All though if Shauls fit, id have him on bench instead of Cunningham, spell Houghton and really speed things up from the ruck

We'd struggle defensively as hookers are supposed to be able to tackle.

Hes a full back, surely he can tackle? And hopefully we'll be doing more attacking than defending, or may need to in second half if behind

Good job that Rob burrow t tackle when he comes on at hooker, leeds would of destroyed us in that second half if he could!

Hooker is very specialist position, I don't understand why fans think anyone will a bit of speed can play there, no other teams would use full backs at hooker. We saw against Leeds that Rankin didn't work at hooker.

If we need another hooker it should be Cunningham on the bench.

Yes it can be quite confusing asking a rugby player to come on when defences are tiring and pick the ball up from dummy half and run forward! I don't agree with playing players out of position , but I do think you need your best players on the field and I think Shauil offers much more than Cunningham. Greg Inglis, Darius Boyd, Jarryd Hayne to mention a few wouldn't have played a game for Australia if you didn't make exceptions

Not at hooker he doesn't, Cunningham is a better defender and distributer.

Hooking isn't just about running the ball or Kevin Penny would be playing there.

I agree about Shaul playing though, we should have tried Rankin in the centres in pre-season, if it had worked we could have two our our better attacking players in the side rather than one sat in the stands.

I'd be amazed if Shaul couldn't do a job as an interchange Hooker and cover other positions. If its a choice between Shaul or Cunningham on the bench, Shaul gets my vote all day long

They're supposed to be able to think and pass too but we make do.
Shaul on the bench isn't ideal but I agree that we need our best players in the 17 not in the stand. Rankin could move up to 9 and Shaul take over at FB in order to spell Houghton and he would also give us cover across the three quarters.

Shaul can tackle. But can he pass effectively?

This is where we need an attack coach... to highlight & improve weaknesses in a player's game.

It's really not. I can tell you that Shaul's passing isn't great, and I reckon I could improve it if I worked with him, but I'm certainly not a coach. It's just a case of practice and technique.

An attacking coach will look at the team as a whole, working on set plays, players roles, option runners, suppoting the ball etc. He wouldn't and shouldn't be dealing with specific skills like how to pass a ball correctly.

Thank god somebody has brought this up. Shaul would be terrible at 9 for ANY amount of time for this very reason.

totally agree, we dont want to go down the round peg square hole route imo, for me cunningham should be given a crack