Was looking here for the Cas view on Mathers, and it seems to be the same as most peoples: he hasn't done as well as people hoped, because he used to be good. Suits both clubs really. You off-load two-thirds of a big wage, and we get a potentially decent full back for a third discount. If he doesn't do well, so be it, but it must be his last chance to be a guaranteed super league player. He's done enough clubs now.



As for the missed tackles, what stands out with the forwards is that they are all young. They will only get better, I suppose.

Slugg, if we signed Rangi Chase they would say we have bought a pup, and they would not agree if he played for England.



Thats how it goes mate

Time will tell bigal but mathers started well for us a great signing. But when to confidence went he would of let my gran score that's the reality



I don't defend Cas fans blindly and I hope mathers finds his place. But

The reality is he was poor for us when his head went

I don't rate Mathers, never have and doubt i ever will.

Ironic that you have 2 in the missed tackles league and none in the top tacklers league.

We have 3 in the missed tackles but got rid of one and added the no.6 in the tacklers to go with the other one we have.

Stats can be made to say what you like but ultimately, comparisons to last season for Wakefield are pretty irrelevant. It was a poor season and we have changed nearly all our players and our coach. We have no idea what is going to happen this year, but I'm happy with how we are planning it.

You had 4 in the missed tacklers (and got rid of one).



Incidentally, you're going to have a higher percentage of missed tackles and also tackles due to the sheer volume of defence you had to do.



Whilst some players (Roby) are in there purely on work-ethic for the amount of tackles, as you said, stats can be skewed to be read how you want them to be. Equally, the fact we have no players in the tackles may come down to the volume of injuries we had throughout the year.

mathers was hopefully the last of the matterson inspired signings that the club have to sort out. IMO he can go on the list of TM specials along with sherwin, sione faumawuena(sp), hlad, harbricht................... with mcgoldrick edging closer to joining the list each game he plays !!!!!

Nail on head - apart from some straightforward headline grabbers, those stat's (like any stat's) don't mean a thing without an appreciation of the context.

As has been said you can manipulate stats how you like.



Turning back to the actual thread and Richie, I don't think anyone can question his professionalism and certainly his organisational skills. I really thought highly of him for that.



With the criticism of his defence, he did seem a bit lazy towards the end of the year and that's why he was dropped (and then injured).



I do believe, again, that a lot of it comes down to the guys in front of him; it's very hard to hand out criticism to the full-back who has it all to do when there is a line in front of him that had more holes than a colander.

Aye, a bit like blaming the goalie.



Mathers has been named in the Boxing Day squad for Leeds, so we'll get an early indication of his willingness to bend his back in the R,W&B.

Exactly - perfect example is who I support, Ipswich. 7-1 against Peterborough, 4-0 against Burnley yet the goalkeeper has been our best player.