Please put forward your suggestions for the stand off position. as it is a single position there will be 5 nominations. i think it is fair to say that this is a position we haven't always been traditionally strong in over the years, but its up to you to prove otherwise

Dave Topliss

Wayne Portlock



Gary Lester

[size=150Greg Mackey[/size

Bluey

Probably one of the most straight forward choices.

David Topliss. One of our greats even though we didn't sign him until he was 31 and he was only at the club for four seasons. But what an amazing four seasons they were.

Think I'm right in saying he was the only Hull captain to lead us to Championship and Challenge Cup success.

My first choice thinking quick would be topliss , but what does Horne come under , scrum half ?

Bit controversial, but does paul cooke qualify??

I'd have thought so seen as he played stand off for hull , but in my eyes always played the scrum half role .

Difficult one this as we haven't had anyone playing there for a long time at the highest level. Some good 2-3 season players but no 5 years plus top class players I can think of. I agree about Topliss and Mackey. As has been mentioned what does Horne count as? If he is a stand off then a definite contender.

yeah horne is going in the stand off role, he played 7 for a while as well as other positions but think he played 6 more than the other positions. he's got to slot in somewhere so 6 it is. and he was at 6 during the cup winning season (cooke 13 and brough 7)

Toppo is an obvious one but I'll add a few from the past for people to consider (& isn't deliberate in leaving out Horne & Mackey just that people know loads about them)

Dave Topliss, for most of us not much to say, mercurial, brave, a real thinkers no.6 able to unlock defences at will. Never got the recognition at Wakey as they became an unfashionable club and lesser stand off's got the nod ahead of him at international level far too often only getting 4 GB caps (+2 England call ups). Played at Balmain & Penrith for a season each.
120 appearances(7 sub), 56 tries + 2DG

Stan Whitty, a local lad whom formed a memorable partnership with Eddie Caswell in the 1920s (150 games together), helped Hull to the CC final in his first proper season after coming through the ranks as a youngster and gained a Yorkshire cup winners and losers medal in his 12 seasons scoring 67 tries in his 271 appearances (only 3 appearances in his 1st season & none for the next 2 years!)

Ernie Lawrence, a Blenkin Street & St.Mary's school product WWII came just at the wrong time! after a promising 38/39 season his war service meant only 1 game over the following 4 years, but on his return was a stalwart in a chopping & changing Hull side amassing 265 appearances & 56 tries (+3goals) over a third of his tries (21) came in a magnificent 46/47 season. His only medal/reps being a losing Yorkshire cup & 2 Yorkshire appearances.

Ernie Herbert, Wakefield lad whom joined us as at 18 from Osset RU. An exciting creative half he was inspirational in Hulls 1935/36 season which saw us defeat Widnes to claim our first championship in 15 years. Rep'd for England scoring a try on his debut he also played for Yorkshire before WWII though played a surprising amount of games in the war league. Played 10 years for the club scoring 76 tries in 212 appearances (+6goals), didn't play any games after 1942/43 season and died shortly after being demobbed.

Fred ah kuoi, one of the toughest backs in the game, came to us at the end of his career after a few attempts to lure him. Fred rep'd at the age of 18 for the NZ Maori's and was Captain or Vice captain of the Kiwis for almost a decade. One of the most talented No.6s to pull on the B&W shirt but played a lot at centre due to Toppo being in the side, though reverted to the 6 role in two finals including the 85 defeat to Wigan. Scored 28 tries in 126 appearances.

Brian Hancock, under-rated and loyal servent over 15 years to the club at a time when we were oft yo-yo-ing between the newly formed two division system. Scoring 107 tries, 26 goals & 18 DG in 410 appearances (8th in the all time list) Hancock was as honest a clubman as you could want. Solid & reliable player with a deft turn of speed, playing at centre for the most part in the 78/79 season he won a Yorkshire cup medal in 69/70, losers medal in the shock JP final in '76 & again a losers medal in the CC final of 1980 + 3 Yorkshire reps.

