I posted this in the MOM thread but thought he was worthy of his own thread.

Does anybody hit as hard in every single tackle as McIllorum does? His tough defence is relentless for the full amount of time hes on the field. His attack has also improved to no end this year. Only thing i can fault him on is his passing can sometimes be a little stray but i wouldnt swap him for any other 9 in SL including James Roby.

Like you say he has to rein in those wayward passes. He's throwing at least two a match that a ref could well rule forward. Great in defense even if he was at fault for the Eden try.



I thought he was poor last week. But turned it around this week and was back to his usual self.

Needs to watch his mouth around the ref though.

I bet a Saints fan posts on this thread

Sorry but Roby would be aboslutely devastating playing with our pack, he's wasted at St Helens at the moment.. He's also as good in defence as McIlorum.

Saying you wouldn't swap him for Roby is a bit silly.

Would i swap him for Roby?... Yes

Am i too worried that we can't?..... No

Well we are all entitled to our own opinions but mine is that i wouldnt swap McIllorum for Roby. Thats not to say i dont think Roby is a good player, i just think he is over hyped.

pretty much this

MM is playing out of his skin this season.

He's been excellent so far and is up there with Hansen for biggest hitter in the team. The whole pack is playing so well though at the moment

I agree. McIlorum has a lot of qualities that Roby doesnt and plays a vital part in this team. He hits hard and his defence is top notch, these are qualites that cannot be underestimated in the middle of the park. Roby may work hard in defence but he doesnt dominate the collision like McIlorum does. McIlorum also knows his role in the team and does as he is told and plays to our structure which allows us to spread the ball quickly when needed. Roby is a great scooter hooker but he is not what this Wigan team needs and playing down the middle with scoots and disrupting the set and structure would mean we lose a lot of our attack. In games with slow play the balls, which generally means games against the better teams, Roby is annonymous as he has been against us twice this season and as he always is for England.

I would not swap Houghton for Mcllorum tbh.

thank god

Thats a relief... and confirmation.....

Who?

That's bang on. He's the 2nd (or possibly third behind the bloke at Warrington) best Hooker in the comp. He's taken a quantum leap this season. Long may it continue. Don't see how young Logan Tomkins is going to get any game time at the moment with McIlorum in this form.

Roby would tear teams apart behind our pack. When he's in a team on the front foot he's electric.

Exactly what im thinking?

I agree with that.
Can't imagine Wigan fans have seen much of Hull this year (we haven't really had many. Games televised), but I've seen enough of Wigan on Sky to know I wouldn't swap Houghton for McIllorum.

I live in hull and watch FC most games, and I would never swap mickey mac for houghton. Mickey is a much better player.

Quicker we get Mickey signed up with a new contract the better without a shadow of doubt the best defensive hooker in the SL and still only 24 loads of potential this guy will soon be the best in SL Roby whos he lol

Roby might be the greatest as far as stats are concerned but McIllorum is an absolute brick in defence with a heart the size of a lion. He picks and chooses the right time to run from dummy half. You have to ask how many times over the years has Roby maybe bombed a chance out wide for Saints because he chose to run from dummy half instead of simply getting the ball to the right person quickly? A hooker that runs from dummy half at every oppurtunity can be just as bad as one that never runs from dummy half.

With Sam getting a big contract last year I think we are going to have to get used to sweating over contract renewals involving our home grown players.

You can't blame them for getting the best deal they can and sometimes that may mean with another club

reminds me of Leeds a few years back letting players like Chev Walker and Calderwood go

the trick appears to be in allowing the "right" players to go

getting both Mick and Josh signed up long term would be a priority for me, but we may need to make some tough decisions on some other areas where we are particularly strong, ie the back row

He reminds me a lot of Terry Newton with his style of play.

if he could only add tez's ability to sniff the try line !
major improvement this year from MM, and has really silenced the doubters.
I would still like to see him improve again and add a few more strings to his bow (support play and try scoring ideally. he'll never be the quickest, so he'll have to develop his rugby brain)

Get back behind the bar