William 'Billy' Batten - one of the all time greats, GB international before his 19th birthday with Hunslet & a member of the all conquering side that won all four trophies in one season. He even suggested he'd being offered £4/week by Manchester United to play soccer. WWI limited his apperances to 226 with 89 tries (& a solitary goal). His last 3 seasons were very sp indeed scoring only 17 tries in 98 appearances which sullies his scoring record somewhat.
Herbert 'Bert' Gilbert - Australian tourist partner to Batten and the first Hull captain & first ever overseas player to lift the Challenge cup. Scoring 57 in 114 appearances he was a dual code international, rep'd for the Wallabies in 1910 and played 7 tests for the Kangeroos, still considered one of the greatest Australian players. (As an aside he stated he reluctantly took the captaincy & hated the cold winters) trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/15432564
Tevita Vaikona Hugely powerful centre (though also a winger), scored a massive post war record try haul to help Hull back into the top flight & 79 tries in 95 games before leaving to play for Bradford where he won silverware & a World Club challenge win amongst others. Pacy, gutsy and a no mean tackler, rep'd for Tonga at league & union 7s, called up latterly for the full NZ squad but never played and after finishing his league career played for Saracens & Racing Metro in France before again coming back to Hull to play union.
Garry Schofield The leg-end that is Schoey, prodigious talent whom at the age of 18 started his first season at Hull scoring 37 tries and the youngest ever leader of the top try scoring charts. Scoring tries with aplomb he had pace & guile beyond his years and had a very decent goal kicking boot as well, if only Bunting had played him in the '85 final maybe things would have turned out differently??? Sadly for us left to go to Leeds in 1987 but his 107 tries, 199 goals (& 2 drops) in 122 appearances make him one of the stand out Hull centres of all time.
Joe Oliver - Rugged Cumbrian former Huddersfield & Batley player gaining Gt Britain rep honours (though none at Hull) and playing 27 times for Cumberland & three times for England whilst here. Became Hull's captain & was one of the leading lights in the 35/36 Championship winning season with 27 tries in 40 games, only marring it getting sent of in the Leeds home CC game were our record attendance of 28,798 watched us edged out 5-4(Leeds went on to win the cup) Oliver amassed 426 appearances scoring 156 tries and 687 goals, his last 2 seasons were at the age of 40 at fullback scoring only 1 try in his last 47 outings after he re-signed after a couple of seasons with the dobbins just before the outbreak of WII. In 1949 he became trainer coach for a year.


A very honourable mention to Stan Brogden, elite level sprinter he was known for his corkscrew runs & was probably the best centre of his era. He came to Hull in 1938 from Leeds (at the age of 2icon_cool.gif having already bagged 16 Great Britain caps including touring down under in '36. Was the first ever player to be transferred for a £1,000 three times over & was on the sheet for the 1940 tour. The onset of war meant Hull didn't get anything other than the 38/39 season in which he scored 14 from 29. Left Hull at the end of WWII going on to play for Rochdale, Salford & latterly the newly formed Whitehaven

Additionally, Richie Rohan Barnett. The 'Panther', class all round and the biggest hitting centre we've had in living memory..still hoping to find footage of that bulldoze smash on Sean 'Penky' Penkywicz at the KC

. Only playing 32 games for Hull he scored 17 tries and departed too soon for us fans.

James 'lullaby' Leuluai, no introductions needed, epic step, bags of pace, even more epic tries, who can forget his triple side step against Cas & the '85 final try which brought us oh so close to glory. A great character, however just a bit shy of the very very best for all around ability IMO.

William 'Billy' Batten - one of the all time greats, GB international before his 19th birthday with Hunslet & a member of the all conquering side that won all four trophies in one season. He even suggested he'd being offered £4/week by Manchester United to play soccer. WWI limited his apperances to 226 with 89 tries (& a solitary goal). His last 3 seasons were very sp indeed scoring only 17 tries in 98 appearances which sullies his scoring record somewhat.
Herbert 'Bert' Gilbert - Australian tourist partner to Batten and the first Hull captain & first ever overseas player to lift the Challenge cup. Scoring 57 in 114 appearances he was a dual code international, rep'd for the Wallabies in 1910 and played 7 tests for the Kangeroos, still considered one of the greatest Australian players. (As an aside he stated he reluctantly took the captaincy & hated the cold winters) trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/15432564
Tevita Vaikona Hugely powerful centre (though also a winger), scored a massive post war record try haul to help Hull back into the top flight & 79 tries in 95 games before leaving to play for Bradford where he won silverware & a World Club challenge win amongst others. Pacy, gutsy and a no mean tackler, rep'd for Tonga at league & union 7s, called up latterly for the full NZ squad but never played and after finishing his league career played for Saracens & Racing Metro in France before again coming back to Hull to play union.
Garry Schofield The leg-end that is Schoey, prodigious talent whom at the age of 18 started his first season at Hull scoring 37 tries and the youngest ever leader of the top try scoring charts. Scoring tries with aplomb he had pace & guile beyond his years and had a very decent goal kicking boot as well, if only Bunting had played him in the '85 final maybe things would have turned out differently??? Sadly for us left to go to Leeds in 1987 but his 107 tries, 199 goals (& 2 drops) in 122 appearances make him one of the stand out Hull centres of all time.
Joe Oliver - Rugged Cumbrian former Huddersfield & Batley player gaining Gt Britain rep honours (though none at Hull) and playing 27 times for Cumberland & three times for England whilst here. Became Hull's captain & was one of the leading lights in the 35/36 Championship winning season with 27 tries in 40 games, only marring it getting sent of in the Leeds home CC game were our record attendance of 28,798 watched us edged out 5-4(Leeds went on to win the cup) Oliver amassed 426 appearances scoring 156 tries and 687 goals, his last 2 seasons were at the age of 40 at fullback scoring only 1 try in his last 47 outings after he re-signed after a couple of seasons with the dobbins just before the outbreak of WII. In 1949 he became trainer coach for a year.


A very honourable mention to Stan Brogden, elite level sprinter he was known for his corkscrew runs & was probably the best centre of his era. He came to Hull in 1938 from Leeds (at the age of 2icon_cool.gif having already bagged 16 Great Britain caps including touring down under in '36. Was the first ever player to be transferred for a £1,000 three times over & was on the sheet for the 1940 tour. The onset of war meant Hull didn't get anything other than the 38/39 season in which he scored 14 from 29. Left Hull at the end of WWII going on to play for Rochdale, Salford & latterly the newly formed Whitehaven

Additionally, Richie Rohan Barnett. The 'Panther', class all round and the biggest hitting centre we've had in living memory..still hoping to find footage of that bulldoze smash on Sean 'Penky' Penkywicz at the KC

. Only playing 32 games for Hull he scored 17 tries and departed too soon for us fans.

James 'lullaby' Leuluai, no introductions needed, epic step, bags of pace, even more epic tries, who can forget his triple side step against Cas & the '85 final try which brought us oh so close to glory. A great character, however just a bit shy of the very very best for all around ability IMO.