Is Matty going to be back from injury before the end of the season?

I had been very impressed with the run of games he had before his injury. Previously I'd rated Dixon a little higher, but I started to see a step up in Ashurst's game which excited me.

He seems to have all of a sudden started to develop physically. At first he looked a bit gangley, but with just a little extra meat on his bone has started looking like a real athelete.

Now, I don't know if you noticed, but on a few occasions throughout the season, obviously due to the difficulties we've had with the squad, Matty could be seen running a defending in the centre channel. Given people want Soliola in the back row and Wheeler's never fit, would it be an idea to give him a run there, or would people prefer to stick with Meli?

What do you reckon?

Well Mick Potter said he was fit in an interview on Radio Merseyside last night.

Ssssshhhhh. He's away taking his vitamins. He'll be back next year the size of Tony P.

He has some catching up to do - I thought Dixon was excellent in the Wire game he ran his blood to water and was everywhere when he was on the pitch.

A good collection of youg back rowers to be sure!

Matty actually played in the u20's against Wire the day after the 1st team game last week, so I would say that means he's fit.

I'd agree that he's looked a lot more assured in his more recent appearances, and warrants a place in the squad. I think moving Meli to the centres has given us some much needed strike out wide, however, and I wouldn't want to replace him with Matty (or any other member of the squad) unless absolutely necessary.

I think Dixon deserves to retain his spot after his performance against the Wolfs.

At the moment i would have Dixon over Ashurst, agreed that Ashurst has improved but for me Dixon reads the game better has better support play and does a lot of work in defence. If these two can go up another level performance wise and develop into stronger players they could be an excellent future second row partnership.

The problem is, we cant keep them all which is a shame

Dixon is a better player than Ashurst and Maggennis will be the best of the three in 2011 IMO.

I disagree, going off this season. Dixon hasn't shown much in attack, he defends very well but so do all our young back rowers. However, Ashurst has shown some good ball skills, and has apparently played at 6 for the reserve side before making the step up, the game away at Leeds stand out for me, i thought he was very good in that game.

Dixon has bust more tackles in 7 less games in 2010, I just see him as the better prospect of the two. The stats suggest he has a better strike rate, carries the ball more and makes more tackles too (although there are other areas where Ashurst is superior).

I could of course be proved completely and utterly wrong and it's nice to have a few prospects knocking about.