Not knocking Houghton (I really rate him), but he is normally the 2nd or 3rd guy in a tackle - so the stats may be misleading

On Sunday he was the first man in on most occasions, also the stats are based on first man in not the second man.

Are they? I've never seen any detail published on how the stats are collected so I'd be genuinely interested if you could point me in the direction of where you got that info.

You should watch Phil Clark more

The same question was raised and officially the tackle is based on the first defender in, hardly brain science though is it when you watch the game closely, Lynch is involved in a lot of tackles but he is normally the 2nd man in due to the pace of the game, this is reflected in his stats as it is a lot of forwards.

Whether the stats say he's "the best defender in the league" or not (which they don't), there are loads of hookers in the league that I'd take over Houghton.

Loads?
Roby, Henderson, Monaghan, McIllorum and of course Aiton are the only ones I would take over Houghton possibly Moore too. But considering Henderson and Monas are getting on there would be question marks about them also. Robinson, Lunt, and Faiumu are good hookers too.