Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Tue Feb 17, 2015 2:47 pm  

[quote="Erik the not red"]With all due respect to Barnett and there is no doubt that the quality of his play is up there with the very best, 38 games is not a big total at all. Unless we are basing this vote on purely on a players skill set (in which case he is a definite contender) and not what their total contribution to the club has been then this low figure doesn't match up to Gilbert (from the old timers) and arguably Steve Evans (90 tries and international honours when at Hull) and, dare I say it ,Yeaman who without starting too much of a bun fight has gained international honours and features in the club all time try scorers. We all know the weaknesses in Yeaman's game and its been debated to the nth degree here but 10 years from now, believe me, he'll be seen as a much better player than he is now, that's what happens with most players.[/quote]

Sort of agree with this to an extent. From a skill set point of view, the 2003 season from Barnett Snr was awesome. But it hardly changed the clubs fortunes around. It could easily be argued that Tony Grimaldi's overall influence on the pitch was almost second to none, especially at the time, but I doubt he will get a look in when it comes to 2nd rowers.

IF its purely on RL ability, you couldn't really argue against Martin Gleeson

As Frepneyboy has pointed out Sterling was at Hull for much less than 2 full seasons but he is arguably the most skillful player I have seen in B&W.

For the players I have seen play for Hull Schofield and Leuluai are the ones who stand out.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:17 pm  

Hull White Star wrote:

Brian Blacker, for his disco dancing abilities after each try alone

Thats why i thought he deserved a mention.wore the shirt with pride and very under rated.very rare his opposite number got better of him

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:37 am  

to leave Gilbert out of the 6 is criminal IMO, as much as Jimmy Leuluai was talented in attack his all round game wasn't fantastic, not in comparison to this company. We only remember the good bits especially as it was our really only successful period in living memory (for the majority at least) and never the average matches were he went missing for large swathes of the game. I'd have rather had Viakona in front of him but he shouldn't be in front of Gilbert

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:15 am  

I agree with comments regarding Bert Gilbert. Another deserving of more consideration is the Aussie international Jim Devereau who has been mentioned in previous posts. He partnered Billy Batten in one of the finest centre combinations the club has experienced and was the first player to score 100 tries for Hull.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:13 pm  

There has been a lot of calls for leuluai though and with a limited choice of 6, I've gone with the original flow of the posts. My gut feeling is to include Gilbert at the expense of Barnett, but I feel dropping leuluai would be controversial. Tough choices!

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:39 pm  

Id say burnett is the best centre weve had since the mid 80's no doubt... id say youve got to have a " modern" centre with an old one, so as a 3, its burnett and schofield or leului

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:23 pm  

i would say batten, oliver and schofield are definately in the 6. then its down to barnett, gemmell, leuluai, gilbert with possibles for devereux and yeamo to fill the other 3 spaces. at the moment i'm going with batten, oliver, schofield, gemmell, leuluai and barnett but you have 24 hours to persuade me otherwise.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:00 pm  

berro's best mate wrote:

Id say burnett is the best centre weve had since the mid 80's no doubt... id say youve got to have a " modern" centre with an old one, so as a 3, its burnett and schofield or leului

One assumes you mean Barnett

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:14 pm  

berro's best mate wrote:

Id say burnett is the best centre weve had since the mid 80's no doubt... id say youve got to have a " modern" centre with an old one, so as a 3, its burnett and schofield or leului

As we are talking the all time greatest team then you most certainly don't have to have one from each era, that smacks of quotas rather an open selection of the best. If it is going to be 2 old timers and they have the strongest case than so be it, same with 2 modern ones and this refers to all positions. Of course the old timers are at something of a disadvantage as few or nobody is around who saw them play but there is information around about them which can help make an informed decision. I appreciate that the game has changed enormously over the years but a player of any era can only compare against their contemporaries. There are some who were clearly great in their era for an extended period at Hull and that shouldn't be neglected. I must admit I'm troubled by the shortness of Barnett's FC career compared with every other contender named.

Re: All time greatest Hull FC team No.s 3 & 4 - The Centres : Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:33 am  

Bit harsh on Kerk Yeaman I reckon.

Won the Challenge Cup
International honours with GB & England
Came through your academy
Defensively one of the best centres out there
Played over 300 times
Scored 150+ tries
SL dream team a couple of times
10+ years service at the club

Appreciate what you've got. You could have Kris Welham.