ok here are the 6 proposed nominees for the centre spots. as before if you feel a player should be in or out please speak up in the next couple of days

1. billy batten. signed from hunslet for a record fee of £600, batten went on to have a ten year career with hull split by the great war. a superstar of his day, he won the challenge cup in his first season and also won the league championship in 1920, as well as other near misses. in all he played 226 games scoring 89 tries. he also gained 25 rep caps turning down the chance of several more. he was one of the original inductees into the rugby league hall of fame.

2. joe oliver. oliver stared his FC career in 1928 signing from batley. signed as a fullback but switching to the centre position, he also enjoyed a ten year career scoring 162 tries and kicking 669 goals, skippering the side for many years. oliver won the championship in 1936. in 1933 the club's fans took to singing a gene autry song about a horse, and adapted it to fit in with joe's reliable kicking game. 82 years on and 'old faithful' is still going strong

3. richard (dick) gemmell. the late 60s were a lean time for hull and rugby league in general was in a bit of a dip in popularity. through this time gemmell was a star in an average hull team. a tall man he developed a looping pass out of the tackle to free his wingman, usually clive sullivan and was the architect of many of the welshman's tries. though club success was limited in this time, gemmell played a key part in hull's yorkshire cup win over featherstone, playing the whole game with a severe ankle injury, and in the absence of arthur keegan, skippering the side.

4. james leuluai. one third of the kiwi contingent who joined hull in 1981, leuluai went on to play his part in hull's glory years, winning every honour apart from the premiership. leuluai scored 84 tries for hull including spectacular ones in the 1983 challenge cup semi final and 1985 final. he also has a successful international career winning 29 test caps for new zealand

5. garry schofield. signed from amateur leeds club parkside as an 18 year old, schofield went on to become one of the greats of the modern era. he played for hull from 1983 to 1987 scoring 106 tries and kicking 196 goals, including 28 tries in the 1983/4 season. he also played 46 times for great britain scoring 30 tries. though his career at FC ended in controversy, his exploits on the pitch were what most remember him for.

6. ritchie barnett. though he played only 2 seasons for hull appearing in 38 games, barnett's influence on the backline was huge. the kiwi's natural attacking flair and the ability to put his wing into space played a major part in hull's successful 2003 campaign. in all he scored 23 tries and was responsible for many more in what were two prolific seasons for the club in terms of points scoring.

I can only comment from season 1965 onwards so I have to leave aside the greats Mssrs Batten, Gilbert and Oliver, I leave others to bang the drum for those undoubted greats.

So in my time, Dick Gemmell was a classy attacker and Very Good, as was Steve Evans who had real pace. However neither had the all round power game of Vaikona and Richie Barnett Snr who were both excellent players for Hull FC.

However, my 2 centres based on the last 50 years of watching the Cream have to be the 2 who for long periods played in the famous colours with great distinction, scoring many outrageously classy tries, giving world class performances at a time when we were tested every week by the very best. Both were also first names down on their respective international team sheets when competition was intense, both displayed prodigious talent from a young age and both maintained their high standards throughout their times at Hull FC, and never managed to achieve those same heights oncee they left for pasures new. They are of course Garry Schofield and James Leuluai 2 of the greatest centres of World Rugby never mind Hull FC.

With all due respect to Barnett and there is no doubt that the quality of his play is up there with the very best, 38 games is not a big total at all. Unless we are basing this vote on purely on a players skill set (in which case he is a definite contender) and not what their total contribution to the club has been then this low figure doesn't match up to Gilbert (from the old timers) and arguably Steve Evans (90 tries and international honours when at Hull) and, dare I say it ,Yeaman who without starting too much of a bun fight has gained international honours and features in the club all time try scorers. We all know the weaknesses in Yeaman's game and its been debated to the nth degree here but 10 years from now, believe me, he'll be seen as a much better player than he is now, that's what happens with most players.

God help us when we get to Sterling and Kearney

Brian Blacker, for his disco dancing abilities after each try alone

Thats why i thought he deserved a mention.wore the shirt with pride and very under rated.very rare his opposite number got better of him

to leave Gilbert out of the 6 is criminal IMO, as much as Jimmy Leuluai was talented in attack his all round game wasn't fantastic, not in comparison to this company. We only remember the good bits especially as it was our really only successful period in living memory (for the majority at least) and never the average matches were he went missing for large swathes of the game. I'd have rather had Viakona in front of him but he shouldn't be in front of Gilbert

I agree with comments regarding Bert Gilbert. Another deserving of more consideration is the Aussie international Jim Devereau who has been mentioned in previous posts. He partnered Billy Batten in one of the finest centre combinations the club has experienced and was the first player to score 100 tries for Hull.

