Topliss or Mackey probably Topliss just shades it for ...........the runaround........ Have it Widnes!!!!!!

My dad talked about Eddie Caswell being a stand-off and Whitty a scrum-half. I only saw Caswell as a Coach and trainer post WW2.

Whitty is listed as stand off in the archives, even his position for the 1924 tourist side to play in Australia lists him as 'off half', I presume Caswell started at off half before Whitty started playing in the first team (whitty only making 3 appearances in their first 3 years at the club) & at times maybe were used where required but as a partnership (150 games) Caswell is described as being the scrum half.

In alphabetical order :

Ah Kuoi
Hancock
Mackey
Newlove
Topliss

i've left this thread for a while as i feared it would get buried under the post match reaction

i'll do the 5 nominations based on the recommendations tomorrow

looking at the old team line ups it appears caswell moved to scrum half later to accommodate whitty at stand off, but in reality they were both first and foremost 6's when they started. as caswell played more at 7 (from what i can see in the archive team info) we'll have him in the scrum half category. there is a record of whitty also playing at centre in the 1923 cc final but this could have been due to injuries

ok here are the 5 nominees

1. Stan Whitty. a local product whitty came through the ranks in the early 20s and went on to play 271 games for hull scoring 67 tries over 12 seasons. he featured in the yorkshire cup winning team and also in the 1923 challenge cup final defeat, though he played at centre in this game.

2. Brian Hancock. a loyal one club man. hancock's career spanned 15 years, which on the whole were lean times for both the club and the game in general. he scored 107 tries for the black and whites and featured prominently in the 1976 JP cup run, and was on the losing side in the 1980 challenge cup final. he also achieved 2 promotions with hull from division 2 and was the only player to play in the notorious sub 1000 crowd game in 1975 and the 95000 sell out cup final in 1980

3. David Topliss. signed from wakefield in 1981, toppo went on to play 4 seasons with hull scoring 56 tries in 120 matches. he is the only player to captain hull to both the league title and challenge cup. in total topliss skippered hull to 6 major finals. he is perhaps best known for his man of the match performance in the 1982 challenge cup final replay when he scored 2 tries. passed away in 2008 after suffering a heart attack in a 5 a side football match aged 58.

4. Greg Mackey. the aussie playmaker signed for hull in 1989 and was a prominent figure in the mini revival of the club's fortunes under brian smith. he played 95 games for the club scoring 18 tries and was captain from 1990 to 1992. won the harry sunderland trophy as man of the match in the 1991 premiership final at old trafford. passed away from cancer in 2014.

5. Richard Horne. another 1 club man, horne made his debut as a 16 year old in 1999 against leeds. went on to play 387 games scoring 134 tries and ended his career in 2014 1 short of 500 points. won the challenge cup in 2005 and appeared in the final of 2008 as well as the grand final in 2006. holds the club record for scoring tries in consecutive matches (13).

as ever these are only the suggested nominees. if you think there is a player missed off or want a player dropped please speak up, but remember you have to make out a case for inclusion or exclusion. it would also help if you state which player you would drop out of the 5, or if you want a player removed, who you would like to replace him with

I agree with those nominations. Interestingly given the relatively short FC careers of 2 of the (well deserved) nominees and compared to the depth at full back and centre it highlights that settled quality players in the halves has never been a Hull tradition.

Why was the crowd restricted to 95,000? Came over from Aus for the match but must have missed the reason as Wembley at that time could hold 100,000. Was at the Wigan v St Helens Final in 1966 when the crowd was over 98,000 and also came over again in 1985 for Hull v Wigan when the crowd was just short of 100,000.

If I recall correctly at the time due to RL being a family sport the attendance was restricted to 95000. The FA cup final was always 100,000 but crowd demographics different. The nature of the Hull final meant it was going to attract families and mixed families at that. Meaning it was safer to reduce the crowd.
This is only from memory and no hard facts, but I'm sure I'm not far wrong.

The capacity was raised especially for the 1985 final due to high demand.

1985 Hull v Wigan att. 99,801 (segregation abandoned due to an unprecedented demand for tickets)- it certainly wouldn't happen these days!

David Topliss for me.

Didn't see Topliss play for Hull in the UK but saw him when he came to Aus with the GB team and his seasons at Balmain. Similarly the case with Garry Schofield who later followed Topliss along the same path. Comparing the 2 of them at Stand Off I rated Schofield well ahead of Topliss and in my best all time team Schofield would be the No 6 even though he never played in that position for Hull.

Of the listed choices, however, Topliss would be my selection.

excellent stuff. i'll get the vote sorted tomorrow and also do an update on the way the team is shaping up so far