Assuming tommy starts at scrum half and micky mac at hooker i dont think we can afford to wait the 56 mins we waited last week before switching tommy to 9.

Our attack was miles better when tommy moved to 9 and finch to 7.

Tonight i would play the first 25 mins with micky at 9 then take him off and let tommy play. The second option would be to play tommy at 9 from the off and bring mellor in .

The third option would be lockers to 6 and tommy at 9 with hanson at 13 and eric in 2nd row.

I8 like option 3 better than option 2 as tommy is a better 9 rather than a 7.

Hock & Gelling to centre
MM to second row
Tommy to hooker
Finch to 7
Sam to 6
Amos to 1
Goulding to Widnes

Just a minor change to the team then

I fail to see how our attack was miles better with Tommy at hooker. We only scored one try with him in that position and that was a barge over from Lockers.

We tend to be quicker round the ruck with Leuluai at hooker though, whereas with McIlorum the pace is very sluggish. You rarely see teams doing well these days without a quick ruck. It's how Saints got on top against Salford, it's how Wire were so successful last season, it's why Burrow has been so effective at hooker for Leeds.
If the pace isn't quick then the hooker has to be creative. McIlorum isn't. His distribution isn't great, his decision making hasn't been good and his individual attacking input is poor.

He can read the game pretty well in defence though, despite the mistake for Gilmour's try last week. He's got something to offer but his attacking play leaves a lot to be desired.

Hopefully he'll get that aspect of his game sorted this season though. There's still time and when playing for the academy he used to have some good attacking performances. It is painfully obvious that on most occasions in the past he's had little effect when attacking.

as a mcilorum basher, id like to say he had a cracker tonight. keep it up.

Me too.. I thought Goulding was very good also.

He did - he'd have been my MoM tonight if not for Josh's outstanding performance.

agreed

Excellent performance from McIlorum. I criticise him when things go badly so it's only right to praise him when he does well. He played with a bit more aggression and it seemed to benefit him. He was quicker around the ruck and his defence was absolutely outstanding.
We do need to use Leuluai at hooker though as we needed to change things around once McIlorum tired and things got a little too predictable but he played most of the game and was probably our second best player after Charnley.

good game from both McIlorum & Goulding, thought the hole team played very well, even Hock

had a great game today and its only fair he gets the plaudits he deserves... defensively he was a hard hitter, played with lots of aggression and going forward he mixed it up a bit too.