One thing after watching the round highlights tonight that was very noticeable for me was the speed and accuracy of delivery compared with us from the dummy half. MM looked like he was throwing bricks at times and Logan for me does not look much better.



Every other team looked like they had a 9 with zip in his pass apart from us.



This is without even mentioning the shocking read by MM in defence for the Gilmore try.



We seem to have gone back to a jobs for the boys mentality at the club (which is very worrying to me) so for Christs sake bring Derms back to teach these lads how to pass.

It's been said many times that McIlorum doesn't offer enough in attack and as of yet I haven't seen anything from him to suggest that he will prove any doubters wrong.



Even as an interchange hooker I think you can't justify having a number 9 that doesn't provide something to benefit the attack.



I wouldn't criticise him too heavily for his defence in the build up to the Gilmour try as it's harsh to single him out. Richards and Hock made dreadful tackles in the build up to that and were rescued by McIlorum's cover tackle. Tomkins (twice), Flower, Tuson and O'Loughlin were also at fault for tries.

McIlorum's defence is strong considering his level of experience (still far from perfect of course).



His attacking play and speed around the ruck is the biggest issue. If a player isn't quick to distribute he has to offer another threat, such as the power of Cunningham or perhaps having the ability to step out from dummy half and cause problems among the defensive line like Monaghan does brilliantly. I don't see any threat from McIlorum. Even Logan Tomkins offers good vision and knows where the ball needs to be, while Carberry, although looking the weaker of the two young hookers in pre-season, potentially offers far more than McIlorum.

Mcilorum hits hard. He needs to play for 1st 20 mins against leeds. Why it took 55 mins against hudds to move tommy to 9 god knows. Tommy needs to move to 9 on 20 - 25 mins at worst.

Always thought we should have signed Diskin when he left Leeds.



He's not a world class player but still a very good SL player with plenty of positive attributes.

Agreed, id still take him for year now.

McIlorum works very hard in defence and is a big hitter, but like people have said he just doesn't offer enough in attack. the only thing he seemed to do on Sunday was the odd run forward from dummy half. Every time Tommy replaces him at hooker there's a noticeable difference going forward and we look far more dangerous. Whether that would be the case if Tommy played 9 for the full 80 though I'm not sure, it works well interchanging the 2 but it would be nice to have a second hooker who can do something going forward. I always feel that when McIlorum comes on, we are effectively shutting up shop as far as attacking is concerned. Maybe one for Bilko or some stat man... but is there any stats around showing how many points we score with Tommy at 9 as opposed to McIlorum?



It's a shame we didn't really replace deacon, but I really think we need to get Sam playing in the halves to give Tommy a better shot at playing hooker. Lets pray we can get the Amos Roberts of early 2010 back then maybe that can happen.

we should have signed Julian Rinaldi when he was going cheap, a better option than MM

Are you gonna write a hooker thread every week now like last season =





OBSESSED

We could have more Hookers than a Bangkok side street and he'd still be complaining.

This is becomming a bit annoying now. The club supposedly has a policy that if your not delivering the goods then you lose your place. This does not appear to be the case with Micky Mcillorum. Last season on a weekly basis he consistantly got shown up by Tommy in attack.



New season, clean slate fair enough but I just do not see how he is going to improve, his ball distribuition is too slow to play at 9 and it slows down the whole team making us slow, predictable and flat. Like alot of occasions last season the minute Micky left the field on Sunday we sprung into life and started playing some decent rugby, the problem was it was too little too late.



i really hope Wane brings through the likes of Mellor, Powell and Russell and gives them the time and patience McIllorum has had.

Maybe the problem hasn't been solved and has been around since Piggy left.



Its a seriously problem area for us, imo and needs addressing.



Most important position on the pitch for me.

Pretty cut and dry Tommy at 9 Powell in at hb



People was saying Sam wasn't ready when he broke into the first team worth a shot