Dry and mild temperature forecast, we've also offered the terrible duo Hicks and Thaler a free nosh before the game.

A sniff of the thin oxygen at the top of the table is sending you lot daft, nay delusional, Houghton is the equal of Roby, just does the job subtly different. Next you'll be saying Barba is world class and on a par with Lyons and Meninga ...oh wait your lot already have!




last season he was rubbish, this seasons he's doing well in a very good saints outfit, it's a bit like saying that turncoat Castleford winger was the standout player in 2016. He's not a standout when the team isn't doing well, that's Roby.

And in any case a crack head like him shouldn't even be playing in this country, it's a disgrace he even got a visa. He'll be gone soon enough and then Hemmings can stop with the crusty sock over him

Houghton overated, don't talk daft. Cocky saints are back, been missing for two years. I expect you to win, you could even win comfy, you are playing well, but so did Cas last year and Warrington the year before, you are certainly beatable just as Leeds with half there team out showed.

I see your point about Litten, but Houghton is fresh and will more than likely play the 80, so Washy offers utility, I think Litten will start getting more gametime next year though.

Griffin who has been excellent should start on the wing, too much of a risk in the backrow where he is untested. Logan unlucky not to get more gametime this year, I'm sure his chance will come

I wouldn't take the baiting of AS108, most saints fans are expecting a tough game but are expecting Barba to be the difference between the 2 sides. Hope there a lot of Hull Fans coming over.

Yeah you have a great record against us in the last few years



Scousers are hilarious

I think the saints pitch being like a ploughed field will benefit the home side

Mainly because I think Houghton is our best hooker by a distance and we'll be better served by having on the pitch for 80 mins.

If Radders is intending to spell Houghton then I'd go with Litten over Washbrook.

Yes, because a bad pitch does benefit the side who actually want to play rugby instead of 5 drives down the middle.

If Houghton is the equal of Roby then why does one have 25+ England Caps and the other 0. Roby is world class, Houghton isn’t. The part in bold is the most ludicrous statement I’ve ever seen, he’s literally carried bang average saints sides for near on 10 years. Also, he’s well known for not being as noticed as much as he should be. As for Houghton he’s only started playing well when he’s had the team around him doing the same. Roby could play in virtually any NRL side, Houghton definitely couldn’t. Roby is one of the best in the world, Houghton isn’t even the best in England.

If you think Barba was rubbish last year then you clearly didn’t watch the semi against Cas or the game against Huddersfield, considering he hadn’t played league for 12 months and was 20+ games and a pre season behind everyone else he did well. Also, if you don’t consider a Dally M winner to be world class then you really are deluded, you’re clearly upset that you have to watch Jamie Shaul every week instead. If both stay fit, Roby or Barba will win the MOS. The 2 best players in SL by a long distance.

No they don’t, Hull have been bang average so far and got thumped by Salford which is pretty embarrassing considering how bad they are. We were terrible last season and ended up finishing 2 points behind Hull. If anything they’ve weakened with the loss of Fonua and we are far better than last year. I expect us to win and fairly comfortably on Friday, as their results suggest they’re a bang average side who just try to physically overpower the opposition.

Bookmarking the shizzle out of this thread. Also, using England caps to determine the relevant qualities of Roby and Houghton is poor, as you could use that to say that Ryan Bailey is a better prop than Scott Taylor or Matty Smith is better than Sneyd

Ryan Bailey is definitely better than Luke Thompson. No argument whatsoever.

I think he is James Robys Dad

And that's what will happen , we'll overpower you, be 20 points up at half time and stroll to 36-18 win

and as for roby v houghton, houghton would go better in the Nrl, suits is style of play much better. Think you guys have hit your peak already , downhill from Friday I'm afraid my friend . We are just getting started

Exactly my point. You're not as stupid as I thought

Fair point, every board has there clowns.

Agree on your point about Barba, one thing I've learnt the last two years if you can't write off a Radford coached side.

Whatever happened to rommel? I miss his ramblings about radford

How many international caps does Barba have?

Maybe he's not quite world class using your first argument.

You sound very mixed up

I remember, think it was 2016 that you stuffed 47 points on us and we did likewise at the magic weekend the season after.
I,ve always liked Radfords honest perspective and quite often he talks about consistency, on the day Hull is quite capable of beating anybody in Superleague.
Holbrook approach is that the Hull players will turn it up for this game, if we play like we did against Leeds then we could lose this game, however if we play very well I,m thinking a win by 10 points.

3rd game of the easter programme similar to open day fixtures imo, you dont know what your going to get, a few surprise results across the weekend i reckon

Not a fan of either club but for anyone to claim Houghton is as good/better than James Roby is clearly beyond all help. I doubt even Houghton himself would make those sort of delusional claims.

Had he been as good as some FC fans suggest Houghton would be playing for a top club.

Cyanide wasn't it?

I wasn’t arguing that Roby is world class because he has international caps, that would be like saying (for example) LMS is world class because he’s been capped by England which obviously isn’t true. I was making the point that the fact that Roby is capped by England and Houghton isn’t shows that Roby is better. They both play for the same country in the same position and are both playing well at the same time so clearly if one is selected over the other then they’re considered to be better. Surely you can’t disagree with that? Roby is the best 9 in SL history for me, to compare him to Houghton is ridiculous he’s been far better over the years and still is.

As for Barba are you seriously saying he isn’t world class? He’s won a Dally M medal, has scored in and won an NRL grand final and is an incredible player one that other teams could only dream of having. He’s the big favourite for MOS for a reason.

Based on the last couple of seasons I would say he is playing for a top club, considering we have won more trophies then any other SL club in that period. He is very loyal and could have gone to Leeds 3 years ago, if he became available just about every club would be interested.

To be fair Roby is best hooker in SL, but here has been games in the last few years where he has outplayed him.

Is Roby good to enoug to play in the NRL, probably, but we wol never know as he hasn't had the bottle to try and play in the best league in the world.