If he bulks up will he lose some of his other qualities such as pace?

Surely defensive ability can be trained with good coaching? Unless he has no heart of course. Are you suggesting that?

I don't think he'll ever be world class if that's that you mean but I do think he has the potential to be an established Super League standard centre.

He is the best centre currently at Hull FC. Yeaman's failings are well known and he is virtually past it. Sa seems only to be able to manage 15 minutes.

Crooks is definitely a better centre than Whiting.

Huge trade up at half back which will improve us dramatically. Still feel we lack a little pace in the centres. Lots of talk about Crooks - my feeling is that if he doesn't want to do what his employer is asking him to do then sell him for as much as possible. He's good with the ball but that's only 50% of the game. Hoping for bigger things from Sa next year with a pre season. Hooker bothers me a bit - I don't think Houghton has had his best season and has ingrained issues with the quality of his distribution and decision making - we need to hope Cunno hits the ground running. Azza has been good for us overall but is the epitome of the inconsistency we desperately need to remove if we're to get anywhere.

All this has to be coupled with a totally revamped attacking structure and shape. I do believe the halves will go a long way to improving this provided they get a platform. We've also played this season almost exclusively without a kicking game which has crippled us at times. That appears to be rectified for 2015.

I don't like players taking the , no. Happened far too much in the past. Don't care how good they are/could be, if their heads are up their s and can't be sorted bin them off.

+1

Does it come with Audio description?

Thought Moran was worth more.

Besides, its ok being "worth" all that, depends how much he can write a cheque for.......

Maybe he doesnt need it. Health wise too

Agree, it could well be the "culture" at the club which ends up messing players about.

Wigan and Leeds find good young players and give them 5 year deals.

What do we do?

Under uncle Kath everyone got 2 or 1 year deals

Green got a long term deal
houghton
lineham
shaul
if players prove themselves n want it we've been going down that road.
regarding crooks I first saw him about four yrs ago. Obviously he was tall skinny kid defensively flimsy. He's still a tall skinny kid n defensively flimsy.
This has to change if hes to be any good.
Range of supplements there is these days,the scientific knowledge regarding nutrition n the knowledge behind strenght n conditioning n being a full time athlete even the most stuborn of 'hardgainers' would struggle to beat only putting on a couple of pounds a yr the way crooks has.
You'd have to question how hes preparing himself away from the training ground!

Spot on mate, particularly, your last comment, if we could just get the attitudes right, what a set-up we would have.

People said for years Paul Cooke had to bulk up when he burst onto the scene. He didnt, and was still our best attacking player

Gaining body mass does not compromise pace if it's done correctly. And technique can only get you so far. A combination of the two would work best and that appears to be the approach being attempted by the club. I really don't see a problem with it.

Would I have played him ahead of Whiting in the centres? Absolutely. But I'd have played Sa ahead of either of them. We have no idea if he can manage long spells or not because for some reason he's not being played in anything other than short bursts.

There are two sides to every story and some of the stuff circulating about Crooks indicates that he possibly doesn't have the right attitude to succeed. We've had a squad with far too many players with that attitude for far too long, and if we've finally decided to be tough on them then that's more than fine with me.

I never heard anyone say that Cooke needed bulking up. If anything he was on the large side for a half.

I had the opportunity to talk at length to Shaul, Lineham, Cunningham and Crooks all at the same time last year and of the three Crooks was easily the most well balanced, polite and mature. The other three were just daft young kids taking the p155 with Lineham thinking he was gods gift to everything. I don't get how where Crooks supposed 'awful' attitude has come from that everyone in the know seesm to be talking about

I have never met Crooks and can't comment on his attitude.

I am not in the know and have no knowledge of what may or may not have been going on behind the scenes.

All I know is that last season we had a dream team centre who was scoring tries for fun and this season he's deemed not good enough, mainly apparently because his defence is poor.

Theres plenty on here who claim to be in the ear of AP, Radders and all the players alike. Been told all things fact about Hull FC and the rest of the world.

Yet when a perfect chance to get some info comes along like the BBQ on sat, not one of the #intheknow has posted "i got told on sat by....."

Joseph Paulo & Mitch Allgood look surplus to requirements at Parra . Paulo , A skillful player who prefers playing second row & Allgood who played city origin a couple of years back .

Yeamo's stealing a living, we all love him but for everyone saying Crooks can't tackle what does Yeamo offer apart from being able to put a hit in? It's the same argument in reverse. Crooks has huge potential, Yeamo's best days are behind him. Can't believe we'd let him go.

Wembley has a lot to answer to regarding Crooks, deserved his dream team slot as one of the best 2 centres in SL until then and he's never recovered. Confidence shot at and then Radders comes in with his shuffling about policy to add to to this. There is a top SL player there, it needs nurturing and bringing out again.

My opinion its nothing to do with attitude its all about miss management.
yes Crooks has made some defensive errors but doesnt Radford see the errors of Whiting when played at centre or Yeaman.Whiting was shocking at Bradford.Would he have played against KR had it not been for injury probably yes.
Now if you are Ben Crooks watching that how would you feel?
How would you feel if the club plays a rookie under 19 centre ahead of you when it was an ideal opportunity to be recalled.
At 88 or 89 kilos Crooks is hardly lightweight.he is an attacking player and you play to the strengths of that player not highlight to the world his weakness like Radford has done.
If Radford was a good coach he could have done a lot more to protect The right edge of our defence.
When you think of the damage Radford has done to this club in just one season,and the big big hole Adam Pearson has dug for himself backing him I really hope he quits before the season end an gives Adam Pearson a way out.
It could happen if we suffer a big defeat against HKR.

Most fans think he's not up to the job but your constant posts about him are incredibly boring.

we could have a thread about xmas and he will still go on about radders, hes boring

so are your replys

well don't read the post then

Harsh. Its last 20 posts are quite varied:
Slating Radford IIIIIIIIII
Stirring about Crooks II
Slating Crooks I
Slating Arundel I
Slating Lineham I
Slating Sa III
Praising Hadley I
Claiming Whiting, Yeaman and Green are leaving I
Slating our backing up I
Slating Moi Moi II

Its first 20 posts were
Slating Radford IIIII
Stirring about Crooks I
Stirring about Crookes I
Slating our defence I
Slating Tuson II
Slating Azza
Slating Houghton I
Slating Arundel I
Praising Pre Radford recruitment I
Praising Thompson I
Praising Ellis I
Praising Feka I
Praising Travis Burns I
Predicting an easy derby win for FC (very very strangely the only result prediction) I

So dismal. Do you paint, Bonaire, you have an artistic name? When selecting colours, given your gloomy outlook I advise you to look out for the..
BLACK!! Black! Like the clouds of death that follow me into the Forest of Doom! And hide in the wardrobe of darkness! Black! Listen! Listen! Do you hear? The moon is weeping in a secret room! Oh! Oh! The monks are troubled and full of woe! I'm a fly! Trapped in a jar of shadows! They lock me in the cellar and feed me pins!

Bit like a troll would do. Might as well be even if he isn't.