Hooker is as important as the halves these days, see Cam smith as a perfect example of how to dictate a game.

Hooker has always been an important position...I would argue they were more important in contested scrums however their roles have changed but like you say their role is just as important but in different ways.

Not interested in name calling him (them!!)..but like I say I now know they are truly talking tripe

A fake what ?? what do you want me to be sweetie??
However the story is all guff !! apart from the one his great long lost aunt fanny told you

naaa mate surely not , hookers are there these days to heel the ball arent they ???
only 1, 6,7,and 13 are the pivots.... maybe thats where roby ,Cunningham, Berrigan, so forth were going wrong as they thought they had a say in things

The best example of a SL team largely building around their hooker is Saints with Kieron Cunningham. They have been the most consistent challengers of the entire SL era, and are always the most creative side.

Also, we played our most creative rugby in recent years when built a lot around Richard Swain.

Saints have had other creative players than Cunningham.

And Swain wasn't "creative", he milked penalties and was great at acting half with the first pass.

IMHO

Who was saying that the hooker had to be the creative player? The question was whether or not a hooker was a player to build around. The distribution from dummy half is essential to be creative, without necessarily being where the creativity happens. The hookers have to lay the groundwork for the creative players to be able to produce, by providing the time and space they need.

The 2 examples I gave were not intended to be of 2 creative hookers, they simply display that building around a hooker who can consistently choose the right option from dummy half and distribute accurately is an essential part of building a good attacking side, not the defensive option you stated. In fact, if you look at the top 6 sides I think it's probably Wigan who are the least based around their hooker, and they are also the most defensive-based IMO.

How did leeds win 3 GF's with diskin as hooker?

I would be amazed if any club in the NRL wanted Danny Houghton.

Saying that, Michael Worrincy went over there......

Stick him with Webb, McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield then you have your pivots. Saying that they replaced him with Buderus.

And they're worse. You saying diskin > buderus?

Houghton is young, homegrown, off quota and a bone fide Super League player with a very good injury record. He will improve, because he seemingly also has a good attitude to his rugby.
What else do people want?!

I said that?

One man does not make a team. Leeds had important players all over the park and had been coached really well which is why they had their success.