What happened to Brad Parker - he played England academy didn't he - but seems to have gone quiet?

Howarth actually played virtually all his rugby for Wakefield in 2011 at loose forward and prior to that switched between there and stand off in Wigans academy. He only really started playing hooker when at Salford a couple of seasons back.

Fairly happy with the signing . good squad player. If we had signed Roby as cover some on here would moan about it

Can't be a bad thing this signing. Even if Cunningham turns out to be really good we would still need cover. Howarth is pretty experienced and a good age. I've not seen loads of him but he has looked ok on the occasions I have. Obviously Salford don't rate him, hopefully it turns out to be another Marc Sneyd situation.

Salford didn't rate Marc Sneyd either. Tells me all I need to know.

Welcome to Hull and the negative crew.

I'd rather we did it this way - be proactive & get a cheap backup hooker in now, have him training with the squad getting to know our plays and what not, with them ready to fill in at the drop of a hat.

The other option you mentioned is doable, and we've done that in the past, but isn't that effective IMO. How long would this loanee they take to get up to speed, are they any good, how quickly can they get here.

One word that seems to be popping on here a lot is 'depth', seems to be a major talking point when describing the squad. I wonder if after another poor season will we all be hearing about the lack of real quality players brought into the squad?

I think that problem exists now tbh. Too much depth and not enough quality. Too may FBS, Too many Wingers and not one world class player

Because on paper our first choice 17 has been good year after year. But injuries, fatigue and general lack of competition has seen us fade into obscurity after showing promise.

We have strengthened the one area that we were really lacking, signed a top class back rower who should add a bit of steel to a pack that at times last season seemed to be just 4 guys standing and watching Ellis and Westerman do all the work, and added some speed in the back line.

It's obvious that the club is changing its approach and putting more emphasis on youth development. But if your club is happy to carry on with 5 Aussies in 5 Aussies out every season then I'm not going to complain.

Do you not consider Ellis to be world class? He's not what he was 5 years ago, but if he hadn't retired from internationals he would still be one of the first names on the team sheet.

Besides how many world class players are knocking about Super league these days?

Can only see him being as successful as 2014's last minute 'bargain bucket' signing Liam Colbon but hope to be proved wrong!

I think many will disagree with on the first point.

If we had signed a player of Howarth standard we would have criticized left right and centre from fans of FC, just another average signing blocking a young kids path. Well now it's happened in the case with young Cunningham who gained plenty of SL experience last season and should be all the better for it.

You have. You've signed a total unknown and a huge gamble. Boudebza.

Yes but we only had one recognised hooker.