Re: 6 and 7 : Mon Jun 29, 2015 7:15 pm  

Lets not forget it's only a few weeks ago Burns got his face caved in. Running where the arms are flying maybe playing on his mind, like Walsh's ankle is playing on his mind.

We had hooper who played stand off for years and was known more for his ability to be competitive and aggressive than he was as a skilful stand off in the Martyn style.

Re: 6 and 7 : Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:12 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Lets not forget it's only a few weeks ago Burns got his face caved in. Running where the arms are flying maybe playing on his mind, like Walsh's ankle is playing on his mind.

We had hooper who played stand off for years and was known more for his ability to be competitive and aggressive than he was as a skilful stand off in the Martyn style.

Did Hooper really play stand-off "for years"? I always thought played more of a utility role. Under Millward he seemed to play several positions at once.

To be fair he was a good player. A poor-man's Tea Ropati maybe. But I'll take that over nothing. Pity he did his knee(?). Never the same after.

Re: 6 and 7 : Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:32 am  

Wasn't it Hooper's shoulder that went in the end?

Re: 6 and 7 : Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:44 am  

Yeah, shoulder went. Retired early. I thought he was excellent for us. We already had some belting creative players in Long, Martyn, Sculthorpe, Cunningham & co. Hooper did the dirty work. Opposition half backs were always quick to get their kicks away because he'd railroad them if they didn't. Sometimes, he'd done it anyway. Would have hated him if he'd played for anyone else. Always put 100% in.

Ps He played loose forward too.

Re: 6 and 7 : Thu Jul 02, 2015 10:07 am  

As I remember it he played most of his Saints rugby at loose forward. Certainly his best rugby. Wasn't enough of a ball player or an instinctive attacker to excel at 6, but at 13 he just made a nasty, horrible nuisance of himself for 80 mins. Brilliant in that role.

Re: 6 and 7 : Thu Jul 02, 2015 11:31 am  

Remember him doing a job for us on the wing too, Wakey away if I remember rightly.

Re: 6 and 7 : Thu Jul 02, 2015 1:24 pm  

Thing about Hooper is he backed up. Scored a load of tries because of it, too.

Backing up is such a simple thing. You don't require any real skill to do it - just plenty of fitness. And the rewards are off-the-scale.

Re: 6 and 7 : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:13 pm  

We signed him in 2004 and played him 6 unitl we signed Pryce in 2006.
Despite him not being a natural 6, he did very well hitting lines and supporting.
Once he got moved to 13 he really excelled, though, bing an absolute nuisance. Jason Hooper made me realise why Bradford fans loved Graeme Bradley so much.

Re: 6 and 7 : Fri Jul 03, 2015 7:51 pm  

Both woeful tonight.

Re: 6 and 7 : Fri Jul 03, 2015 7:55 pm  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Both woeful tonight.

Walsh looking awful since he came back. He's missed 6 tackles in 40 mins of rugby. He missed 7 against cas the other week. He's a very very weak link in defence and teams will target him.

Not seen Burns in the game tonight at all, I forgot he was even playing.

Worst 40 mins ive seen from a super league team in years.