This has to be seen as a clear sign that a new hooker is coming.

Not a cat in hells chance we are going with Dwyer and the kid next season.

Given agar is in Oz and Merrin looks nailed on to be leaving it must be an overseas hooker for me.

Agar is in the UK and has been for a week or so!

The next piece of the jigsaw is a top class ball handling tough tackling hooker who has a kicking game as well , pay what is required one at cas called McShane.
Or cam smith for two years in our dreams.

Never truly rated McShane and thought we were right releasing him. He has done well at Cas but i have seen nothing to suggest in the big games he has what it takes so i hope we don't go back for him.

Ive made secret of my thoughts on our hooking situation. Its been a farce for too long. Its without doubt iur biggest priority for me.

Every year we have different 9s and none are any good. It needs sorting with quality.

Corey Johnson is a terrific prospect and needs to feature more next year but we need a top quality hard hitting 9 to plug that middle of the field up.

He was superb in 2017, average in 2018 and poor in 2019. There were some games this year when he was completely anonymous, and that’s not easy for a hooker.
I’m hoping it was a dip in form and he can find somewhere near his 2017 performances again, but I fear that level was temporary form rather than permanent.

Same here. In the big games he’s usually either been a bit anonymous or made some silly errors from what I remember.

Which is why I think he’d be fine on a 2 year contract essentially to plug the gap for Johnson to develop but shouldn’t be our choice long term.

To be fair Parcell was excellent in 2017 but I take your point.

The last great hooker we had was probably Danny Bud but players of that calibre are so few and far between and when they are that good it's almost impossible to pry them away from the NRL.

The true Cameron Smith would obviously be great but really can't see why he would come to SL let alone us. Hodgson would be great but he isn't leaving Canberra. Luke would be great but it does feel a bit like his agent is playing the game to get him an NRL contract.

Realistically we are looking at taking a risk on an Aussie hooker (memories of Beau, Seggy), getting an average English hooker but we just let one go in Lunt who likely would have been cheap or throwing Johnson in with Dwyer. I'd hate to see us blow Johnson up by playing him too much too early.

Long way of saying I don't see us really fixing this problem position anytime soon. Better to get someone who can pass, tackle and take the odd kick on the last and focus on other areas while we pray Johnson is the real deal.

Don't get me wrong, he is a solid hooker now and has had a far better career than i envisaged he would have when he left us but i personally struggle to see him as a hooker that can lead a side to silverware. Hooker is such a big position these days and most sides that win the trophies have someone there that is a top 2 player in their team. I'm not sure Mcshane would be or is that level.

That said we are lacking there at the minute and do need an upgrade on Dwyer of he is left as no.1 in that role.

I suspect if we look hard enough there are one or two diamonds lurking in the NRL. Luke would be great, but agree he could still land an NRL gig (which is why we should be interested in him).

There are some brilliant players in the NRL and some very good reserve hookers who might be tempted with first grade over here, even if it is for a couple of years.

I dont disagree KJ, there is just more risk attached to a reserve hooker as you wi have seen less of them at the top level - hence my reference to Beau. We would also need to really sure about them as we would be tying up a quote spot of some description most likely.

I hope the club does have something up their sleeve as if we were to end up with someone like McShane (only mentioned as a few have said his name on here) I don't really see that he offers us much more than Lunt for the extra money and transfer fee he would likely command.

Yep would agree mate. Faux Balloon was a shocking signing. I still think Luke is the ideal fit because of the physicality he brings. But then he'll be on decent money and we're back into overseas quotas.

It looks like there is a bit of player Jenga going on - we need to sort out players like Myler, possibly a Peteru or Cuthbo, and of course Merrin, before we know what we've got to play with.

Is the Fev hooker a possibility for Leeds?

Falloon was an example of how lazy GH got in overseas recruitment. I said we shouldn't go near, he was front and centre in the titans party club, which just a few calls to the right people would have uncovered.