Just watched Jamie Peacocks CC pre match analysis. Very interesting.
His key to victory was the battle at hooker, Roby v Houghton.

Now I’ve been an admirer of James Roby since he burst on the scene, and I’d say he has been consistently the best for many a year though he may have been matched of late by Hodgson and Clarke.
Last season I thought Danny needed to up his game to match those 3.

But for me this season is Dannys best ever, and James Roby is not the player he once was.
However, this is deffo not how Mr Peacock sees it.
Pre match on the BBC he said, Roby was ;
smarter,
quicker,
best organiser,
best at game management,
best kicker,
better choice of pass,
made most metres from acting half (fact) ,

…..and this would lay the platform for Saints to win the game.

Danny won one JP award, he was the best tackler.

Having seen Danny this year I had to disagree with all those points except most metres (though Danny has really improved his scoots this year.) In fact I was quite angry that JP had pretty much dismissed Dannys skill levels.
It was the Roby Loveathon.

How lovingly ironic that in the actual game, Danny won every area of the Hooker battle, and that JPs expert analysis could be so glaringly wrong.

In fact on yesterdays performance, Danny, like Shaul, Taylor, Watts, Sneyd, maybe Bowden and Thompson must fall under the radar of Wayne Bennett if they can keep up their present high performance levels.

On national TV Danny showed the watching public who actually was the best Hooker, by a country mile. including most metres from acting half.
It was a watershed moment, Danny Houghton is Englands best on that showing.

As for old JP ??? maybe he just got them muddled up ??

Whilst Houghton was fantastic yesterday, it's difficult to rate Roby's performance due to the Saints forward pack rolling over and getting their bellies tickled. He's still a fantastic player and had some good performances this year.

I think Peacock would've been right to say what he did a year or two ago, but Houghton's decision-making and game smarts have much improved. Maybe he doesn't watch too many games now he's so busy with devising the 5-year plan for world domination.

England are blessed at hooker at the moment, but Houghton should be in with a shout.

Agree with everything there D&G.

Still its nice that now its our turn to have a dominant pack and its our hooker who's given the chance to show his true abilities behind them. Ditto for Mark Sneyd too.

Far be it for me to defend Mr Peacock I think yopu have to take what he said in context. It was in relation to many years as opposed to the last few months. Why has Danny been overlooked in favour of Roby?

Well JP laid it bare. And I for one couldn't disagree. Over the past however long Roby has been by far the better of the two. The last few months though, Danny has been able to show his skills behind an excellent pack, who can dominate and allow him and Sneyd to dictate play.

It's interesting seeing this kind of dicussion on Facebook and Twitter. The very same RL fans who moan that Mcnamara "didn't pick form players" are still saying Roby is the better player and that yesterday was a one off.

I for one though am quite happy that others dn't rate our players as highly as those who play for the fashionable clubs. Let us fly under that radar. I have still to hear of any of our English players spoken about as potential internationals and yet week after week we hear of how much of a great future the youngsters at Wigan, Leeds, Sts etc have. Even yesterday Percival was nailed on motm after 5 minutes. Oh how things can change and the media become silent.

Hooker is such a hard position to rate as it is so dependent on the pack in front of them, get a quick PTB and a hooker should be able to dominate the game. I think its very harsh to judge Roby on that game (or this season) as he is playing behind a pack that is just not functioning. Hull were so much quicker and stronger than Saints yesterday that Cameron Smith would have struggled playing there. I actually though Roby did ok considering.

I still see Roby as a real quality player even though Houghton had a great game yesterday.

Quality will always shine through. I agree Roby was possibly their best player amongst some real dross yesterday. I honestly suspect that the hookers come November (fitness permitting) for England will be Hodgson and Roby, but Danny has to be in with a shout of a squad berth at the very least.

Enjoyed Josh Bowden's one on one hit on Roby yesterday. Immense.

You could be right there Graham it may be JPs analysis was looking back over many years. I just took it in the context that JP was judging both Hookers on their ability "Now" so to speak, and which one would have most influence on the next 80 mins. You've got me thinking now.

yes, the saints forwards were pretty awful yesterday and they have been for most of the season apparently. from watching yesterdays game only LMS looked the part. Amor sums up their team this season, he just hasn't performed against the decent sides and goes missing especially in defence. taylor bossed him yesterday. their forwards in general don't seem to want to rise to the challenge when a big forward pack takes them on. look at our display against them and also that of catalan recently. roby would be much better with the tools to work with.

yet despite all this, saints still sit just behind us in 5th. what does that say about them and the league in general?

It is all subjective as to which player is better then which in any position but regardless I am just happy that Houghton is our player. he is one of those that if he played for another team we would all be envious.

Extremely talented, committed and will end up an FC Legend.