All depends on the details of this 4th year option. Surely the club have a say in if they want to take it as well?

The 4th year option has been agreed by both club and player and conditions have been met.

For the remainder of this season I would have Berrigan rotating with Houghton. Berro has played well at Hooker for us in the past and will continue to do so IMO. IF we decide to bring in another British hooker in anticipation of losing Berrigan after next season I would consider pushing Berro to centre for a season to strengthen the backline.

People seem to be judging him on these last few games, in which he's just returned from a pretty serious injury and also had personal things going on at that time too. Before his injury, he was in superb form but that seems to have been forgotten now. The last few seasons he's been shifted around but done a good job for the side, playing through injury a lot of the time. When he was at Brisbane, he had the likes of Petero Civoniceva and Shane Webcke to name a couple playing in front of him, not to mention being able to link up with Darren Lockyer. During his time at Hull, he's had the likes of Jamie Thackray laying a platform for him whilst linking up with Chris Thorman. There's a hell of a big difference between the two sides; he isn't Superman. Now compare that to this season, when he's got the likes of O'Meley, Fitzgibbon and Moa carrying the team forward and can link up with Long. Like I've already mentioned, he was playing very well before his injury and that was helped by the players he had around him as it allowed him to play his natural game a lot easier. When he's back to full fitness, judge him then rather than on the back of two games where he's played a bit-part role.

I agree with the sentiment and that it may appear that people are judging him on the last 2 games. However it's not as if this is the first time people have challenged the value for money we get out of him. Personally I think we'd have done even worse in the last 2 seasons without Berrigan - although out of position he put his hand up week in week out to play at hooker, centre, LF, SH, wherever and did a job for us. But the question was, IF we could spend the (big) money elsewhere, would we? Now that question seems to have been just hypothetical - he's here for next season.

So the question is now where to play him in the context of what's best for the club and the development of players who will be here in the longer term.

Also, does anyone know whether he can come off the quota under the Feb 2008 exemption thing?

I hope not.

Are you on drugs? When has Berrigan ever been superb whilst Hull FC?

Carried the team during the past 2 years when on the park, that alone deems him worth the chance to at least play around "some" decent players.

Get rid of Berrigan my arris, get rid of Fitz and co then?

Fairly simple for me next season. Use Berro in the centres, move Yeamo to the 2nd row. Bring in a winger and a prop. Job done!!

He's young and progressing. Don't think it has much to do with Berro IMO.

In general I think Berrigan has been disappointing, as the teams highest paid and arguably highest profile player you'd expect him to lift games and get the team buzzing. Swain and dare I say it Cooke were that kind of player for us the last few years, players who could lift a poor team performance or change a game with a piece of individual skill.

Berrigan seems to play well when the team does, but when the team struggles he drops to their level.

I'm not going to blame him for today, as Agar put him on at ridiculous times of the game (wasn't it 6mins to half time in the first half?) and therefore he wasn't able to get into the game.

but overall the 2.5years we've seen has been very forgettable, I can't imagine reminiscing about his time at the club like I do/will about Swain, Kearney, Jason Smith etc

Not unless he can magic up a UK/EU passport from somewhere

We have to get some value out of Berrigan , we've had precious little so far. To me it's clear that he was a decent centre and has the brains and experience to help organise wider out, something we lack at the moment. Houghton has done well recently , especially with the extra game time and coaching from Webster. We have only one player in our backline playing in his proper position , Yeaman. The rest are makeshift. Berrigan in the centre allows Turner to go to wing and Whiting (who is never a winger and who's performances have been getting steadily poorer) to , at last , get nearer the action. I'd have Whiting at loose but at the moment I'd give him a go at Stand Off. Things happen when Whiting has the ball. It would surely be better even if 13 or 6 was deemed not to be an option for Whiting to be on the bench , offering true utility? If Berrigan performed at centre and got involved he could help give Long a bit more space by providing another option wider out. Currently shut Longy down and apart from "the Tansey link up" on the left, that's it.
Berrigan though just looks so uninterested whether he's sat on the bench , on the field , walking to the team bus....... Does he want to stay here or would he be off like off a shovel if someone offered him a deal back in Oz?

For someone who speaks a lot of sense the whole Yeaman to the backrow is baffling

Not a chance he could play there!!

Who will play back up hooker then? Houghton can't do the full 80 every week. Also I thought we wanted pace in the centres, Berrigan?

youve got him confused with another poster



what Dave speaks sense, you could write on the back of a stamp with a paint roller

Wonder what position he played as an amaetur

Sorry, but that’s a special kind of rhubarb you’ve just come out with there. If players just naturally develop as they get older without input from senior players, we’d have a much better team than we currently do. In recent years, Houghton is an exception as a player whose stepped up to SL well, we have far more who have struggled or fallen by the wayside altogether.

There’s a direct link between young players’ development and the senior players available to them to learn from. Look at the last time we brought players through to the right standard, it was Horne and Cooke. Why? Jason and Tony Smith. Likewise for Yeaman with Toa Kohe-Love and Richie Barnett. A few more examples in recent years and who they had teaching them:

Sam Tomkins – Trent Barrett
Kyle Eastmond/Matt Smith – Sean Long
James Graham – Paul Anderson/Jason Cayless/Maurie Fa’asavalu
James Roby/Scott Moore – Keiron Cunningham
Ryan Hall – Scott Donald
Shaun Briscoe – Kris Radlinski
Danny Houghton – Richard Swain/Shaun Berrigan

You can even look at Gareth Widdop learning under Billy Slater, and how about Jordan Tansey? Wasn’t until he went to Sydney Roosters that he finally started to come good on his potential IMO, and he did it at fullback. Who do they have on the books? Anthony Minichiello.

That’s why top sides have a better strike rate of turning promising youngsters into genuine first-teamers, because they have the better players passing on their knowledge.

See the pattern?

I'd bring a hooker in.

Why couldnt Yeamo play in the back row? Defensively he is sound and wouldnt need the positional elements that he needs at centre where he is week. In attack he isnt pacey but has bags of strength and a great fend, why couldnt he use that in the 2nd row?

I remember when it was tried a while back, and it wasn't that effective IMO. I know time has passed since then, but I'm not convinced he has the offloading game to be dangerous enough. We'd go from the winger not seeing enough of the ball to neither the centre or winger seeing enough of the ball.

I still dont agree that Yeamo cant pass.

Me neither - it's just that he doesn't.

It's not as bad as made out, but it is a problem. But I actually meant offloading from the tackle. Do you think he gets his hands free often enough for a backrower?

While Houghton should be given kudos for his remarkable development, Berrigan was definetly a big constributing factor to that.

Berrigan in my opinion brings a lot of shaped and organised play to our side, wereas Houghton brings a great deal of go forward. Both offer a significant contribution to the team.

I say, we should keep him. Not that we are able to get rid of him anyway - so not sure of the point of this thread.

I'd be unfair to judge him as a backrower without him playing there imo. He gets his hands free a lot when thats the brief. I remember one of his first games for FC giving a little pass out of the side of his hand to set a try up. He did it at Leeds too this year. I get the impression that it's a part of his game that he has had coached out of him to secure the ball if i'm honest though. I dont see why he hasnt got the upper arm strength to become a great offloading back rower.