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2023 Squad


marklaspalmas

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9 minutes ago, gittinsfan said:

According to Callum Walker,you have signed Caleb Aekins from Leigh.

Callum Walker's sitting in his bedroom looking at the Fev Twitter page...

Interesting decision to sign Aekins as we already have Pickersgill and Kheirallah (when he's fit again) at full back but I guess if a quality player becomes available you sign him and there's no doubt he's a very good player. Interesting to see what the pecking order is for the number 1 shirt.

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"He adds further depth to Sean Long’s side which boasts an already impressive backline including Mark Kheirallah, Brandon Pickersgill, Craig Hall and Chris Hankinson." 

I guess that answers the question as to whether Pickersgill is signed up for 2023.

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57 minutes ago, POR said:

Interesting conundrum with the signing of Caleb A an out and out fullback on a two-year deal I wonder if Mark K having a runout in the halves alongside his big mate Fordy is something under consideration

Just what I thought 

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Well done to the club for bringing in another quality player. The continued ambition is great to see and I get the argument that there aren’t many quality players out there so you have to get them when you can. I just think this creates an imbalance in the backs and I’m not a fan of trying players in another position because we have too many in one position. Agree recruitment must be nearly done now but I’d still like to see us get one more big impact middle who can come off the bench and cause some damage then we’d be looking very strong.

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Im must admit I'm slightly mystified by this Mark Kheirallah as half-back thing.

He's played 146 games for Toulouse, Fev anf France. 145 of those games have been at full-back. When was he a halfback??

He's 33, coming back from a terrible knee injury, and now he can be a halfback?

Aekins is touted as a utility back too but played every single game at FB last year.

Pickersgill is also an out-and-out fullback for mine.

 

 

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28 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Im must admit I'm slightly mystified by this Mark Kheirallah as half-back thing.

He's played 146 games for Toulouse, Fev anf France. 145 of those games have been at full-back. When was he a halfback??

He's 33, coming back from a terrible knee injury, and now he can be a halfback?

Aekins is touted as a utility back too but played every single game at FB last year.

Pickersgill is also an out-and-out fullback for mine.

 

 

Yeah, I guess I can see a possible experiemnt or two, but there's little doubt all 3 have shown their best form at full back.

For me, the most positive way of looking at the Aekins signing is that he's probably a better player overall than Pickersgill, not that Pickersgill is a mug by any means, and at this stage we don't know for sure when or in what shape Kheirallah will return.

Not our biggest area of need by any means, but still a move that has probably improved us overall, so if we can afford it then why not.

Looking at the squad, whilst we could always do with another impact middle, I don't think there is any area where we don't have reasonable cover barring a rash of injuries given the versailtity of so many players in the squad. Looking at positions where players could cover:

Full back: Aekins, Pickersgill, Kheirallah, Hall
Wing: Briscoe, Hall, Gale, Hankinson
Centre: Leliua, Hankinson, Hall, Hardcastle
Halves: Ford, Lacans, Dean
Middles: Kopczak, Taylor, Moors, Bussey, Springer, Cozza, Lockwood, Cooper, Davies, Hepi, Fleming
Edge back rows: Davies, Day, Hardcastle, Taylor, Bussey, Moors
Hookers: Wildie, Jones, Lacans

So what I'm suggesting is maybe we can afford to carry 3 specialist full backs because we have so many other players who can play multiple positions.

 

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1 hour ago, marklaspalmas said:

Im must admit I'm slightly mystified by this Mark Kheirallah as half-back thing.

He's played 146 games for Toulouse, Fev anf France. 145 of those games have been at full-back. When was he a halfback??

He's 33, coming back from a terrible knee injury, and now he can be a halfback?

Aekins is touted as a utility back too but played every single game at FB last year.

Pickersgill is also an out-and-out fullback for mine.

 

 

Agree with that.How far is Kheirallah from fitness?,at the time is said it could be 9 months + and as this season is the last on his contract Aekins would provide cover going forward after this season.Pickersgill has not really had a run of games to prove himself as Mac did not fancy him.He provides cover at full back and i think he could also cover the wing spot a bit like Broadbent last season.

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It makes me laugh when people think a good fullback can't become a good half back if they've got good hands good feet and pace the change should not be a problem the only downside could be a lack of a kicking game but I'm sure Sean who I think may know a little bit about playing in the halves will come up with the right choice

Funny thing when it comes to killer partnering Fordy in the halves someone said 

 We have a connection that's hard to find, where we barely have to talk on the field, we both just know what the other one is thinking. It really is something special." 

