Hook should call it a day

I feel for James Hook.

If during a game of such dire performance Gatland can't face bringing on Hook either to replace a poor Priestland or a midfield with zero impact - why on earth is he on the bench? Under what circumstance would Gatland have brought him on?

Hook should tell Gatland to stuff it and get on with his career in France, and who could blame him. Imagine - he's playing under a coach who clearly doesn't rate him and won't play him when everything on the field is imploding.

I'm no fan of Hook - I think he is too much the jack of all trades and not the best choice in any one position. But having been put on the bench, presumably to cover several positions and make an impact if needed, how on earth can a coach not try everything he can. Shocking mismanagement by Gatland, and shows a lack of respect or confidence in Hook.

Wales need some fresh ideas and will get none from Gatland.

I was screaming for Hook and Webb at 60 mins, Gatland brain farted. I'd have rather we tried Hook and got smashed by 30 then try nothing.

I can never understand why Hook is on the bench and does get used when the team is struggling to get any go forward movement.

Gatland's bench management is generally dire. He brings guys on with 3-4 mins to go, when the game is long gone. Seeing the quality of Schmidt's tactics and thinking really makes me wonder about Gatland's credentials. As the commentary guys said, Schmidt varies his gameplan to  match the opponents. Gatland does not and cannot do that.

Coleman wrote:I was screaming for Hook and Webb at 60 mins, Gatland brain farted. I'd have rather we tried Hook and got smashed by 30 then try nothing.

Exactly.

The game was screaming for Hook to come on very quickly after half time. He can be a game changer and brings a lot of unpredictability that I thought Wales needed yesterday. I was extremely confused by his snubbing.

I agree. hook should call it a day.he's not the next choice in any position he covers and should not be on the radar for world cup.

offload

Hook is not an impact player

He is a supersub, fh, centre and fb

will only get a game for injury

Scratch wrote:offload

Hook is not an impact player

He is a supersub, fh, centre and fb

will only get a game for injury

Scratch, I think it's pointless to have someone on the bench who can't make an impact!
Also, Williams gets injured and rather than bring a centre on we move the best wing in the NH out of position? North had no space and achieved nothing in mid field.

You could have put Sonny Bill there on Saturday and he would have got nowhere either. The combination of slow ball from Phillips and non-ball from Roberts meant the midfield was a congestion zone.  

But I take your point about Hook and North. George is fantastic strike runner, but not yet the best passer of the ball.  Hook (and Tipuric) should have come on with enough time to make a difference. But Gatland seems unable to think creatively about bench management , or anything else frankly. Bringing on a new front row at a pre-determined time is about all he does.  Oh - and shuffle around in case of injuries.

I would have replaced Scott Williams with Hook early on, he is more experienced in the centre than North, and North is a better winger at the moment.

Lets be honest we were getting smashed up front in every phase and what ball we were getting was utter garbage so what difference would Hook have made at anytime in the game.

Yes & no.

Wales - Territory 50%
Wales - Possession 51%

Obviously the Irish pack were on top, but that's not the whole story.

samuraidragon wrote:Yes & no.

Wales - Territory      50%
Wales - Possession   51%

Obviously the Irish pack  were on top, but that's not the whole story.

Stats and damned stats lol like I said its what ball we did get was utter garbage.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:Yes & no.

Wales - Territory      50%
Wales - Possession   51%

Obviously the Irish pack  were on top, but that's not the whole story.

Stats and damned stats lol like I said its what ball we did get was utter garbage.

We made tons of errors. Lydiate was a penalty machine.

samuraidragon wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:Yes & no.

Wales - Territory      50%
Wales - Possession   51%

Obviously the Irish pack  were on top, but that's not the whole story.

Stats and damned stats lol like I said its what ball we did get was utter garbage.

We made tons of errors. Lydiate was a penalty machine.

SD,

Not arguing with you at all on that point and most of the errors stemmed from our poor perfromance up front which meant our backs were always getting poor ball and on the back foot.

I agree that Gatlands use of the bench was poor but honestly cant see what difference Hook would have made given how poor we were up front. I think the coaches need to take a very long hard look at them themselves and question some of their decisions (playing Sam and Gethin after only two games) and shoulder more of the blame than some of the players.

I think we will see a bit of tinkering rather than wholsesale changes for the France game with hopefully a rocket up the backside of certain players, if thats the case then fine but what I then hope happens is if players no matter who they are) are not performing then get them off the pitch pretty damn sharpish before its to late.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:Yes & no.

Wales - Territory      50%
Wales - Possession   51%

Obviously the Irish pack  were on top, but that's not the whole story.

Stats and damned stats lol like I said its what ball we did get was utter garbage.

We made tons of errors. Lydiate was a penalty machine.

SD,

Not arguing with you at all on that point and most of the errors stemmed from our poor perfromance up front which meant our backs were always getting poor ball and on the back foot.

I agree that Gatlands use of the bench was poor but honestly cant see what difference Hook would have made given how poor we were up front.  I think the coaches need to take a very long hard look at them themselves and question some of their decisions (playing Sam and Gethin after only two games) and shoulder more of the blame than some of the players.

I think we will see a bit of tinkering rather than wholsesale changes for the France game with hopefully a rocket up the backside of certain players, if thats the case then fine but what I then hope happens is if players no matter who they are) are not performing then get them off the pitch pretty damn sharpish before its to late.

Agreed. But I think Tipuric could have made a difference, as the back row was not functioning.

offload wrote:

Scratch wrote:offload

Hook is not an impact player

He is a supersub, fh, centre and fb

will only get a game for injury

Scratch, I think it's pointless to have someone on the bench who can't make an impact!
Also, Williams gets injured and rather than bring a centre on we move the best wing in the NH out of position?  North had no space and achieved nothing in mid field.

Yes and no.

Frees up a seat for another forward, but what we needed last week was impact, an injection of something different.

Sadly i actually don't think Gats rates Hook but uses him because he is a super sub

Please don't play Hook at centre, he is too slow for 13, too light for 12 and too weak in defence for either. In fact I would drop him from the bench for Biggar, if Wales can get their noses in front he can come on to close out the game.

At 13 I would probably go with Beck, I know he is slow and can be a bit hit and miss in defence, but he is big and strong and knows how to lead a rush defence. Other than that I would have Charteris and James to start, with Lee on the bench in place of Rhodri Jones.

All the evidence points to Hook being the key factor in the Welsh slump. Okay, he's not playing, but his presence on the bench is obviously distracting the on-field personnel from expressing themselves fully. Gatland is right to stick with Plan A Warrenball, but off his chump if he thinks it'll ever get off the ground with Hook sucking the life out of it from the touchline.

Hook wasn't on the bench for the 3rd test down under, was he? And look what the Welsh boys did there.

Seagultaf wrote:Please don't play Hook at centre, he is too slow for 13, too light for 12 and too weak in defence for either. In fact I would drop him from the bench for Biggar, if Wales can get their noses in front he can come on to close out the game.

At 13 I would probably go with Beck, I know he is slow and can be a bit hit and miss in defence, but he is big and strong and knows how to lead a rush defence. Other than that I would have Charteris and James to start, with Lee on the bench in place of Rhodri Jones.

I'm no real Hook fan, but what you've just said is that Hook is too slow for 13 and too poor in defence, but you'd replace him with Beck who you say is slow and hit and miss in defence?!