Who saw this one coming? www.hullfc.com/article/37837/hul ... th-signing www.newsnow.co.uk/A/751758754?-4338:2393

Who saw this one coming? www.hullfc.com/article/37837/hul ... th-signing www.newsnow.co.uk/A/751758754?-4338:2393

Experienced cover in what was clearly our position with least depth, so can only be a good thing.

Good to have extra cover at hooker. I'm still not convinced by Cunningham.

Can't say I've ever heard of him, but welcome aboard!

Neither am I, and I assume Radford isn't either.



Hooker was the glaringly obvious position where if an injury hit we'd have a big problem. I know we were in contact with McShane at Wakefield all the way back in October, so we've been searching for one for a while. Glad it's been sorted.

Read some good comments on him,he has played 108 games so has some game time . Wont go down well with some fans but brought in for cover and thats not a bad thing

For me a poor signing, very average player, should have had faith in Cunningham and if was him, I would be very disapointted.



I would have stuck with what we have and see what happens with our current hookers.



The kind of signing that I would have hoped we stopped making.

Not trying to stir, but he is absolute rubbish makes Tommy Lee look world class!

Next season will see Salford with no real tried and tested hooker. Which is all you need to know about them offloading Howarth...



He will only provide very pedestrian distribution from Dummy-half. Slow feet. Slow hands.



Cover is all that he'll provide, and poor cover at that.

First Monday Blues of the year kicking in Dave?





We needed another hooker. If we went with just the two, should Houghton get injured, we'd be up s*** creek, relying on a 20yr old to do 80 minutes each week for however long.

Fist point, too right.



Stick by what I said though, as you just have to read above to see what a poor signing this is.



If Houghton had got injured then we would then have to look at options either within the squad (Rankin, Abdul etc) or look to bring in a player on loan or see who is available.

We don't really lose anything by this tbh.

I read that article as Radford saying "Yeah he's not great but we needed some cover and hes really cheap"

I agree with Radford in terms of being proactive. Better to have someone training with us ready to come in if needed rather than having to get somebody and just throw them in.

Played first team for saints so he can't be a total muppet...surely

Maybe Radford thinks it's best to play an actual hooker at 9?

Seems that way. Which in my opinion is better than previous regimes who have moved players around to fill in gaps where they don't really fit. Also not sure why it would bother Cunningham if he is confident enough in his own ability. Is this a position where we'd struggle to promote a junior player at this stage ? If so makes sense.

Be easy enough to snap up a cheap hooker if the situation arose during the season.

That's the thing, he is unpredictable. He was brilliant for saints but awful for us so god knows what he will be like with Hull.

Adds competition which cant be a bad thing. As it was we had Houghton first choice, Cunningham interchange or more likely back up but no pressure on either really. Now there pressure which again cant be a bad thing

Never really seen him play but another hooker cant be a bad thing, I was thinking we were a bit weak there.

Hooker is a position we're not strong in at academy level at all.

What happened to Brad Parker - he played England academy didn't he - but seems to have gone quiet?

Howarth actually played virtually all his rugby for Wakefield in 2011 at loose forward and prior to that switched between there and stand off in Wigans academy. He only really started playing hooker when at Salford a couple of seasons back.

Fairly happy with the signing . good squad player. If we had signed Roby as cover some on here would moan about it

Can't be a bad thing this signing. Even if Cunningham turns out to be really good we would still need cover. Howarth is pretty experienced and a good age. I've not seen loads of him but he has looked ok on the occasions I have. Obviously Salford don't rate him, hopefully it turns out to be another Marc Sneyd situation.

Salford didn't rate Marc Sneyd either. Tells me all I need to know.



Welcome to Hull and the negative crew.