giving him a chance, don't go saying things like Shaul needs to move to work with a good coach then.

You are contradicting yourself.

I can give him a chance and have an opinion at the same time. Time will tell.

Out of interest, have you met Mr Radford?

Yes, but not sure what that has to do with his coaching ability.

Like I say, we shall see.

Shaul was a skirlaugh bull bricklayer, his 1st direct coach at hull was Radford.
He's now one of the biggest prospects in the country now. N still at hull due to Radford too cos gentle was ok with letting him go at 1point.

Agreed. I think he has a few parts of his game that still need a bit of work (one of which being positioning as Jake points out), but the bulk of them are things that could/should improve naturally the more he plays (his positioning is actually much better than when he first came in already IMO, and will hopefully continue that upward trend).

Releasing him makes little sense to me. Shaul will provide him with stiff competition but we can't go into the season with just one fullback. There is Horne too but, not sure how many games he will play and where Radford see's his role.

When McDonnell was fit, Shaul couldn't get a game (anywhere). Unless at least one of them can play in another position, then keeping both will be an expensive waste - I reckon Shaul will be on a reasonable wage now.

Having said that, if McDonnell's hamstring is as bad as first feared, he might struggle to regain full fitness/speed anyway.

Well he did, he had York. The Doncaster link up had to be better organised.

I'm not too concerned about his positioning because, as you say, that's improving already. His linking as an extra pivot and his passing need work. Mind you, our passing in general is poor so he's hardly alone there. If he continues to improve at the same rate he has already then McDonnell will need to be on top form to keep him out - which is a good thing for all concerned.

Yep, agree. His general ball-handling is my only concern. I think everything else will come together at least some with age/experience, but his passing needs extra work.

I think if their both fit to pick Shaul over McDonnell would be a mistake, Mcdonnell is by far the better FB, but that's to be expected because of his age and experience.

Shaul needs to be playing SL games because he's got everything going for him he just needs that experience to refine his game, maybe loaning him to another SL club is the answer with a recall clause to cover for injuries.

With a full SL season under his belt Shaul would be first choice FB for 2015.

Isn't this year McDonnells final year in his contract?? If so no need to resign him.

Yeah I think so, in which case it would work out perfectly.

Shaul should be ready by then and we can sign a cheap/young FB as back up.

If AP is intent on taking us forward with locality, passion and youth, then Shaul wears the number one jersey next year. He will only improve with a full year in the comp. Saying that, I do like Shannon and I thought he had a good year last season. Big call for Radders etc. to make.