THE NEW HALF/HOOKER

[Telltails]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Gee you and JT have got the dummy half position all worked. What would amyone else know. You ever watched caneron smith, ennis, hodgson or granville play. Might explain why their teams are in the top 4\. Because no they dont make it so obvious to other teams by passing of the ground. By being a major catlyst of most of their attacking raids. They dont do that by just passing off the ground. So actually your number 9 needs to be better than most of the other 12 players for a team to have a chance.

Playing a "dumb" dummy half does not work. The panthers defence was so quick on our halves they had no time to think. BecAuse they knew our dummy half would just pass. But what would the top 4 coaches know, you and JT have the perfect recipe lol.

You're right, it was all because we didn't have a creative hooker. Nothing to do with being completely owned in the forwards….

We had a creative hooker until he started to play to the coaches instructions. - ie " pick up the ball and pass it" that was until the Warriors game last year when he played like Farah of old. I reckon that was the day Taylor commanded "get me Matt Ballins number now!"

 

[tigers2005]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Gee you and JT have got the dummy half position all worked. What would amyone else know. You ever watched caneron smith, ennis, hodgson or granville play. Might explain why their teams are in the top 4\. Because no they dont make it so obvious to other teams by passing of the ground. By being a major catlyst of most of their attacking raids. They dont do that by just passing off the ground. So actually your number 9 needs to be better than most of the other 12 players for a team to have a chance.

Playing a "dumb" dummy half does not work. The panthers defence was so quick on our halves they had no time to think. BecAuse they knew our dummy half would just pass. But what would the top 4 coaches know, you and JT have the perfect recipe lol.

You're right, it was all because we didn't have a creative hooker. Nothing to do with being completely owned in the forwards….

We had a creative hooker until he started to play to the coaches instructions. - ie " pick up the ball and pass it" that was until the Warriors game last year when he played like Farah of old. I reckon that was the day Taylor commanded "get me Matt Ballins number now!"

I have no idea what your point is lol. But what a great decision it was to call Ballin and sign him up. Dud signing of the year, what a waste of money.

 

[Guest]

Hunt has been impressive since switching into the halves ..Along with Littlejohn they drive the team well…Has a decent boot both long and short..Would be one of the quicker halves running around too..Not to mention currently on a 12/12 goal conversion streak ,,

Not sure how he would go defending in the middle..I think Private Ryan may have taken a few liberties with the Headline to suck a few hits for Fox,,

You're right Geo, adapting to the defensive workload would be the biggest issue for mine, but if Taylor wanted to go with the game plan of starting Hunt and bringing Liddle on after 20 minutes, therefore giving each player 40 minutes in the middle, that could potentially work. At least if he does decide to go this way he has a full off-season to work on it. Hunt is pretty zippy around the middle of the field so from an attack perspective it's not the worst idea at all. And his goalkicking is superior to Moses and Rankin.

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Gee you and JT have got the dummy half position all worked. What would amyone else know. You ever watched caneron smith, ennis, hodgson or granville play. Might explain why their teams are in the top 4\. Because no they dont make it so obvious to other teams by passing of the ground. By being a major catlyst of most of their attacking raids. They dont do that by just passing off the ground. So actually your number 9 needs to be better than most of the other 12 players for a team to have a chance.

Playing a "dumb" dummy half does not work. The panthers defence was so quick on our halves they had no time to think. BecAuse they knew our dummy half would just pass. But what would the top 4 coaches know, you and JT have the perfect recipe lol.

You're right, it was all because we didn't have a creative hooker. Nothing to do with being completely owned in the forwards….

We had a creative hooker until he started to play to the coaches instructions. - ie " pick up the ball and pass it" that was until the Warriors game last year when he played like Farah of old. I reckon that was the day Taylor commanded "get me Matt Ballins number now!"

To provide an historical example, we need a Steve Walters type hooker.

 

[tigers2005]

Gee you and JT have got the dummy half position all worked. What would amyone else know. You ever watched caneron smith, ennis, hodgson or granville play. Might explain why their teams are in the top 4\. Because no they dont make it so obvious to other teams by passing of the ground. By being a major catlyst of most of their attacking raids. They dont do that by just passing off the ground. So actually your number 9 needs to be better than most of the other 12 players for a team to have a chance.

Playing a "dumb" dummy half does not work. The panthers defence was so quick on our halves they had no time to think. BecAuse they knew our dummy half would just pass. But what would the top 4 coaches know, you and JT have the perfect recipe lol.

You're right, it was all because we didn't have a creative hooker. Nothing to do with being completely owned in the forwards….

We had a creative hooker until he started to play to the coaches instructions. - ie " pick up the ball and pass it" that was until the Warriors game last year when he played like Farah of old. I reckon that was the day Taylor commanded "get me Matt Ballins number now!"

To provide an historical example, we need a Steve Walters type hooker.

Does he need to know how to rake the ball and play in the 80s lol. Oh geez, you can always ask uncle benny to make a comeback , actually he was pretty creative aswell lol.

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

Does he need to know how to rake the ball and play in the 80s lol. Oh geez, you can always ask uncle benny to make a comeback , actually he was pretty creative aswell lol.

No.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Actually there's never been a time since Farah made first grade, that there had been 12 players on the field that were better than him.
That's been our problem over the years, he's carried quite a few Nuffiesm over the years.

 

[Sco77y]

Reminds me of when I was coaching an under 10's team. I selected this kid to play hooker but he wasn't happy about it. The game couldn't start on time because he was carrying out his own protest by sitting down on the centre of the half way mark. His mother had to run onto the field to talk him into playing.

