I don't think he does need any more weight - his biggest positive is his elusiveness and ability to swerve round tacklers, and his relatively slight build helps this. He needs to concentrate on making the right calls in defence and executing tackles with better technique.

abit lightweight in defence for me

Why don't you "man-up"?

To accuse any professional RL player of being windy is wrong in the extreme. You may not have accused him of molesting goats, what you did accuse him of was cowardice.

Someone earlier mentioned Steve Evans. I knew Steve personally and while accepting that he was never the most agressive player to take the field, he could still never be accused of being "windy". Similarly, Sammy Lloyd once told me that when Knocker informed him that Hull would be approaching him, he was gobsmacked. When Bunt did speak to him, Sammy told him that if he was looking for a hard-running, hard-tackling 2nd row, then he was barking up the wrong tree. However if he was looking at a wide-running 2nd row, who could kick goals from anywhere on the park (Wembley excepted), then he was the man.

Now, if you are saying that any player in the modern era should just be a tackling machine, who can also bulldoze his way across the line, that's a totally different argument.

Just please don't accuse any player in professional rugby league of being windy because I don't know of any player, past or present, who would agree with your argument.

Spot on Mrs B.

Ah, another delightful story. And right on cue i might add.

Now I do remember seeing a current icon (on all, not just this board), playing at Headingley and I said at the time, that it was the first time I'de ever seen a defending full-back side step an attacking centre. No accusations of lacking bottle or being windy, just a simple obersvation.

Care to tell me who that player was?

Two words spring to mind .....

Chris Thorman.

If Thorman had no bottle, was windy or a coward, he still would not be putting his body on the line, no matter what level of pro RL he is playing, he may have been crap, he wasn't a coward.

But nobodies called Craig Hall a coward.

Bollox, he was a windy sod. His poor "attempts" at tackling away at Leeds last year were not bad technique, they were quite simply he didn't want to tackle.

Really?

So where on the cowardice scale does "windy" sit?

And you are just as wrong as the other two.

It doesn't matter how many of you crawl out of the woodwork, or how many examples of "windy" play that you consider you have seen. You are still wrong.

A windy player doesn't get anywhere close to playing pro RL.

What does it take for idiots to accept that fact?

One thing you cannot coach, is natural attacking ability,

Defensive positioning,and technique is coachable.

IF Hall left,and with the right coaching, could IMHO, come back to haunt us.

Yet our coaches appear to have been spot on with defensive coaching (barring the odd game),for most of our players??
Hall will never come back and haunt us, most teams would have the Senior like players running at Hall and then Hall would do his headless chicken act..

Are you being ironic or do you actually believe that?

Our defence has been largely cr4p since sharp left

Not a case of believing the [ustats do not lie[/u..our defence is certainly not crap(barring the odd game)!!

Our defence in the main this season has been very good.

Hall has had 3 / 4 seasons of Superleague training under his belt now, and his defence is still woeful.

I think people are calling him ‘windy’ due to seeing him seemingly unwilling to get his shoulder in and take the collision. Maybe this is because he’s a couple of stone lighter than his opposite number, maybe a lack of aggression/confidence, maybe just pi$$poor technique. He tends to grab and flap, he reminds me of Paul Cooke when in his first couple of seasons. His eyes close, he pulls his head back and holds his arms up infront of his chest.

Also lately, particularly when at centre, he keeps shooting out of the defensive line looking for an intercept or tackle – usually resulting in the rest of the team being put on further unnecessary pressure.

Craig Hall is not of Super League standard. The amount of handling errors made over the past few seasons highlights my point. His defence is poor in every game and often in close games, this means we lose it. Every team target him. He is good in attack, when he can catch it but that is not good enough at this level. Thought he had a chance when he was in first year but has made zero progress in defence since and therefore is not worth another contract. A liability we need to be rid of. Another young player not to fulfil potential at our club.

In the last 2 years our defence has conceded over 200 points more than the best defence in SL each year. This year at the 1/2 way stage it's already around 100.

We've conceded over 40 points 3 times already this season and did it 4 times last year.

If you can show me these stats you're talking about then maybe they will change my opinion that our defence is average at best

That's certainly why I'm saying he's windy, yes.

That's exactly what i mean.

I believe Craig Hall defence is still shocking his postional awareness is his main problem and that he just flicks out an arm at times .I dont feel people are being unfair on him just the way it is and bet most teams target him like leeds did .

more interesting stories



funny that you would think that former players would not call themselves windy huh??
I have in my close circle of friends two former FC players and one who works for us who would tell you different, but your right Mr friend to the stars huh

!!!

Correct 110%
He has no bottle, no technique and no power in the tackle and fannies around slapping across the chest every single game he plays and looks like a rabbit in headlights every time anyone runs directly at him!!
I would bet a testicle that every other SL coach designates him as the weak spot every time they play FC hence why they run at him all day long and as sure as houses they run tries past him !!

windy , coward, yella what ever you want to call him he is not SL level!!