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.

re Houghton I think it's more that Hull play significantly better when he is in the side. His tackle count/workrate is outstanding and he adds a quick PTB to speed up the attack but just seems to galvanize how we play. Better than Roby? - difficult as 2 very different players in the same position but overall I'd prefer DH in the Hull side than Roby, as good as he is. And not sure using international appearances as a yardstick is totally meaningful as England have hardly been successful with some bizarre player choices recently!

Saints/Hull games are usually v entertaining and I hope this one proves to be. I think someone else said its a freehit - if we win it's a bonus and if we lose to (so far) the best team in the league its hardly a disaster (unless we play like vs Salford in which case it'll be a 30+ margin!). Hull have been inconsistent so far, but not having key spine players has disrupted us, all be it at the positive of letting some of the youngsters get invaluable experience. And lets not forget that the Watts (hothead and sadly eventually a liability as much as I liked his appropriate aggression) affair must have damaged squad preparation.

BTW what has happened to the Saints board - is that why we are being invaded!?

Your living in the past, over the last 4 seasons Houghton as been far better than Roby, 2 CC medals , MOS. Its been an absolute disgrace him not been picked for England. And once again tomorrow night , you will see Roby go missing after been dominated by Houghton

Everybody knows Saints are currently the best team this year, and that Barba and Roby are 2 outstanding players. So why their fans (well, mainly just the game moron on this thread) feel the need to try and shove it down people's throats is beyond me.

Important game this. wire, cas, leeds and wigan will all likely win this week and a loss for us would leave us with only a 50% win ratio and losses against all of our main top 4 rivals. 8 points behind saints and already having to play catch up.

I still think the oz trip was a poor decision for our league position this year and can see us finishing 5th or 6th. Losing watts to one of our rivals has compounded it

I don’t like the prospect of this Saints trip
I have the feeling we could be beaten by 14 -20
See where we are after 9 games and said earlier we could finish 8th more than we could finish 4th

I am not saying or claiming anything.

Just showing the flaws in the arguments you use and how confused you seem.

I follow Cronulla in Australia and am well aware of Barba's achievements and skills.

But you claimed Roby is miles better than Houghton which is just plain daft and use international caps to back your argument.

Their are many very good players that didn't or don't get the caps they deserve due to competition for places and coaches choice.

Barba being a good example.

Roby, Barba and Houghton are all very good players that are a joy to watch.

But you are so biased that you come on here and diss our players. Many of whom have just won back to back Challenge cups.

we didn't "lose" Watts, we sold him because he was a problem...

@AS108
When has Barba even been second choice at FB for the kangeroos, how often has he even being in the squad, he's good in fits and starts but clearly you don't even understand what world class means!

It means top one or two in the world in your position, Barba is and never has been anywhere near, his lack of a single cap proves that. A world class player gets picked and utilised, sometimes at the expense of others, Barba doesn't on either score because he isn't.

As for Houghton, narrow minded failed coached can't understand what Houghton could have brought to an England side. Yes Roby is a world class player on his day but taking the pressure off the forwards with his defence makes a huge difference no other hooker in the world can do. We'll never know now seeing as successive coaches have ignored him for plodders/error strewn types like Hodgson and Clarke who have failed miserably at the top level.