Is Tommy better at 9 than at 7 !!

Quote: Horatio Yed "and you said my standards had dropped.

People on here are saying since he's been at hooker he's more involved, well yeah duh Hooker is the most involved position on the park and a Benji Marshall he isn't or even a Stacey Jones.

At hooker he's a third the player Riddell was, and if piggy was a kiwi i'd guarantee he get the job over TL.'"

I disagree, I don't think the difference between Riddell and Leuluai at hooker is anywhere near as great as that. As good as Riddell was he was always slightly hampered by his physique. He almost always made the right decisions at dummy half but he wasn't always the quickest to get into position which meant there was more that he could have offered had he looked after himself a little better. He was also caught out defensively a few times while he was at Wigan because having Riddell defending alongside the prop forwards would often mean a lack of mobility, particularly in the area behind the ruck.

Leuluai might not be a natural hooker but he does bring his own skills into the mix. He's very quick to get into position which further improves the pace of a quick play the ball. He'll often jump in and have a forward already on his shoulder for a quick drive before the markers have managed to get square. He was doing this very often against Huddersfield and at times they found it hard to cope with the pace. His quick passing from dummy half was also effective against Saints where he was putting out some short passes that were very hard to deal with.

Then there's the danger he poses in broken play. If the defence isn't set around the back of the ruck then there are few players better at making the most of the gaps. When he's close to the line he's also good at forcing his way over just like he showed against Huddersfield. When he's down the middle he's often up against big forwards who find it very hard to deal with such a small powerful player so close to the line who pushes and twists he way free of their attempted tackles.

Lastly, his defence tends to be better at hooker than it was out wide in the halves. He was sometimes susceptible to a bit of pace and agility because he was too keen to get his shoulder into the tackle. At hooker he usually has to tackle bigger, slower forwards that allow him to get the shoulder in and put in some big tackles. Joel Clinton will testify to that. He's also very mobile which allows him to keep up with any pacey players that want to get in and cause havoc among the forwards.

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