Jason Smith was pure class, a fantastic player, Swain an all round pro, hard to pick between the two.
Richie Barnett was a pleasure to watch, Cooke was a fine player for us, Best, Maher theres been a few, my top three would be Smith, Swain and Horne!

I would consider the best player to be the complete package on and off the pitch, like Richard Swain was.Cooke was a great player for us but the model pro he definitely was not.

Jason Smith - Best Player
Richard Swain - Best Signing

Agree with that and a special mention to Shayne McMenemy for the unsung star. Its no coincidence we had so much success when he was in the back row.

It's been discussed to death hasnt it about his off field antics, however, on the field i think he's up there in the top 5 players of the noughties for us, if it weren't for him leaving in the manner he did i think a lot more people would be mentioning him along with Smith and Swain.

Paul Cooke learnt a hell of a lot from Jason Smith and might not have been the player he became without his influence. I remember Smith totally running many a game for Hull with Cooke and Horne playing the support act and doing as they were told.

Tony Grimaldi deserves a mention also for the professionalism he brought to the team in the early years.

I remember in his early games Cooke had Tony Smith playing at 7 too which massively helped him at the time. Agree that Cooke learnt a lot from Smith (including some of the bad habits)

As i say, it's a shame that people memories of Cooke are tainted by him walking out like he did.

Cooke had a couple of years of quality where he helped Hull to major finals and was on the verge of GB recognition. People shouldnt forget that but I wonder if he regrets the way his career has gone since then. I am not turning this into a Rovers slanging match but Paul Cooke is at his best guiding teams round the park as the main pivot IMO.

A great player does well no matter what team he is at. Cooke has shown he is not a great player since being at Rovers.

Swain gets my vote only just shading Smith though. Very hard to choose between them

But the topic is our best player of the noughties not overall great players, otherwise Kearney would get a mention and Richie Barnett would be higher up the list.

I still would not have Cooke above Swain or Smith though. He would probably be my 3rd choice.

I wouldnt have him above them either, i'd have him in my top 5.