Id say horne has to be in the list somewhere, his dedication alone should get him a spot, plus in and around 05 & 06 he was arguably the best 6 in the comp for me

Horne was an international winger

Regarding Horne and what position he plays. Will we be voting separately for bench players or just selecting those that came closest to being selected for the starting spots? Horne would be a very strong candidate for the replacement bench because in addition to his half back skills he was a very good full back - and as has been stated an international winger

Rolly Moat top try scorer but be Toppo for me

Topliss the best for me, but others to mention in my time would have to be Cooke, Ah Koui and Horne. Brian Hancock had the shirt when I first went to games and he was very under rated. But as we are picking the best it has to be Toppo.

was going to use the closest to being selected method but i am tempted to have a proper vote on the sub spots. i'll throw it open to debate nearer the time

David Toppliss got be a nailed on cert for No 6. He looked great amongst a team full of greats. Brian Hancock the first player I saw who made the game look easy. Rich Horne simply for his loyalty and determination

Topliss or Mackey probably Topliss just shades it for ...........the runaround........ Have it Widnes!!!!!!

My dad talked about Eddie Caswell being a stand-off and Whitty a scrum-half. I only saw Caswell as a Coach and trainer post WW2.

Whitty is listed as stand off in the archives, even his position for the 1924 tourist side to play in Australia lists him as 'off half', I presume Caswell started at off half before Whitty started playing in the first team (whitty only making 3 appearances in their first 3 years at the club) & at times maybe were used where required but as a partnership (150 games) Caswell is described as being the scrum half.

In alphabetical order :

Ah Kuoi
Hancock
Mackey
Newlove
Topliss

i've left this thread for a while as i feared it would get buried under the post match reaction



i'll do the 5 nominations based on the recommendations tomorrow

looking at the old team line ups it appears caswell moved to scrum half later to accommodate whitty at stand off, but in reality they were both first and foremost 6's when they started. as caswell played more at 7 (from what i can see in the archive team info) we'll have him in the scrum half category. there is a record of whitty also playing at centre in the 1923 cc final but this could have been due to injuries

ok here are the 5 nominees

1. Stan Whitty. a local product whitty came through the ranks in the early 20s and went on to play 271 games for hull scoring 67 tries over 12 seasons. he featured in the yorkshire cup winning team and also in the 1923 challenge cup final defeat, though he played at centre in this game.

2. Brian Hancock. a loyal one club man. hancock's career spanned 15 years, which on the whole were lean times for both the club and the game in general. he scored 107 tries for the black and whites and featured prominently in the 1976 JP cup run, and was on the losing side in the 1980 challenge cup final. he also achieved 2 promotions with hull from division 2 and was the only player to play in the notorious sub 1000 crowd game in 1975 and the 95000 sell out cup final in 1980

3. David Topliss. signed from wakefield in 1981, toppo went on to play 4 seasons with hull scoring 56 tries in 120 matches. he is the only player to captain hull to both the league title and challenge cup. in total topliss skippered hull to 6 major finals. he is perhaps best known for his man of the match performance in the 1982 challenge cup final replay when he scored 2 tries. passed away in 2008 after suffering a heart attack in a 5 a side football match aged 58.

4. Greg Mackey. the aussie playmaker signed for hull in 1989 and was a prominent figure in the mini revival of the club's fortunes under brian smith. he played 95 games for the club scoring 18 tries and was captain from 1990 to 1992. won the harry sunderland trophy as man of the match in the 1991 premiership final at old trafford. passed away from cancer in 2014.

5. Richard Horne. another 1 club man, horne made his debut as a 16 year old in 1999 against leeds. went on to play 387 games scoring 134 tries and ended his career in 2014 1 short of 500 points. won the challenge cup in 2005 and appeared in the final of 2008 as well as the grand final in 2006. holds the club record for scoring tries in consecutive matches (13).

as ever these are only the suggested nominees. if you think there is a player missed off or want a player dropped please speak up, but remember you have to make out a case for inclusion or exclusion. it would also help if you state which player you would drop out of the 5, or if you want a player removed, who you would like to replace him with