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1 hour ago, POR said:

It makes me laugh when people think a good fullback can't become a good half back if they've got good hands good feet and pace the change should not be a problem the only downside could be a lack of a kicking game but I'm sure Sean who I think may know a little bit about playing in the halves will come up with the right choice

Funny thing when it comes to killer partnering Fordy in the halves someone said 

 We have a connection that's hard to find, where we barely have to talk on the field, we both just know what the other one is thinking. It really is something special." 

In my opinion there's a lot more to playing half back than having good hands, good feet and pace . Much more important I reckon are understanding how to set up opponents, how to create openings, how to draw opponents away from where you want the ball to go, as well as the ability to read the game when selecting the plays and make the right judgement call in terms of which pass to deliver.

That said, Kheirallah is a smart player who does read the game well and it wouldn't totally surprise me if he could prove effective at half back, but I think the concept of "partnering Ford in the halves" is a bit redundant, in the modern game the two halves spend most of their time 30+ yards apart from each other and only link up very occasionally, whereas it's much easier for a full back to link up with a half back.

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Can we finish off a thread from last year ?

Who is the best player ? Kheirallah or Aekins ?   LOL !!

In all seriousness, yore squad is better than Toulouse. Probably lacks 2 big grunts, but your back line is fine. Caleb is a corker of a player who is very, very quick.

I fancied him playing at 6 a few times because he can spin out some lovely passes, but Kheirallah can play HB and has interchanged for Toulouse there many times, even though lining up as FB. 

I will watch the Championship with interest next year as it might be your year, even with 'Loopy Lou' in charge !

 

Good luck.

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7 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Yeah, I guess I can see a possible experiemnt or two, but there's little doubt all 3 have shown their best form at full back.

For me, the most positive way of looking at the Aekins signing is that he's probably a better player overall than Pickersgill, not that Pickersgill is a mug by any means, and at this stage we don't know for sure when or in what shape Kheirallah will return.

Not our biggest area of need by any means, but still a move that has probably improved us overall, so if we can afford it then why not.

Looking at the squad, whilst we could always do with another impact middle, I don't think there is any area where we don't have reasonable cover barring a rash of injuries given the versailtity of so many players in the squad. Looking at positions where players could cover:

Full back: Aekins, Pickersgill, Kheirallah, Hall
Wing: Briscoe, Hall, Gale, Hankinson
Centre: Leliua, Hankinson, Hall, Hardcastle
Halves: Ford, Lacans, Dean
Middles: Kopczak, Taylor, Moors, Bussey, Springer, Cozza, Lockwood, Cooper, Davies, Hepi, Fleming
Edge back rows: Davies, Day, Hardcastle, Taylor, Bussey, Moors
Hookers: Wildie, Jones, Lacans

So what I'm suggesting is maybe we can afford to carry 3 specialist full backs because we have so many other players who can play multiple positions.

 

Right, it's great to have options of course.

But look at full-back. Four perfectly acceptable options. Aekins looked great for leigh, MK is top class when/if back to full fitness, Pickers lets no-one down, Hally is a points machine.

Only one can play at FB every week. Genuinely, only Hall could be at his best elsewhere in the team.

Now look at the halves. Two kids with bags of potential, and a top class veteran who's coming off the back of a very rough season.

Two of them play every week.

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Now the dust has settled on our latest signings looking at our squad what if anything do, we still need personally I'm torn between a blockbusting middle or a dynamic edge back rower in an ideal word I'd get both but one or the other will be just fine 

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11 minutes ago, POR said:

Now the dust has settled on our latest signings looking at our squad what if anything do, we still need personally I'm torn between a blockbusting middle or a dynamic edge back rower in an ideal word I'd get both but one or the other will be just fine 

I wouldn’t have minded another winger, but hopefully Gareth Gale, will be back to his best this season.

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18 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

Right, it's great to have options of course.

But look at full-back. Four perfectly acceptable options. Aekins looked great for leigh, MK is top class when/if back to full fitness, Pickers lets no-one down, Hally is a points machine.

Only one can play at FB every week. Genuinely, only Hall could be at his best elsewhere in the team.

Now look at the halves. Two kids with bags of potential, and a top class veteran who's coming off the back of a very rough season.

Two of them play every week.

Fair points. I suppose the question is - is signing Aekins going to mean we miss out on someone else at a different position? It's hard to know the answer to that without knowing both our budget and overall player availability. There certainly don't seem to be many quality half backs or middles that are available, even to SL clubs, let alone Championship teams.

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2 hours ago, POR said:

Now the dust has settled on our latest signings looking at our squad what if anything do, we still need personally I'm torn between a blockbusting middle or a dynamic edge back rower in an ideal word I'd get both but one or the other will be just fine 

Both of these would be nice. A Harrison / Halton type, not asking for much I know given they've been assigned the number 10 and 11 shirts respectively at their clubs

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