There has been a lot of calls for leuluai though and with a limited choice of 6, I've gone with the original flow of the posts. My gut feeling is to include Gilbert at the expense of Barnett, but I feel dropping leuluai would be controversial. Tough choices!

Id say burnett is the best centre weve had since the mid 80's no doubt... id say youve got to have a " modern" centre with an old one, so as a 3, its burnett and schofield or leului

i would say batten, oliver and schofield are definately in the 6. then its down to barnett, gemmell, leuluai, gilbert with possibles for devereux and yeamo to fill the other 3 spaces. at the moment i'm going with batten, oliver, schofield, gemmell, leuluai and barnett but you have 24 hours to persuade me otherwise.

One assumes you mean Barnett

As we are talking the all time greatest team then you most certainly don't have to have one from each era, that smacks of quotas rather an open selection of the best. If it is going to be 2 old timers and they have the strongest case than so be it, same with 2 modern ones and this refers to all positions. Of course the old timers are at something of a disadvantage as few or nobody is around who saw them play but there is information around about them which can help make an informed decision. I appreciate that the game has changed enormously over the years but a player of any era can only compare against their contemporaries. There are some who were clearly great in their era for an extended period at Hull and that shouldn't be neglected. I must admit I'm troubled by the shortness of Barnett's FC career compared with every other contender named.

Bit harsh on Kerk Yeaman I reckon.

Won the Challenge Cup
International honours with GB & England
Came through your academy
Defensively one of the best centres out there
Played over 300 times
Scored 150+ tries
SL dream team a couple of times
10+ years service at the club

Appreciate what you've got. You could have Kris Welham.

I agree, Yemo needs to be in there, you missed of 2 massive things though which push him in and also warrant a life time contract
1, Kissing his badge at Wakey the day after you all proclaimed his signing
2, Decapitating several Rovers fans in the North stand at KC, after scoring of course, when he "lobbed" the ball in there

Dick Gemmell and Gary Schofield Game winners for me.

Quote ="Barnabus"Bit harsh on Kerk Yeaman I reckon. Won the Challenge Cup International honours with GB & England Came through your academy Defensively one of the best centres out there Played over 300 times Scored 150+ tries SL dream team a couple of times 10+ years service at the club .'" I get what you are saying BUT One of the players left out of the 6 (Gilbert) was a dual international for Australia & played Origin, he was our captain for the 1914 CC winning team (as well as Captain for Australia after WWI) and had a great scoring rate for the time he was here and as I said previously considered to be one of the greatest rugby players not just of his era but of all time..there's a decent write up here on him en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Gilbert Yeaman whilst a very good centre and has certainly shown glimpses of being at the very top end just isn't the very very best. Rep honours, sure, but not comparable to others, defensively sound but has always being prone to coming out the line and costing us despite being a big hitter and never shirked in the tackle, also he's never being that great in the air either(IMO). His passing/thought process to get his winger away has always being debateable. When we are talking about the GOAT we are looking for players with the perfect attributes for that position that stand out not just in their own era within a club but also at international level and are considered greats through time..Yeaman isn't that man but is due ultimate respect for his loyalty to the club, ahievements and no amount of talent. As I've said, I think to leave Gilbert out over Leuluai and/or Yeaman is a mistake if we are to judge on GREATEST not most loved/well remembered. Both those two had too many defeciencies that should eliminate them from the very very best IMO.

