At the risk of being ridiculed, and from a distance, I was shocked that Luke was not in the team yesterday. I wonder what the season has in store for him. I admire this player immensely for his outstanding leadership. He has played a great part in the renaissance of the club. I hope he is not going to be a bit part player. Not injured is he? Or are the lads who played centre back better? If so, they must be pretty good.

In the words of JS we are looking to improve in each transfer window, so it might be that Waterfall has become a squad player from being a regular. Incidentally there was some rumour that he may be going to Chesterfield a few weeks ago.

Quoted from hampshiremariner

At the risk of being ridiculed, and from a distance, I was shocked that Luke was not in the team yesterday. I wonder what the season has in store for him. I admire this player immensely for his outstanding leadership. He has played a great part in the renaissance of the club. I hope he is not going to be a bit part player. Not injured is he? Or are the lads who played centre back better? If so, they must be pretty good.

Yes.

Improvement brings casualties.

If you have three centre backs to pick from with injuries suspension loss of form and rotation it is unlikely any will get less then 20 games in a season and I don’t think that makes any bit part players

Love him. Missed him at corners. But Rodgers is quite a player.

Waterfall will be Mr Dependable but I suspect his days of starting games at present are gone, that said, injuries and suspensions will Mount up so I can’t see him not featuring still…personally I’d start him over Maher but that’s never happening.

If we are going to get anywhere near the top 7 this year it will be done by utilising the full squad. Having a greater strength in depth would be a fundamental part of our transfer strategy I imagine. It's certainly a positive that if one of the current two CB's gets injured or loses form, we can bring someone like Waterfall in. Our squad, when you take out the young 'uns, is pretty small so I would think there will enough game time to keep most of them happy.

Quoted from aldi_01

Waterfall will be Mr Dependable but I suspect his days of starting games at present are gone, that said, injuries and suspensions will Mount up so I can’t see him not featuring still…personally I’d start him over Maher but that’s never happening.

Why would you play a very right footed centre back on the left?

Centre half is probably the most combative position on the pitch. It is inevitable that we will get injuries during the season and Luke will get his chance to start. Once that happens, if he’s playing well and we’re winning / keeping clean sheets, he’ll keep his place. He’s been written-off before and come back stronger than ever. I still think he has an important roll to play over the course of a 46 match season.

Is Luke Waterfall a very good cb for league 2 ? Yes.
Is he better than the 2 lads that started on Saturday? No.
Could we rely on him if one of those is injured etc? Yes.

Whatever happens from now on Luke Waterfall has done a brilliant job for us, true professional.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Why would you play a very right footed centre back on the left?

I never said that, I’d just play him over Maher, and besides, it wouldn’t make much difference.

Worked with a former, very successful championship/league one centre half who was all right foot and played on the left hand side of a centre half pairing…

Interested whether Luke is now 3rd or 4th choice for league games as Mularkey is meant to be decent there ,and obviously better on the ball which arr Paul seems to be prioritising . Will he bring Michee in or Waterfall if Maher /Rodgers get injured ?

They will get plenty of game time in the cups and with injuries you would have thought anyway - it will be interesting to see the Mansfield lineup on Tuesday .

                     Cartwright
Efete   Waterfall  Maher   Amos
                            Green
Khan/Wilson (if fit )Holahan Khouri    Gnohoua
                             Pyke

Still a solid 2nd XI

Both Waterfall and Maher are good centre backs at this level. I prefer Maher because he is better at playing a ball out of defence, is still relatively young and improving all the time, plus he has the potential to have a longer future with us. Waterfall has one or maybe two seasons at this level but he won't let us down and would easily slot in when needed.

Agree with some of the sentiments in the opening post. I like Waterfalls attitude and he stood out for me when I saw Town play last season primarily because of that more so than any other player . Having said that Hurst sees the players week in week out in training and and will have his reasons for leaving him on the bench. Feel a bit gutted for him actually as after giving so much last season by all accounts after reading reports on him to be benched on the opening day must be hard. Such is football but ultimately the club comes first.

He’ll get plenty of games across the season. Smith, Maher and Waterfall all got plenty of games each last season.

I love Waterfall to bits but so far both Rodgers and Maher look streets ahead of him.

That's where we want to be.  The mainstays of yesterday become the support acts, hopefully in 2 years time we'll be looking at Rodgers and Maher as support acts as we continue to develop and evolve.

Great character & leader if he leaves for pastures new he goes with my best wishes , will go down as a town legend , leading us to play off victory & who will ever forget his contribution at wrexham , then to last 8 of fa cup & top half finish , will be somebodys gain for sure

If he gets pitch time, he will give 110% and defy Hurst from dropping him again.

The others should be prepared to do the same if out of form or injured.

Every player position now has proper competition, so that is healthy to keep levels high.

Quoted from hampshiremariner

At the risk of being ridiculed, and from a distance, I was shocked that Luke was not in the team yesterday. I wonder what the season has in store for him. I admire this player immensely for his outstanding leadership. He has played a great part in the renaissance of the club. I hope he is not going to be a bit part player. Not injured is he? Or are the lads who played centre back better? If so, they must be pretty good.

He could have/ would have won the game yesterday with his outstanding ability to score from dead ball set pieces, should have been given the last 10 minutes at least

Quoted from Garth

He could have/ would have won the game yesterday with his outstanding ability to score from dead ball set pieces, should have been given the last 10 minutes at least

Think your getting mixed up with 21/22 season in non league where he was imperious in the air and a real threat going forward. Last season, with the step up to lg2, he was still strong defensively in the air against strikers but was noticeably less able to win the ball in the oppo box against lg2 centre halves - he only scorer a couple all season. Yes he's still strong in the air but definitely not as much as in the NL.