Lets not forget, Farah will be very good mates with Galloway

Errrrrrr.

Some things on these boards are odd but plausible. The idea that GH or anyone else would think they had a deal with a player without having spoken to them personally is about as nonsensical as it gets.

The issue with Farah at Leeds is whether you are going to build a team around him. That's the way he plays and seemingly what he wants at the Tigers (and has done for years). Short-term that may work very well, but longer term we'd just be back where we are now.

Also Farah plays for a poor team, that last played well a decade ago when Marshall and Scott Prince were in form together. Since then the Tigers have been involved in ongoing sagas, and if even half the rumours are true Farah has been front and centre in the player-power issues that have caused the club to stagnate. At Leeds he wouldn't have that baggage, but TBH just like Galloway the majority of his career has been all about losing rather than winning even if the player-power issues are exaggerrated.

All good points which i agree with but we are crying out for a proper solid all round hooker who can lead a team and he fits the bill despite his age. I would take him for the 3 years, that would give us time to try and nurture an understudy, which i know hasn't materialised in recent years but really has to be a focus moving forward. It's poor that we haven't been able to produce a top level SL hooker since Diskin or over a decade whichever way you look at it.

I agree. Although I think McShane has/had the ability to be a very good player. Perhaps not the application.

But generally we seem to be looking at the wrong sort of players for hooker. Too many dwarfs who can scoot when what you need is someone who has a football brain but also not afraid of the tough stuff. Just like a halfback who's only skill is running 80m at junior level, we really shouldn't be focusing on kids who can make hay from acting half at that level either.

What you want at its most basic is someone who can pass both ways, tackle, and has good stamina. You can see our problem with Burrow right there.

Agree. I think that's partly an issue with the amateur game as well where the ability to scoot from acting half is coached/encouraged more than consistent, quality passing from acting half or the reading of a game.

Because there aren't many top quality hookers coming through anywhere really. In the past 10 years there's been 4 maybe? Roby, McIlorum, Houghton & Hodgson?

What you have done there though is name the four main ones. Toby wasn't even an hooker in his younger days.

There was no difference between the players you mentioned and the likes of McShane, Hood, Milner, etc, in their amateur days. It's what happens next that seems to stump. I agree on the scooting encouraged though at amateur level. I just think without the hooker no longer a skilled position, coaches do not know the best play.

Daryl Clark?

clarke and roby are scooters.

McIlorum and roby operate with some nouse as well.

I'm not saying roby and clarke don't but their main game is based off scooting. Roby won MoS simply for 10 scooting for 5 mins at the end of each half in 2007.

My point was Clark is a quality hooker produced in the last 10 years. Clark has a lot more to has game than scooting.

Warrington score lots of tries out wide that would not be possible if all Clark did was scoot - its one of the problems Leeds have when Burrow is playing 9

What Clark is very proficient at is knowing when to scoot and making sure it counts when he does.

Clark is no genius, one marker and he goes - every time. He's got gas so he keeps it very simple. He's patient with it, two marker and he passes. He's not the great ball player but his pass goes where it needs to most of the time.

McIlorum is way behind the others mentioned in skill terms. What he has, that the others don't, is the ability to raise the level of the other players around him.

Yep forgot about Clark.

The point of naming those 4 (5 with Clark) was to point out that there's relatively few top hookers being produced across the game. Which would point to it not being a solely Leeds issue.
I'd say hooker is a skilled position it's just those skills have changed and part of the reason why it's difficult to tell who will make a good hooker is because those skills are similar to that needed to play in the halves.

Also, if we improved the amateur game as a whole with better coaching, better environments and skills coached rather than results then the whole sport will benefit. And we'd get more players through who can actually play hooker rather than just run from dummy half.

One of the differences between us and the NRL is the quality and consistency of passing and the most obvious gap is the passing from acting half. Theirs is far more consistent than ours.

What about Cameron smith for the future? I've heard you say he has the physical attributes of a forward with the ball skills as a half, could it be a good move to line him up as our future 9?