Hooker

[cpwigan]

Roby is a fantastic player. I do think being able to interchange with KC helped him enormously in terms of keeping his body / bones healthy. Other than his amazing workrate (some very frightening tackle counts) I was always impressed with the evasion skills Roby developed whereby he would often twist the tackle sometimes to be facing what seemed the wrong direction but it allowed him to twist / turn and ride / break tackles.

Mac was / is a fantastic hooker with so much unrealised potential. Tough as they come and he came to this club with the most fantastic tackle technique albeit whilst legally hurting opponents it hurt him too. Fans forget that the body is not fit for sports like RL, even football. No matter how fit and strong you make yourself you pay the price later in life. Hence, why so many greats have 'plastic' joints and/or walking aids.

As a young academy player Mac had a sniper like hint at passing and straight through the gap himself. He can still have that. Madge added aspects to his game too. He even had a kicking game. If you want Mac to be a thug / hardman then that is what you get but he is so s much more than that if allowed to be.

[menpond]

Given MMs age and the upcoming schedule,we ought to find out if LT is up to the job. Personally I hope he is.Mind you ,if we play like we did against LEEDS ,ie not contesting the forward battle ,how difficult does that make the no 9s job?He is always going back.

[Southern Softy]

I've personally never really rated Mac always thought he was such a limited number 9, average distribution, no pace, and not the cleverest upstairs especially rugby brain wise

Do you rate Roby?

I do, I wish Wigan had signed him as a junior. I think he is one of the few hookers of his generation who could have made it in the NRL.

And yet they never seemed to want him. Funny that!

[markill]

Do you rate Roby?

I do, I wish Wigan had signed him as a junior. I think he is one of the few hookers of his generation who could have made it in the NRL.

....and yet MM consistently outplays him!!

In one or two games a year he might. Roby is outstanding with great consistency. Not a knock on McIlorum as he can't help it but fans get carried away with this idea that he is better than Roby because Roby has had some quiet games against Wigan. Roby is the best 9 in the competition and has been for the entire time McIlorum has been playing. Would I swap them? Probably not, McIlorum does the job for us and although a little out of touch this year he's been a top player. Is McIlorum better than Roby? No.

[markill]

Don't want people to think I'm McIlorum bashing, because at his best he's a player you wouldn't replace. So I thought I would give some numbers on hookers from 2015. McIlorum, Roby, Tomkins and the average for all hookers so far.

Tackles made per game: MM:26 JR:35 LT:21 Average hooker:25
(you'd expect JR to have more as he is one of few 80min hookers at the moment, although he hasn't played 80m in his last 3 games. MM usually plays around 50mins)

Tackle success: MM:89.7% JR:95.5% LT:96.6% Ah:92.6%

Runs from dummy half per game: MM:10.5 JR:12 LT:6 Ah:6.9

Tackle busts: MM:4 JR:7 LT:2

Clean breaks: MM:0 JR:2 LT:0

MM is only one of the three wth a try, in total 29 tries from hookers so far in 2015.

JR has 5 try assists, MM has 2, LT has 0, in total hookers have 29 try assists.

[Kaii]

Don't want people to think I'm McIlorum bashing, because at his best he's a player you wouldn't replace. So I thought I would give some numbers on hookers from 2015. McIlorum, Roby, Tomkins and the average for all hookers so far.

Tackles made per game: MM:26 JR:35 LT:21 Average hooker:25
(you'd expect JR to have more as he is one of few 80min hookers at the moment, although he hasn't played 80m in his last 3 games. MM usually plays around 50mins)

Tackle success: MM:89.7% JR:95.5% LT:96.6% Ah:92.6%

Runs from dummy half per game: MM:10.5 JR:12 LT:6 Ah:6.9

Tackle busts: MM:4 JR:7 LT:2

Clean breaks: MM:0 JR:2 LT:0

MM is only one of the three wth a try, in total 29 tries from hookers so far in 2015.

JR has 5 try assists, MM has 2, LT has 0, in total hookers have 29 try assists.

TBH so far this season none of our players have shined plus Micky seems to be still carrying some sort of injury problem. Not an excuse but you cant really compare a team flying in the league with other with obvious problems that need sorting out.
Maybe at the end of the season a stat attack would be interesting

[markill]

Don't want people to think I'm McIlorum bashing, because at his best he's a player you wouldn't replace. So I thought I would give some numbers on hookers from 2015. McIlorum, Roby, Tomkins and the average for all hookers so far.

Tackles made per game: MM:26 JR:35 LT:21 Average hooker:25
(you'd expect JR to have more as he is one of few 80min hookers at the moment, although he hasn't played 80m in his last 3 games. MM usually plays around 50mins)

Tackle success: MM:89.7% JR:95.5% LT:96.6% Ah:92.6%

Runs from dummy half per game: MM:10.5 JR:12 LT:6 Ah:6.9

Tackle busts: MM:4 JR:7 LT:2

Clean breaks: MM:0 JR:2 LT:0

MM is only one of the three wth a try, in total 29 tries from hookers so far in 2015.

JR has 5 try assists, MM has 2, LT has 0, in total hookers have 29 try assists.

TBH so far this season none of our players have shined plus Micky seems to be still carrying some sort of injury problem. Not an excuse but you cant really compare a team flying in the league with other with obvious problems that need sorting out.
Maybe at the end of the season a stat attack would be interesting

Reasonable point. After work I'll put up the 2014 ones too if you like.

[Kaii]

Reasonable point. After work I'll put up the 2014 ones too if you like.

That would be good, don't get me wrong Roby is quality but i prefer Micky's style of play. Roby imo only shines when the halves are playing well and running the game.

[Kaii]

Enjoying the new podcasts btw, you two are excellent

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Reasonable point. After work I'll put up the 2014 ones too if you like.

That would be good, don't get me wrong Roby is quality but i prefer Micky's style of play. Roby imo only shines when the halves are playing well and running the game.

With you all the way Kaii!!

For me Roby looks the better BUT in the big games he is usually found wanting were as MM stands up!! Would I swap MM for Roby, no way!!

As I said before, MM plays the GF we win, even with 12 v 13!!