My own tuppen'orth: I just don't think Gaskell is good enough to be the long term solution to Saints' #6 problem. Simple really. I got burned at the stake on the numpty forum for the heresy of daring to suggest such a thing when he was in most peoples' opinion the solution to all our ills 2 years ago, but it seems more and more are starting to see sense. He's shown flashes of potential and he has a good kicking game and a bit of size and pace, but his vision and decision making is consistently poor and showing no signs of getting any better, and he's not filled out enough to be a raw linebreaking physical threat instead of a creative one. And his defence sucks... He no longer has the "Unknown" factor that made him partially successful when he first came on the scene and has been mostly very disappointing (in his admittedly limited outings) since opposition defences have had notice of him. The fact that Hohaia probably is the better #6 option right now is all that needs to be said... He still has a future as a SL player no doubt about it given how starved the league is of talent, but that future is probably not at Saints and almost certainly not at #6 or #7.
If Wheeler could stay fit for more than 5 minutes in a row we wouldn't even be having this discussion and he'd be at Salford or Huddersfield right now... The major problem and the main reason we're all still clinging onto hopes for Gaskell is that if he doesn't make it then we need to find 2 new halves for next season with bugger all of the required quality available...