Are you sure about that? The attendance was 3859 and their average that year was 3666 so you're saying clubs took around 1700 travelling fans on average.

nice one rider.

Its not a specialist position any more.

Really dont understand the reasoning there.
You dismiss the idea of Shaul at nine yet like the idea of playing Mcnamara at nine when he is very similar to Johnstone who most of us have written off as a replacement for Houghton.
Whilst McNamara is still young he like Johnstone lacks pace and probably will be the reason he never makes it in Super League.
We saw last night what a half back with pace can do and he at 18 is younger than Mcnamara .

Of course it is still a specialist position. A hooker probably touches the ball more, has more involvements and makes more decisions than any other player on the park.

Some players have the skill set to convert into a hooker, James Roby for example, but you can't just throw anybody in there and expect to compete.

spot on Chris
There was nothing wrong with the tackle.If Savelio had not reacted to Jones punch which would have been really difficult not to then he would not have been sent off

I can't think of many if any player let alone a full back who have successfully switched position to hooker in their late 20's and made a success of it.

Hookers have their hands on the ball more than any player and probably have to make more decisions as well. People complain about Houghton's slow service, unfairly in my opinion, so what would Shaul's be like.

Did you answer Dave K's question about how Hull have taken the mickey out of the system re: match postponements?

So In your opinion Danny Houghton has a skill set? He is or was just a tackle machine and the game has moved on
You see lots of different players now pick up at the play the ball.Its no longer a specialist position

Only one I can think is Berrigan

How old was he when he moved to hooker? He was already an established international centre at the time I think.

This doesn't mean I want to try Shaul at hooker though

Maybe a winger at the start of a set who immediately returns to the wing.

Even you can't believe that's true

Did we have an unused sub last night or did I miss Burrell come on?

He started in the halfs then moved to centre but also played hooker from the bench occasionally in the NRL and for Queensland and Australia. Looking at his stats on RL project he was used a lot as an interchange due to his versatility.

I think we never so the best of him as he played a lot in the halfs due to injuries. I thought his best position was centre but he hardly played there for us.

Yes answer Dave K question, and what did you post

We’re gently easing him in, a two minute debut at home, followed by an eighty minute dug out education at veryfartown.

Perhaps Gary Peacham, in days of yore

They also only had 4,000 against Leeds you saying Leeds wouldn't of took that aswell?

They're lowest crowd was 2,100 big gap from 3,800

But still doubt they're was many more than 600 last night but I do get the point about people getting back into the swing of going again esp away matches

Well the first problem is that Shaul isnt fit and McNamara is.

I'm not talking about this as a long term move, but for the next month or so.

McNamara has a much better skillset than Shaul to play hooker.

You seem to think all you need to play hooker is pace, so why not play Swift there?

The hooket situation is Radfords fault, he should have addressed it two years ago, but he preferred to play Houghton for the full 80. Even if Houghton was out he rather play the likes of Fash, Hadley or Washbrook over Litten.

I just hope Hodgson can see how desperate we are for a hooker.

We do need another prop, but we have 6 decent props plus Bowden.

Compare this to Houghton and Johnstone, you can see hooker is a real weakness.

Wigan's attendance tonight was just 5,555 which will ring alarm bells for all clubs.

Indeed snd I think it was always going to a real concern that such a long lay off of not being able to go to games means clubs and the sport will lose fans from getting out the habit of going, struggling financially due to covid, realise more important things to do or spend money on etc the list goes on. There is also a real apathy for the game that has been growing not helped by the piddle poor governance of the sport.

I also think the growing discontent amongst the Wigan fans and Lam being the coach won’t help their attendance on top of the other reasons.

Whats the skill set Mcnamara has that Shaul doesnt have to play 9?
Its normally pick the ball up and pass to a first receiver.Any Pro rugby player surely can do that.
Pace is now what the game is all about and some real pace in this area would help our go forward such a lot.
Maybe until Shaul is fit then use Mcnamara in this position but for me he is too similar to Johnstone.
Still maintain its no longer a specialist position and as you have pointed out in your following post Radford used several forwards in this position.The wrong options in my opinion but goes to prove its not specialist and why the hooker position should be officially reclassified as a dummy-half

Radford did and it never worked. That's why hooker is a specialist position. You are surely contradicting yourself.

It is indeed. Think we got circa 5k for our 2 games. Interesting what ours will be against Leeds especially on TV and a Thursday night.