Lunt higham and roby are the three hookers who should be picked imo.with the option of burrow and sinfield at certain periods as they will be in the squad.thats not to knock houghton or mickey mac who are very good hookers in there own right and wouldnt let anyone down, we just have a lot of depth in this position at the moment,shame we cant have the same debate on half backs.

Chase
Widdop
Smith
Burrow
Sinfield
Myler

We are probably the best position half back wise for years.

Sinfield could well get the nod at 9 with Roby from the bench. It's probably the position Sinfield put his best international performances in to date so it wouldn't be a surprise.

I'm obviously biased but I think McIlorum is an ideal test match No 9. His form had been a bit like Wigans though so that may rule him out but he's a big game player. He is as tough as they come, his distribution has come on a bundle and he'd get stuck in to the Aussies. They certainly wouldn't enjoy facing him a bit like they didn't like facing Terry Newton.

Guys like Lunt and Higham have had superb seasons but their scooting style of play wouldn't harm the Aussies. Even Roby has never had that much joy against them in that regard.

Is this for real or just ground bait. Roby does not scoot like he use to, but his distribution, kicking game and vision is a lot better since he won man of steel.
He still does more yardage, tackles and try assists more than any other 9. Don't let his injuries this season cloud your judgement of him.

All about opinions. I don't doubt what you say about him, and at one time I would whole heartedly agree he was world class. But from what I've seen of him these last couple of seasons, he's still a good player, but world class he ain't.

Comfortably world class and streets ahead of any other English 9.

I honestly can't believe some people are advocating not picking him, club bias at it's very best.

Totally agree. He's evolved into a far better player than he was when he was simply an 'impact' hooker. He's a machine, his work rate is phenomenal.

I can see him playing hooker for the longest duration with Sinfield dropping in there for 15 minutes or so in each half, both to give him a breather and also to mix things up a bit.

I'm guessing because in the Hull's big games (Wire and Catalans) in the run up to the cup final he was superb. Agree with you though, not international class.

Hope Roby comes good in the play-offs as I think we need him. Interested to see who can share the berth with him though as I think it's hard to separate the likes of Higham (maybe too similar to Roby), McIlorum, Houghton and Lunt. Hopefully it won't be Rob Burrow!

It's a good point about Sinfield as well - he's been good at 9 but can you justify playing a stand-off there ahead of all those candidates?

For me; Sinfield, Roby and Chase should start if fit. Then either a half-back or hooker on the bench depending if you want to spell Roby or one of the halves.

No he doesn't. Houghton has been top tackler in the league 2 of the last 3 seasons. Houghtons overall game is superb. He scoots, has a good kicking game, is a quick thinker. Unfortunately for him, his distribution is poor in comparison to Lunt and Roby, and as such, shouldn't get the nod. I'd go Lunt and Higham myself.

I think Mcllorum put himself in front of Lunt for selection, on last nights performance

Agree with MMc and also feel we need an in your face hooker v Australia, higham or Roby to partner him with the play offs dictating who gets it

Mickey Mac for me

I feel MM misses too many tackles IMHO.

He does hit the hardest, but its not great creaming one player, then letting another go passed you. Has the tendency to lose his head when things are going against him, lets fact it, against the Aussies and Kiwis there will be times when things aren't going our way. He was the better player out of him and Lunt last night, but I'd personally choose Lunt.

Think McNamara will use Roby/MM/ and Sinfield as his hookers though

I'd tend to agree, he undoubtedly hits the hardest, and is far and away the most aggressive defender, however he was caught out three times last night being well out of position in the middle of the field, to allow players to go past him. No disrespect to Huddersfield, but the Kiwi's and the Aussies will take even greater advantage of that.

Assuming Roby can prove his fitness over the next couple of weeks he is a shoe in at 9 for me. It wouldn't surprise me to see McNamara use Roby starting, Sinfield moving up to hooker to spell Roby with Widdop/ANO half on the bench. I would prefer to see Lunt/Higham on the bench though.

Just wondered if you have changed your opinion of him or maybe you are spell blind by his wizardry against HKR.

James Roby was superb yesterday.

Not much competition for me, Roby all the way, and with Sinfield somewhere he can cover if needed.

The only other options I'd be tempted by would be:

a) Little runner on the bench - Burrow or Robinson, but I wouldn't do this against a big pack, we need the hooker to be a defender. Burrow has great technique (with leg tackles) imo, and Robinson is a great defender for his size, but you just can't replace raw size and strength sometimes.

b) McIlorum to start for a brutal opening defence, then bring on Roby at 15-20mins and leave him on for the rest of the match. McIlorum can cover loose (Burgess to the front row) if needed too.

He played very well last night. But let's face it we made him look good at the same time too. Any of the hookers we've been talking about would of had a field day against our defence yesterday. But as I say if it makes you feel any better, he played very well.

I said McIlorum would be an ideal 9 for test match rugby the other day but that his form was poor. Well he's back now and he showed on Thursday what he can bring. He will rush out and miss the odd tackle as he try's to pull off some big hits but as long as the players around him are switched on you can compensate for that.

If he keeps that form up now I'd edge towards him starting with Roby coming on after 20-25 minutes.

Roby is far better than anyone else and is good enough to do the 80. If you are looking for something different in the 17 then Burrow is the best as an interchange, just don't play him for too long or his inadequate defence will get exploited. As a replacement for Roby if he was injured Houghton or Lunt to do the long minutes, McIlorum is decent but far from great and over rated thanks to having a great team around him and his thuggery won't frighten the Aussies and Kiwis.

I hear that about a lot of Wigans players yet we're a good side because of lads like McIlorum. To suggest he's simply riding the back of others talents is utter drivel. He along with Sean O'Loughlin are the heartbeat of the Wigan pack and team because they set a frantic tempo for the other forwards to follow which allows some quality backs to do their thing.

Ask any Wigan fan, staff member or player how good this guy is and they'll sing his praises to the hilt. I'd suggest opposition players would give him a ringing endorsement as well and tell you how tough it is to play against him.

James Roby is world class, the best hooker we have and he'll be heavily involved but McIlorum would be a cracking foil for him.

Roby is our best 9 in the country, no doubt about that. But he excels when his forwards are dominating and he gets a quick PTB. We won't get that against Australia and we won't get that against NZ. So Roby's strengths are somewhat neutralised unfortunately. The Aussies aren't stupid, they know how to beat us, it's by controlling the ruck, using their better techniques to slow the tempo down and not allow Roby to work.

Sadly there's no real alternative

But every hooker looks better when their forwards are dominating and will suffer if their team ruck is slowed?

To re iterate, Roby is far from just a scooting hooker. He's matured into a very well rounded 9.

McIlorum is a good hooker. I think one of the reasons that Wigan have done so well over the past few years is that players coming in are often genuinely skilled in their position, rather than some squad players who are more general rugby players who happen to play in that position. Goulding is another example of this, not many people would rave about him as his not 6'4" of lightening quick, but he's a good centre, got the centre skills and when he's in a position he'll generally do things the way a coach would want. McIlorum is generally like this, imo.
A few years back, Saints had a hooker called Bernard Dwyer. I thought he was great. Tough, busy, seemed to have a decent pass. I was young and hadn't been watching the game long, so my obvious saints bias wouldn't allow me to understand why one of my favourite players never got picked in the international sides. Looking back, Barney was a good player, but there were just better hookers about. I'd suggest McIlorum has a lot in common with Dwyers situation (and probably isn't a dissimilar player).