All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 12:59 pm  

Please nominate your centres for consideration for a place in the team. as with the wingers we will vote on 2 from 6 candidates.

Looking forward to this one, plenty of choice, hopefully lots of our eras represented, and not a little controversy too

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:24 pm  

First up though nobody's around now who saw him play, Billy Batten is an obvious one. Inaugural member if the RL Hall of Fame if that isn't enough I don't know what is.

It certainly will be controversial and I suppose someone has to do it but, Schofield (spit) had a quite extraordinary record as a Hull player averaging nearly a try a game. He also starred at international level and as a player in Aus when on Hull's books. Indeed the best year's of his career were probably as a Hull player. Therefore viewed simply as a player that's hard to argue against. As a person and what he did to Hull that's a different argument altogether.

As we are nominating and not sticking to 2 James Leuluai was one of my favourites and very good too, coming up with some spectacular tries in big games. A class act on and off the field.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:31 pm  

Other than those already mentioned....Kirk Yeaman

His record certainly stacks up

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:43 pm  

Batten must be one his record speaks for itself. D gemmill was very good as was Schofield .

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:11 pm  

Which position do we consider Steve Evans for - winger, centre or stand off?

Best Hull centres I have seen are probably Gemmill and Leuluai but enjoyed watching Sid Domic as well as Evans.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:20 pm  

Schofield and Barnett for me who I've seen play . Leuluai unlucky to miss out

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:31 pm  

I suppose if it's a true all time Hull FC then Billy Batten has to be included. An original member of the RFL's Hall of Fame, he played 226 games for us although it would have been well over 300 had it not been for the War meaning no appearances for three seasons. The £600 transfer fee Hull paid for him was double the world record at the time.

For me the other spot would be between Garry Schofield and James Leuluai. A tough choice as both were big favourites of mine as a kid but I'd go for Schofield as he scored 107 tries in 122 games compared to Leuluai's 85 in 183 games. Schofield was also a very good goal kicker.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:54 pm  

out of the 3 positions i would consider steve evans a centre

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Tue Feb 10, 2015 3:36 am  

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 sparse 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) http://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 28) 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 sparse 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) http://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 28) 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.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:34 am  

Schofield, Leuluai, Barnett Snr