I've been singing Hodgson's praises all season; I think he has been terrific. Like you, I never thought he looked anything special at HKR, but he has really kicked on in the NRL.

McIlorum is a very good player. There is a misconception that opposition fans don't rate him but that isn't true - they just feel the need to correct the Wigan fans who continually try to compare McIlorum favourably to Roby.

I think the 'more tackles = better player' is a bit of a red herring here given that anyone lending their weight to a tackle gets it counted in their stats. Mickeys job isn't to lead the tackle count (we rely on Farrell & Lockers for that) or be that classic terrier like hooker, its to set an aggressive line speed and be the first man in the tackle with heavy contact. That's why we drop off in intensity so much when he's off the field.

Also he's improved immeasurably in his reading of the game in attack especially in his running & kicking from dummy half.

He's not the finished article but we'll really see the best of him when the numbers of substitutions go down and hookers are forced to do longer minutes.



PS - that's not to bag on Roby etc who are all quality but IMO offer their team something different from what Mickey brings us.

England certainly need a hooker capable of playing 80 minutes if possible. Its a big drain on your bench to have to put a hooker there because you know you must rotate them. Its no coincidence that Cameron Smith plays 80 minutes every week, and Isaac Luke can also (though he does get rested sometimes).

not well as MM is far far better

No way.

Maybe better than Clarke, depends what you want from a hooker. No chance he's better than Roby or Aiton (or Josh Hodgson) though.

Seems he got his contract extended as Leeds asked about his availability after Aiton got injured, wouldn't swop him for any of the ones above including Mr Roby!

I never said Roby