News today that Hull FC have signed this guy on a 1 year deal as cover in the hooker position.

How did he do with you guys?

I guess we did lack depth at hooker if Houghton were to get injured so maybe he will do a job

You might get some interesting responses to this one

He did a job for us when we were struggling with injuries etc

Positives
He'll tackle ( attempt. ) everything
He'll give 100% when he's out there

Negatives
Slow
Slow play the ball
& in general probably not cut for SL (trying not to go overboard)

By all accounts he's a good lad though

He will give 100% and his defence is sometimes OK, every now and then putting on some big, aggressive hits. But will also miss quite a few.

He's also extremely slow and has the turning circle of the QE2. Any defence with good line speed would murder us as he took that long getting the ball to first receiver.

Like everyone else has , and will say, very commited, very slow (like painfully slow, gives the opposition time to have a brew before they set up their defensive line)

Very very inconsistent and at times didn't look good enough to play at super league level but then would be man of the match against the likes of Wigan, Leeds and Warrington.

I just couldn't work out how the handful of games he played well in was against the better clubs but was awful for 80% of the time.

Will offer nothing in attack and his defence at times is terrible.


Also, Shannon McDonnell has signed with wests.

Seems to be a 'big game player' as he always has his best games against the big clubs. As others have said 100% commitment but lacking technically in some areas.

As above. Looks crap (although effort is never in question) for he majority of games, but then used to come up with a stormer against big teams when we needed a result.

It may be that hooker isn't actually his best position.

Great - can't wait for him to pull on the Black and White shirt!!

Coming through the academy ranks at Wigan I thought that #13 was probably the position that suited him best.

The fact his distribution was slow off the floor was what most people complained about. If he's not at hooker, then this is a non issue.

Agree, his passing accuracy was o.k. but the speed of the pass from the floor wasn't good enough. To be fair he had a good work ethic and never shrugged his defensive duties.

Ultimately I think that whatever position he plays in he is always going to be limited by his lack of athleticism. He is an earnest, hard-working player, but just lacks the speed, agility and power to be anything more than a stop-gap SL player IMO.

I think Howarth is a perfect player for Hull just about his level. He looked slow with the ball at Saints but Hull are a bottom half of superleague side so should go well?

I honestly don't think he's a super league level player. Wigan, saints and Salford all didn't want him and I'm not surprised from some of the woeful performances I seen in the red V.

Think I actually quoted him as the worst player I'd seen put the red V on.

Shannon McDonnell has joined Wests Tigers on a trial contract.

you cant have been watching for very long then!!!

16yrs

I've been a regular for slightly longer and off the top of my head I can't remember many worse than him.

The ones that do jump out are Bryan Henare, Ricky Bibey, who ridiculously has a Challenge Cup medal from his time with us and I thought Damien Smith was awful too.

Don't think he's the worst, he did have a couple of ok games. As for contenders for worst Saints player I've seen: Chris Smith, Rickey Bibey, Josh Perry, Paul Davidson and Dom Feaunati (though I'm reluctant to include him because of that punch in the Good Friday '04 brawl)

I'll throw a few in;

Phil Adamson - absolute pap

Gray Viane, Tricky Trindall (the fact he never played doesn't help him), Wayne McDonald.

Paul Southern on loan, rubbish

Could go on & that's just Super League era.

I don't think he was the worse player playing in the red V, for a bit more accuracy probably the worse hooker in the red V.
We also need to factor in also that he also was shifted to half back and back 3 forward as well, so Brown very much used him as a stop gap to cover for our injury problems.

Leon Felton. Man, he was rubbish.

I think all the players mentioned above were better than Howarth

Southport Saint you clearly never seen 'we signed the wrong brother' Phil Adamson play for us !

I stand by my opinion