Re: Hookers : Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:48 am  

Does anyone else think Aiton is quite underrated? In 2015 I seem to remember him being excellent in starting the moves and organisation around the ptb.

Re: Hookers : Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:59 am  

Aiton was a beast. Hit hard in D and was a terrier around the ruck. He actually made a lot of interceptions from offload too. He wasn't much of a creative spark, but a decent SL hooker. I think injuries were his main issue, and he ultimately when to France for more money.

Hodgson has to be the hooker for England, no question. Now I'll admit that he's not done much at international, but England need to play there best half back pairing, which in my view is Lomax and Williams. Having Hodgson in there means he can make the plays, while they can offer the running threat. With Tomkins at the back, I think it's the best balance.

You could argue for other good players in those positions, but we need a team that compliments each other. The Hodgson Williams link will be crucial IMO with limited prep time.

Re: Hookers : Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:00 am  

tomlufc wrote:

Does anyone else think Aiton is quite underrated? In 2015 I seem to remember him being excellent in starting the moves and organisation around the ptb.

Aiton was excellent and his contribution went a long way to us winning the treble even though he was injured for the latter part.

Sinfield obviously rated him as I believe he was trying to get him back into the team for the end of 2018 to help with the final push to stay in SL

[Bullseye]

Re: Hookers : Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:00 pm  

I think Leeds made some duff decisions with succession planning at times. As has been said Hooker is arguably the most important position in the team due to the importance of the PTB. Over the years the rules have evolved so that different types of player are needed and it's nigh on impossible to find one player with all the right attributes - they come along very rarely. So teams have often gone with two in the seventeen. With hindsight it's easy to say McDermott should've gone with McShane but at the time he needed someone who was nearer the finished article.

I think the 6 again rule could mean that hookers that are quick out of dummy half like Dwyer have an important role - he just needs to be less of a headless chicken. Then again if the numbers of subs are reduced that type of player will disappear unless he can improve other aspects of his game.

Re: Hookers : Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:06 pm  

tomlufc wrote:

Does anyone else think Aiton is quite underrated? In 2015 I seem to remember him being excellent in starting the moves and organisation around the ptb.

I actually thought he was a bit Overrated!
Good player mind......