Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 1:52 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Fine. But what if we lose all those games while he's merrily learning the ropes? What if we're out of the play offs, the crowds are at 5,000 and all those bar you who are there are chanting 'Sack the board', 'Saddened! for president' and 'Boooooooo' all the time?

Jes, the glass is not just half empty for you is it. Sounds more like the glass has never even be made and the only water is poison.



Anyone would think Gaskell is the cause of all this, lets lay the issue where it truely lies. Poor coaching choices, Foster on the bench for entire matches, poor defensive structure and effort (again coach and players), Disruption (board, Union and eastmond). Lack of half back option (can't play pryce and wilkin, won't play Eastmond)

The most gaskell has done wrong are a few wayard kicks and passes. This is not something unusual to my eyes after watching long for the last 10 years. He is not that far off the mark and has been more or less our only creative force going forward, kicking pasing and running wise.

If Eastmond was doing half of what he could do and gaskell was our weak lin then fair enough, but thats not the case. Gaskell is having to cover both 6 and 7 positions. There is maybe just Lockyer who can do this and get an average success rate out of his underperforming team.

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:02 pm  

St pete wrote:

Saintsfan wrote: Er, so how exactly does Gaskell become ready, if not by actually playing? I always think this approach, adopted by some fans, is a bit of a dumb one to be honest. The only way an inexperienced player will 'be ready' to play at first grade is by playing at first grade, being given the chance to learn from his mistakes and build upon his strengths. The key to whether Gaskell will be successful at this level is whether he can learn from his mistakes or is buried by them. If it is the former then there is every reason to believe that we have a good little halfback in the making as he has shown some great touches so far. We wouldn't have had at least two of those tries against Quins, for instance, if it hadn't been for Gaskell. He has pace. He has potential with the boot. He has energy and commitment in defence and attack. He can pull off some lovely passes. He just needs to continue learning and slowly he will pull his game together. As he does that, he will be able to focus on the bigger picture rather than on getting his kicks right or what have you. But he has to have a chance to get that far first and the only way that will happen is by playing him.


I a ideal world Gaskell would have been selected in certain games that would be deemed of a easy nature to develop his progress. Young players are better to have the games hand picked so they ain't thrown in the deep end as things can easily crush young players confidence.

I'm not saying he's not good enough, I'm not saying he won't turn into good player and I'm not saying he's doing a bad job but what I am saying is he wouldn't get a look in if Leon was fit and Kyle saga wasn't on going, that says to me that the coach and club know he ain't ready yet!

If we went with your throw them in at the deep end method, then maybe we should just throw all the kids in. We have to be very carefull not to ruin his chances of becoming a good player by just playing because we have nobody else. With him being a halfback makes it harder as he's expected to run the show which tajes alot of confidence and experience.

Maybe we could get away with playing an inexperienced halfback if we had Pryce fit but that's not the case.

This sort of game tonight can make or break a young guys confidence if things don't go well.

Who would you suggest? Graham at half back?

We have who we have, and berating Gaskell cause Pryce and Wilkin are injured and Eastmond has given up does nothing but add pressure to the lad.

There is not a lorry load of quality half back with no club to play for who will play for free. He maybe 4th choice but he if that's where we are that is where we are. But he's doing a fine job as far as I'm concerned and is not that far off other halfbacks, but he needs a partner.

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:04 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Fine. But what if we lose all those games while he's merrily learning the ropes? What if we're out of the play offs, the crowds are at 5,000 and all those bar you who are there are chanting 'Sack the board', 'Saddened! for president' and 'Boooooooo' all the time?

Then that is how it goes. We have one crocked first choice halfback and one suspended, possibly never to be seen again. We have no option but to play Gaskell in the halves along with either Wheeler or Lomax (I'm favouring Wheeler because I think Lomax has been quite good at centre and Wheeler has the guile of the two). So if that means we have a totally naff season then that is how it has to be. However, since last week he topped the try assist charts in Superleague, I don't think Gaskell will be the cause of any naff season we might have. Our thinner squad in the face of extensive injuries plus a bad work ethic throughout the team may well be, but I very much doubt Gaskell will be.

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:23 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

Regardless of who Simmons prefers in the playmaking positions and in the absence (and likely future absence) of Pyrce a decision must be made NOW on which two players are going to lead the club forward till the end of the season. If it's Gaskell and Lomax, or Lomax and Wheeler, or Gaskell and Moore etc. play them and KEEP PLAYING THEM. It's bad enough that we are going to have to rely - long term - on second string players and kids. Let's not make things far worse by continually swapping and changing players week to week. I firmly believe that Lomax and Wheeler especially have had their development slowed because they are forever being moved about to accommodate others. If we give them a run of ten-or-so games in one position they'll improve far quicker.

I agree with this, they need a sustained period in their positions to develop as players, simple as

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:25 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

I agree with this, they need a sustained period in their positions to develop as players, simple as

Yup

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:27 pm  

No LMS tonight is a big loss

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:49 pm  

St pete wrote:

Think your missing the point mate. I'm not saying Gaskell ain't good enough, I'm saying he's not ready yet to be our 7 with no experienced halfback alongside him.

I think Gaskell has done pretty good since he came in to the first team but he's not ready yet.

Fair play, unfortunately, we don't really have any options now that Eastmond is suspended.
I think he'll look more comfortable when pryce is back, but the team as a whole need to be pulling their weight in the mean time, which I don't think they're doing.

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:37 pm  

So it looks like Gaskell is not as awful as people thought. Just needed a foil to take the pressure off. With Gaskell's kicking and Lomax's running the team looked alot more organised in attack.

Meli in the centre's. Hey Please let it continue.

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:41 pm  

Seems that he was having to do the job of two half backs.

Give him a talented, willing partner and he looks every bit a SL player.

Re: 19 Man Squad for Leeds : Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:41 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

So it looks like Gaskell is not as awful as people thought. .

Er excuse me. Some of us didn't ever think he WAS awful, if you remember!