Young Robbie? :laughing:

Haha, can't say that wasn't the first image that came to mind!

 

[Club_Sandwich]

Argh just play a hooker at hooker. Is it so hard? Jeez.
JT must call a plumber whenever he has car problems because he thinks he's smarter than everyone else and thinking outside the box.
It is a massive plus however that Hunt can kick goals, he surely replaces Rankin on that alone?

 

[Russell]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Actually there's never been a time since Farah made first grade, that there had been 12 players on the field that were better than him.
That's been our problem over the years, he's carried quite a few Nuffield over the years.

Disagree GT.

 

[diedpretty]

Reminds me of when I was coaching an under 10's team. I selected this kid to play hooker but he wasn't happy about it. The game couldn't start on time because he was carrying out his own protest by sitting down on the centre of the half way mark. His mother had to run onto the field to talk him into playing.

Young Robbie? :laughing:

:roll :roll :roll
Post of the year.

 

[Eddie]

Lets turn a 27 yead old winger/fullback into our NRL hooker?

Sounds good!

 

[Telltails]

Gee you and JT have got the dummy half position all worked. What would amyone else know. You ever watched caneron smith, ennis, hodgson or granville play. Might explain why their teams are in the top 4\. Because no they dont make it so obvious to other teams by passing of the ground. By being a major catlyst of most of their attacking raids. They dont do that by just passing off the ground. So actually your number 9 needs to be better than most of the other 12 players for a team to have a chance.

Playing a "dumb" dummy half does not work. The panthers defence was so quick on our halves they had no time to think. BecAuse they knew our dummy half would just pass. But what would the top 4 coaches know, you and JT have the perfect recipe lol.

You're right, it was all because we didn't have a creative hooker. Nothing to do with being completely owned in the forwards….

We had a creative hooker until he started to play to the coaches instructions. - ie " pick up the ball and pass it" that was until the Warriors game last year when he played like Farah of old. I reckon that was the day Taylor commanded "get me Matt Ballins number now!"

I have no idea what your point is lol. But what a great decision it was to call Ballin and sign him up. Dud signing of the year, what a waste of money.

Just being cynical - getting Farah to play an unatural game didn't work in getting him to move on - buying Ballin in my view was plan B.
That didn't work too well either. Now we are at the devalue the hooker role altogether - some are buying it.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Actually there's never been a time since Farah made first grade, that there had been 12 players on the field that were better than him.
That's been our problem over the years, he's carried quite a few Nuffield over the years.

Disagree GT.

I've seen most games that WTs have been involved in, and I must have missed the few where there were 12 better than himself . He may not have been our best ,in every game.
Buthe's almost always been up there with them.
Otherwise , why did the club sign him to the contract that he has.
Not liking him is one thing. But if you think he's been our worst player, then you haven't seen much football in your life

 

[magpiecol]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Actually there's never been a time since Farah made first grade, that there had been 12 players on the field that were better than him.
That's been our problem over the years, he's carried quite a few Nuffield over the years.

Disagree GT.

I've seen most games that WTs have been involved in, and I must have missed the few where there were 12 better than himself . He may not have been our best ,in every game.
Buthe's almost always been up there with them.
Otherwise , why did the club sign him to the contract that he has.
Not liking him is one thing. But if you think he's been our worst player, then you haven't seen much football in your life

:blah :blah :blah Please stop.

 

[Doc_Tiger]

Otherwise , why did the club sign him to the contract that he has.

That idiot twit-mad Mayer most likely

 

[jirskyr]

Defence would be Hunt's issue.

It's not that hard to play Hooker in this team. You just need to:

- provide quick ball service to forward, brooks or Moses
- run from dummy half up the middle with speed
- tackle

Simple rule to remember for player wanting the position - _there are 12 guys on the field that are better than me, the quicker I give them the ball the better._

Gee you and JT have got the dummy half position all worked. What would amyone else know. You ever watched caneron smith, ennis, hodgson or granville play. Might explain why their teams are in the top 4\. Because no they dont make it so obvious to other teams by passing of the ground. By being a major catlyst of most of their attacking raids. They dont do that by just passing off the ground. So actually your number 9 needs to be better than most of the other 12 players for a team to have a chance.

Playing a "dumb" dummy half does not work. **The panthers defence was so quick on our halves they had no time to think.** BecAuse they knew our dummy half would just pass. But what would the top 4 coaches know, you and JT have the perfect recipe lol.

I agree with most of your post, but the reason their defence was on top of our halves had nothing to do with our dummy half and everything to do with our blokes being dominated in attack and them being on the front foot in defence as a result

The dummy half is part of the spine and where everything begins, we are giving others start by having no creativity there

The bottom paragraph of your post is my main point. In no way was i blaming our loss to the panthers on not having a creative dummy half. But it doesnt help when you are being smashed in attack and the marker and defenders know the ball is going to your halves every single time. Lets hope Liddle comes along, puts some weight on in the off season and gives us the creativity we need there if we are to give the 8 a shake next year.

I would argue it's exactly the same for a creative hooker. Hard to do much in and around the ruck if your forwards are being slammed on their backs every tackle. Sharp hookers can only do well behind a strong forward pack, and the Top 4 you've noted have good and consistent packs. Large packs, dare I say.

 

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

I hope this doesn't eventuate.. The article only implies but never says he's actually going to be playing FG at hooker next season. Let's hope not!

Depth player trains in a variety of positions. Hardly news.