I'd have to defend Clarke a bit in the Hudds example if I'm honest. It was the 'collective' laziness of the starting 13 which chose to continually stand off and invited quick ptb's. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before one of their quicker players walked through us.

As for the Cunningham one, its one of the reasons I'm not a Clarke fan. It was way too easy! The grab technique of his has found him wanting on many occasions.

I'd expect Riley to be taking over Hicks' place in the team by halfway through the season however.

Surely even the most deluded clarke fans want to see monas playing at 9. And unless they are blind they must admit that higham adds more to the team when coming off the bench. Even then they make statements like 'play clarke at LF'. The man's position is hooker and unfortunately for him we have two better ones. It's a bit like the riley conundrum, although he has been excellent we have better options when everyone is fit and he may not get a place.

Realistically where do you guys expect to finish next year? As in where do you see your squad in relation to the rest of the new top 4.

IMO Saints will finish top, Leeds and Wigan fighting it out for 2nd and yourselves fourth. But I wouldn't be suprised at all if you finished in 2nd ahead of us.

Top four again is minimum and I'd be happy with a top four finish given the strength of "the top fours" squads next year.

Do you think you've maybe missed your big chance for winning the league? No doubt you'll be there or thereabouts with Smith as your coach but you had your big recruitment year this year, and with an agein squad its unlikely to be as fortunate with regards to injuries to key players. I think Wigan and Saints will only get stronger (I hope) from here on in and Leeds have just had a very off year.

Not really, we've gone from tenth to third and as Smith has said we're a "work in progress" and will get better and win stuff over the next few years. I'm happy to keep moving up and progressing tiny bits each year, shows the work of a good club. Some will argue we are stronger than last year despite losing Vinnie, Mathers and Penny and recruiting Hodgson and some won't. For me, it's a top four finish then progress further in the Play Offs than we have this year and obviously previous years and hopefully have another decent crack at retaining the Challenge Cup.

I think most Clarke fans (whether deluded or not) do not rate Higham that highly as the nickname "One Trick Mick" appears very appropriate. Clarke's problem is that Monaghan can be so good that it's hard not to start Monaghan, so we even move Monaghan to 7 rather than not picking Clarke. I wonder if, after a full pre-season, Clarke may not start at 9 with Monaghan coming on after 25 minutes or so - and staying on. Clarke then providing later interchange in the back row. Smith will pick Clarke - we know he will - he's done it consistently since Clarke returned from injury.

The better impact hooker out of the two has got to be Higham, surely?

I still don't get the whole thing of an impact hooker. Surely the name just points to scooting.

I'd rather have a solid hooker who distributes the ball well for 80 minutes then scooting for half of it. Surely the impact should come from the fresh forwards who run the ball in hard and offload.

Personally, aside from the semi final, if we could go back again, i'd have started clarke at 7 and monas at 9,


Strangely, and even the most rabid of clarke haters would appreciate he fills in very very well at SH.

I will agree that he does play better at scrum half or even back row. That is why he should be a squad member (a bit like grix) and not an automatic choice for the first team which results in the best hooker in SL being played out of position.

Robs team is spot on for me. Although it's not necessarily harsh on Riley as he will get plenty of chances as Hodgson and Hicks won't be playing every game/every week next year I'm sure, plus if anyone doesn't perform in that back line Riles can come straight in and do a stellar job.

The 9 debate depends very much on the form of Myler for me, it will be interesting to see what the knock-on affect of being dropped from the Challenge Cup final will have on him for next year as he could struggle, missing out on a big -game at such delicate young age could genuinely affect his confidence and form. If so, Monas will slot in at 7, Clarkey gets the nod and then Myler may not get a look in for a good few weeks. However, Myler could go down to Australia with the England squad put the disappointment of the last few weeks with his club to the back of his mind, have a few very good games down-under and once again be up there as one of the hottest prospects in the game and more importantly come back to club buzzing with confidence and enthusiasm for the new season. Of course, it's all up in the air at the moment.

1. Hodgson
2. Hicks
3. Bridge
4. Atkins
5. King

6. Briers
7. Myler

8. Morley
9. Monaghan
10. Carvell
11. L Anderson
12. Westwood
13. clarke

14. Harrison
15. Wood
16. Solomona.
17. Higham

Imo Clarke should play at 13 as he is a ball player ,Harrison is a prop or 2nd row his ball distribution isn't good enough to be a 13 he also doesn't have a kicking game imo !

The number of fans who say this is amazing as Smith has done everything in his power to make sure Clarke plays. I think he will be a certainty for the 17 next season.

I still think there might be one more signing and that signing will be a certain specialist 13.

what does higham add what monas doesn't is that he is good impact from the bench and can chage the game like he did against huddersfield. what does clarke add what monas doesn't = nothing. moving monas to 7 to accomodate clarke might work once but t doesn't consistently. plus claarke is the only 1 of the 3 not to get offered a contract under smith.

Cunningham's made a lot of players look very stupid over the years. Both better and worse than Clarke. To be done by him from 2 yards out is no disgrace, he's made it his trademark try over 16 or so years...

That despite TS saying there won't be?

I think you'll find the best hooker in SL was selected for the Dream Team.

It's funny how depending what camp someone is in, they will harp on about Jon Clarke having a bad game in either the two play-off matches, while focussing on Micky Higham's (impressive) impact in the Giants match and ignoring the fact that he was our weakest player at Wembley; or ignore the fact that Michael Monaghan has been in very indifferent form since the semi final blindly calling him "the best hooker in SL"...

I can accept people just don't like Jon Clarke. It happens to players who do unglamorous work for many years without being flash about it. Look at Mike Wainwright as another derided by fans who didn't bother to actually watch what he put into a match...

I don't think anybody is ignoring monaghan's form since the semi as it has been poor by his usual standards. But, and this is only a hunch, i think it might have something to do with him playing at scrum half and not hooker.

Thats got nothing to do with monaghan not even playin hooker but playing half back????????????

Owned.

Monagan must play at 9.