Quote ="Barnabus"Bit harsh on Kerk Yeaman I reckon. Won the Challenge Cup International honours with GB & England Came through your academy Defensively one of the best centres out there Played over 300 times Scored 150+ tries SL dream team a couple of times 10+ years service at the club .'" I get what you are saying BUT One of the players left out of the 6 (Gilbert) was a dual international for Australia & played Origin, he was our captain for the 1914 CC winning team (as well as Captain for Australia after WWI) and had a great scoring rate for the time he was here and as I said previously considered to be one of the greatest rugby players not just of his era but of all time..there's a decent write up here on him en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Gilbert Yeaman whilst a very good centre and has certainly shown glimpses of being at the very top end just isn't the very very best. Rep honours, sure, but not comparable to others, defensively sound but has always being prone to coming out the line and costing us despite being a big hitter and never shirked in the tackle, also he's never being that great in the air either(IMO). His passing/thought process to get his winger away has always being debateable. When we are talking about the GOAT we are looking for players with the perfect attributes for that position that stand out not just in their own era within a club but also at international level and are considered greats through time..Yeaman isn't that man but is due ultimate respect for his loyalty to the club, ahievements and no amount of talent. As I've said, I think to leave Gilbert out over Leuluai and/or Yeaman is a mistake if we are to judge on GREATEST not most loved/well remembered. Both those two had too many defeciencies that should eliminate them from the very very best IMO.

Schofield and Yeamo for me

Quote ="knockersbumpMKII"I get what you are saying BUT One of the players left out of the 6 (Gilbert) was a dual international for Australia & played Origin, he was our captain for the 1914 CC winning team (as well as Captain for Australia after WWI) and had a great scoring rate for the time he was here and as I said previously considered to be one of the greatest rugby players not just of his era but of all time..there's a decent write up here on him en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Gilbert Yeaman whilst a very good centre and has certainly shown glimpses of being at the very top end just isn't the very very best. Rep honours, sure, but not comparable to others, defensively sound but has always being prone to coming out the line and costing us despite being a big hitter and never shirked in the tackle, also he's never being that great in the air either(IMO). His passing/thought process to get his winger away has always being debateable. When we are talking about the GOAT we are looking for players with the perfect attributes for that position that stand out not just in their own era within a club but also at international level and are considered greats through time..Yeaman isn't that man but is due ultimate respect for his loyalty to the club, ahievements and no amount of talent. As I've said, I think to leave Gilbert out over Leuluai and/or Yeaman is a mistake if we are to judge on GREATEST not most loved/well remembered. Both those two had too many defeciencies that should eliminate them from the very very best IMO.'" Just to add that in the list of the best ever 100 Aus players picked in 2007 for the centenary event, Gilbert was one of 2 players that played for Hull the other being Sterling. Neither was selected in the squad of 17 that was named as the Aus 'Team of the Century' selected from those 100 best players. One player from that team did play for Rovers, however, and you all know his name?!

Quote ="knockersbumpMKII"I get what you are saying BUT One of the players left out of the 6 (Gilbert) was a dual international for Australia & played Origin, he was our captain for the 1914 CC winning team (as well as Captain for Australia after WWI) and had a great scoring rate for the time he was here and as I said previously considered to be one of the greatest rugby players not just of his era but of all time..there's a decent write up here on him en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Gilbert Yeaman whilst a very good centre and has certainly shown glimpses of being at the very top end just isn't the very very best. Rep honours, sure, but not comparable to others, defensively sound but has always being prone to coming out the line and costing us despite being a big hitter and never shirked in the tackle, also he's never being that great in the air either(IMO). His passing/thought process to get his winger away has always being debateable. When we are talking about the GOAT we are looking for players with the perfect attributes for that position that stand out not just in their own era within a club but also at international level and are considered greats through time..Yeaman isn't that man but is due ultimate respect for his loyalty to the club, ahievements and no amount of talent. As I've said, I think to leave Gilbert out over Leuluai and/or Yeaman is a mistake if we are to judge on GREATEST not most loved/well remembered. Both those two had too many defeciencies that should eliminate them from the very very best IMO.'" Just to add that in the list of the best ever 100 Aus players picked in 2007 for the centenary event, Gilbert was one of 2 players that played for Hull the other being Sterling. Neither was selected in the squad of 17 that was named as the Aus 'Team of the Century' selected from those 100 best players. One player from that team did play for Rovers, however, and you all know his name?!

Arthur Beetson?

James Leuluai played 29 times for his country, a remarkable number for a player with numerous deficiencies in his game. In truth he was a very good player indeed. I agree that Gilbert deserves inclusion in the 6 nominations but not at Leuluai's expense. As it is centre is obviously historically one of Hull's strongest positions and perhaps there's a case for 8 nominations here where the number of viable candidates is stronger than for example the wingers.

Barnett snr and schofield for me.

Viakona was incredible in our promotion year. Such a shame we didn't keep him for the first year in Super League.

I'd have him and Schofield in my team